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tion instead o f Himself. Furthermore, they themselves did not correctly quote the law o f Moses. The law o f Moses did not command that in such a case a woman should be stoned, it simply prescribed that she should be put to death (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22) without prescribing the form o f death, except in the case o f a betrothed bride, when the form o f death by stoning was prescribed (Deut. 22:23). According to the Talmudic tradition the form o f death in other cases was strangulation. But Jesus passed by this mere technicality and took the matter up on to higher ground. He said, in effect, “ If she is to be stoned, who shall stone her? He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” He turned them away from a consid eration o f another’s sin to a consideration o f their own. In an instant the hypocrisy o f each one is laid bare to their own heart. Oh, how often men condemn others for the sins o f which they themselves are guilty, and in the sight o f God and their own awakened consciences they are really not condemning the other, but themselves (cf. Rom. 2:1-5). When we are disposed to condemn others let us first o f all search our own hearts and see whether we are not guilty o f substantially the same sin. This does not mean for a moment that there are not times when it is our duty to take action against others who have sinned, and it certainly does not mean that we are to regard sin lightly, but it does mean that we should first o f all judge our own sins and not the sins o i someone else (cf. Matt. 7:1-5). While the Pharisees spoken o f in this incident had no right to- sit in judg ment upon this woman, because they clearly were sinners with her, the Lord Jesus was absolutely sinless and He did have a per fect right to do so. But He had not come at this time to judge but to save (ch. 3 :17). He is coming again to judge (ch. 5 :22, 23, 27-29; Acts 17:30, 31; 2 Tim. 4 :1), By saying, “ Neither do I condemn thee,” the Lord did not pronounce her guiltless, He simply refused to exercise His office of judge at this time, for this did not belong
authorship o f the Pentateuch, or believe that Isaiah wrote the later chapters o f , the book attributed to him. In the case before us it was not true that none o f the' rulers had believed on Him, neither is it true today that none o f the scholars believe in the Mosaic authorship o f the- Pentateuch, or in Isaiah being the author o f the entire book o f Isaiah. The greatest o f scholars, the greatest Hebrew scholars in the world; accept the Mosaic authorship o f the Pentateuch, and Isaiah as the author o f the entire book o f Isaiah. But even if it had been true it.would have proved noth ing. Over and over again in the histoty o f the church and o f the world, all the rulers and all the scholars have been wrong. God is constantly destroying the wisdom o f the wise and bringing to naught the understanding o f the prudent (1 Cor. 1 :19), The question is not who believes a doc trine, but 4s it true. One o f the rulers right then and there dared to raise a feeble protest in Jesus’ favor, but he too was sneered down. Nevertheless, the words of Jesus have stood through the centuries, and these sneers are only remembered to be despised. - Saturday, June 3 . John 8 : 1 - 11 . It was no hatred o f sin that led the | Pharisees to the action described in these verses, but rather a desire to catch Jesus in a trap, as in the case o f the tribute money (cf. Matt. 22:15-22). Their thought was this: if Jesus'declares that the woman should be put to death, he will be advising action contrary to the Roman law (to which the Jews were subject at that time), and thus bring Himself into conflict with the Roman authorities; on the other hand, if he setS aside the prescription o f the Mosaic law He will alienate that part of the peo ple who stand for a strict construction of the Mosaic law. As far as the Pharisees could see there was no way in which the Lord Jesus could escape prejudicing His claims; but as in the case o f the tribute money He escaped every snare by giving advice that brought them under condemna
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