Two disciples dragged an adulterous woman to Jesus and said that according to the covenant of Moses, she should be stoned for this, to which Jesus said: Whoever is sinless here, let him be the first to throw a stone at her. Does this mean that Moses is wrong?

Peace be with you, Marat!

Let's read it as it is fully recorded in the Bible:

1 Jesus went up to the Mount of Olives.
2 And in the morning he came again to the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down and taught them.
3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman taken in adultery, and, placing her in the midst,
4 They said to Him: Teacher! this woman was taken in adultery;
5 But Moses commanded us in the law to stone such people: What do you say?
6 But they said this to tempt Him, that they might find something to accuse Him of. But Jesus, bending low, wrote with his finger on the ground, not paying attention to them.
7 When they continued asking Him, He bowed down and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8 And again, bending low, he wrote on the ground.
9 When they heard [this] and were convicted by their conscience, they began to leave one by one, beginning from the oldest to the last; and only Jesus remained and the woman standing in the middle.
10 Jesus, standing up and not seeing anyone but the woman, said to her: Woman! where are your accusers? no one judged you?
11 She answered: No one, Lord. Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.
12 Again Jesus spoke [to the people] and said to them, “I am the light of the world; Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
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Moses was right, because he did not write his personal will, but what the Lord revealed to His people as a state law. The question is why Jesus said what he said. Because even during the implementation of the “Law of Moses” in the Old Testament, God Himself many times canceled the punishment when a person deeply repented.

Here's the answer from Barkley's comment:

The scribes and Pharisees were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus in order to disgrace Him before the people. It seemed to them that they were able to put Him in front of
an insoluble problem. When a difficult legal problem arose, the rule was to turn to a rabbi for a solution. That's why
The scribes and Pharisees turned to Jesus as a rabbi, and in the case of a woman caught in adultery, to decide her fate. Under Jewish law, adultery was a serious crime. The rabbis said: “Every Jew should rather die than commit
idolatry, murder, or adultery." Adultery was one of the three grave sins, for which I relied death penalty, Although
There were some differences between them in the ways of carrying it out. In 10 it says: “If anyone commits adultery
with a married wife; if anyone commits adultery with his neighbor's wife; Let both the adulterer and the adulteress be put to death." Method
no penalty is specified in this case. In 13-24 the punishment for adultery of an engaged girl is established. In this case, hers and hers
The seducer was supposed to be taken outside the city gates and “stoned to death.”

The insoluble problem they wanted to present Jesus with was this: if He had said that a woman was really
should be stoned, then, firstly, He would lose His good glory, acquired by love and mercy, and no one would ever again
will call Him the Friend of sinners, and secondly, He violated the Roman law, according to which the Jews had no right to impose the death penalty or
carry it out. If He had said that the woman should be pardoned, He might immediately have been accused of teaching people to break the law of Moses, and of forgiving and even encouraging adultery. It was in this trap that the scribes and Pharisees tried to catch Jesus. But He turned everything around in such a way that their attack was turned against them.

The scribes and Pharisees continued to demand an answer - and they received it. Jesus said to them, “Okay, stone her! But let he who is without sin throw the first stone.” It may very well be that the word anamartetos means not just without sin, but even who has no sinful desire. Jesus said, “Yes, you can stone her, but only if you yourself have never had the desire to commit the same sin.” There was silence - and then the accusers gradually began to walk away.

The main difference between Jesus on the one hand and the Pharisees on the other is that they wanted to condemn the woman, but He wanted to forgive her. Between the lines of this narrative you can read that the scribes and Pharisees really wanted to stone the woman and would have done it with great pleasure. They took pleasure in using the power given to them to judge another. Jesus knew the joy that comes from the right to forgive people. Jesus looked at the sinner with compassion based on love, but the scribes and Pharisees looked at the sinner with contempt based on a sense of their own righteousness.

It is very important to understand well how Jesus treated this woman. One can easily be mistaken in thinking that Jesus forgave easily and simply, as if the sin itself is not so important. All He did was tell her, “Neither do I condemn you (now). Go and sin no more.” In essence, He did not completely refuse to condemn and did not say: “It’s okay, don’t worry, it’s okay,” He seemed to postpone the pronouncement of the verdict. He said: “I will not give you a final verdict now. Go and prove that you can behave better. You have sinned: go and sin no more, and I will help you all the time. At the end of time, we will see how you lived.” .

Blessings,
Victor

Read more on the topic “Interpretation of Scripture”:

JEREMIAH(exalted, exalted by God) - a prophet who lived in the city of Anathoth in the inheritance of Benjamin. His prophetic ministry began in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah and continued in the days of Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah for almost 45 years, until the removal to Babylon.

According to legend, Jeremiah was 15 years old when he heard the voice of God: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you: a prophet to the nations... I set you over nations and kingdoms, to uproot and destroy, to destroy and destroy, to build and plant" (Jer 1:5, 10).

Jeremiah experienced the fall as a personal tragedy Kingdom of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem. He announced in advance the invasion of the enemy and called for repentance: “My womb! my womb! I grieve in the depths of my heart, my heart is agitated within me, I cannot remain silent; for you hear, my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of battle. Trouble after disaster: the whole earth is devastated, suddenly my tents are ruined, instantly - my tents. How long will it take me to see the banner and listen to the sound of the trumpet? This is because My people are stupid and do not know Me: they are foolish children, and they have no sense; They are clever in evil, but do not know how to do good” (Jeremiah 4:19-22).

Jeremiah tirelessly performed his duty. He preached in the streets of Jerusalem, in the temple, in the king's house; predicted the fall of Jerusalem, 70 years of Babylonian captivity and the return of the Jews to their inheritance, the New Covenant that God would make with the people, and the forgiveness of all the sins of Judah and Israel:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. And just as I watched over them, uprooting and crushing, and destroying and destroying, and damaging, so I will watch over them, building and planting, says the Lord. In those days they will no longer say, “The fathers ate sour grapes, but the teeth of the children are set on edge,” but each will die for his own iniquity; whoever eats sour grapes will have his teeth set on edge. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. New Testament, not such a covenant as I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; They broke that covenant of mine, although I remained in covenant with them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law within them, and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be My people” (Jer 31:27-33).

“Suddenly Babylon fell and was broken; weep for him, take balm for his wound: perhaps he will be healed. We healed Babylon, but it was not healed; leave him, and let us each go to his own land” (Jeremiah 51:8-9).

Jeremiah ended his days in Egypt, where he was taken against his will after Ishmael’s treacherous murder of the Babylonian governor Gedaliah.

In addition to the book of Jeremiah, the Old Testament includes the Epistle of Jeremiah to the captives taken to Babylon by the king of Babylon, and

LAMENTATIONS - one of the books Old Testament, which included the so-called “Jeremiads” - the prophet’s bitter lamentations about the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of its inhabitants to Babylon.

“How lonely the city, once crowded, sits! he became like a widow; great among nations, the prince over the regions became a tributary. He weeps bitterly at night, and his tears are on his cheeks. He has no comforter among all those who loved him; all his friends betrayed him and became his enemies... His enemies became leaders, his enemies prospered, because the Lord sent grief to him for his many iniquities; his children went into captivity ahead of the enemy... Jerusalem sinned grievously, and for this reason it became disgusting; all who glorified him look at him with contempt, because they saw his nakedness; and he himself sighs and turns away. He had uncleanness on his hem, but he did not think about his future, and therefore he humiliated himself beyond belief...” (Lamentations 1:1-2, 5, 8-9).

Phras.:"balm for the wound."

“Lead by the hand” - support, help, protect, guide. Very often used in the Bible in a positive sense. Nowadays, the expression has acquired a connotation of censure towards people who are not independent: “to lead by the hand” means to be overly protective.

"Jeremiads" are bitter lamentations.

“I cannot remain silent” - the expression became popular after the publication in 1908 of L. N. Tolstoy’s article “I cannot remain silent,” in which the writer’s indignation at the death penalty spilled out.

“The fathers ate sour grapes, but the children’s teeth are set on edge.”

Lit.:S. Zweig, drama “Jeremiah”.

Image:G. Dore, “Jeremiah Dictates His Prophecies to Baruch”; “Lamentation for Jerusalem”, 1864 - 1866; Michelangelo Buonarotti, "Jeremiah", 1508 - 1512.

John 8:3-11 describes an incident that reveals the depth and immensity of the Lord's love, His compassion and forgiveness, which He gives to sinners. Let's read this testimony.

John 8:3-11:
“Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman taken in adultery, and, placing her in the middle, they said to Him: Teacher! This woman was caught in adultery; and Moses commanded us in the law to stone such people: What do you say? They said this, tempting Him, in order to find something to accuse Him of. But Jesus, bending low, wrote with his finger on the ground, not paying attention to them. When they continued to ask Him, He bowed down and said to them: He who is without sin among you, be the first to throw a stone at her. And again, bending low, he wrote on the ground. They, having heard this and being convicted by their conscience, began to leave one after another, starting from the eldest to the last; and only Jesus remained and the woman standing in the middle. Jesus, standing up and not seeing anyone but the woman, said to her: woman! where are your accusers? no one judged you? She answered: no one, Lord. Jesus said to her: and I do not condemn you; go and sin no more».

How great is the Lord's love! He does not want death for sinners. He wants them to return and sin no more. In the book of the prophet Ezekiel it was said:

Ezekiel 33:11:
“Say to them: As I live, says the Lord God: I do not want the sinner to die, but for the sinner to turn from his way and live. Turn yourselves, turn from your evil ways; Why should you die, O house of Israel?”

God wants the sinner to repent and return to Him. This was and is the will of God in relation to sinful people. He does not want the condemnation and death of the sinner. This does not mean that God is indifferent to sin. Addressing the sinner, He says: “I do not condemn you. Your past is a thing of the past. GO AND DO NOT SINNER! Notice that He does not simply say, “I do not condemn you,” but goes on to say: “Go and sin no more”. God expects certain actions from the sinner: “Go and sin no more.” Let us thank God for His forgiveness. However, don't take God's forgiveness for granted. On the contrary, see it as a new beginning in your life, striving to go on and not sin in the future.

It's scary when a knife is put to a person's throat to cut. But it’s one thing to watch it on TV when Islamic bandits cut the throats of hostages, and quite another thing to have a knife put to your throat.

And it was like that.

After Vespers, we cleaned up the church, drank tea with jam and bagels, and began to disperse. It’s good for those women who live near the temple - it’s easy to get home at night. And I need to go by bus. Besides, we started talking about this and that. I see that the last bus is leaving soon. I ran to the bus stop.

How do they do it? If not enough people get on the bus from the train at the station, then they can cancel the last trip - it is not profitable for the management to drive an empty bus and burn diesel fuel.

So we stood and stood at the bus stop with our parishioner and were so cold that we couldn’t touch a tooth. The flight was delayed by about twenty minutes. Then for half an hour.

I don’t know what to do. It takes me an hour to walk, but with a bunch of children's things that were given to me in the church, and even gifts for Christmas for my children - how long will it take me to get home? We consulted with a fellow traveler and decided to hire a private driver, chipping in a hundred rubles each, so that he would take us home - we wouldn’t freeze here!

As luck would have it, not a single car was visible. Finally, a Zhiguli “four” car appeared. I know this for sure: non-Russians use such cars to bring goods to our market. An Asian man or whoever he is is sitting behind the wheel, speaking Russian with a strong accent, distorting his words. We made a deal with him for two hundred rubles for the entire journey and off we went.

I sat next to the driver in the front seat, because I had to drive further, and my friend squeezed into the back seat. We quickly rushed to her house, she came out, and I drove on. In a warm car and in the dark, I warmed up and quickly became sleepy - I hadn’t gotten enough sleep since the night shift. I just feel sleepy that we suddenly turned sharply. “Where did we turn,” I think, “if my house is right on the highway?” But I didn’t attach any importance to this, since I dozed off very sweetly - and I see comforting dreams. Everything that I secretly asked the Lord God and Nicholas the Wonderworker for...

I have been a widow for three years now. My husband Nikolai was handsome. Kind, affectionate, loved me very much. And I loved him. I couldn't live without him for a minute. Once he went to Moscow to get a new car, I was so worried, I couldn’t find a place for myself without him. And only a week of separation has passed.

Even after ten years life together We walked down the street like a bride and groom - holding hands. They looked into each other's eyes - they couldn't stop looking. Kolya was a strong man - he would pick me up in his arms and spin me around, and I’m a big woman. Not every man can lift.

The Lord gave us two children to give birth to in love and harmony. And then there’s this misfortune: Kolya got into a fatal accident because of a drunk driver.

I didn’t really remember anything: during the entire funeral and after, I was like I was drunk – I didn’t understand anything. If it weren’t for his photo in the coffin, I still wouldn’t have believed that my Kolya was no more. And when I came to my senses and understood everything, I howled like a wolf in anguish and wanted to lay hands on myself out of despair. How can I look at the children sleeping peacefully - but what about them without their mother? I think about what Kolenka would say to me about this, and I understand: I need to move on with my life and raise my children.

I started going to church. It was a neighbor who advised me, she said: go cry in front of the holy icons, it will be easier. And sure enough, she cried enough and calmed down, otherwise she cried every time she entered the temple. Our father came up to me, asked what happened, how I needed help - he was so good, like an earthly angel.

The icons in our church are old, prayed for. But most of all, the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker fell on my heart - the saint of God looks like my deceased father-in-law, he is also bald and has a beard. In their family, all the first-born children were baptized Nicholas. We also named our eldest Nikolai.

So I will stand in front of the icon of the Saint and have an intimate conversation with him. I'll tell him everything. And how hard it is for me to run a household, and how I work poorly at three jobs - the salary is small, and even that one is delayed. I’ll tell you how the kids at my school learn that my mother-in-law has fallen ill and hasn’t gotten up for a week. The local doctor came and said that she needed to be admitted to the hospital for surgery. I went to find out that the doctors there are asking for so much money that it’s cheaper to die. What time has it come? - You have to give money everywhere. People don't need anything but money. Where can I get them? Your hard work will only make you rich.

I will complain tearfully to the Pleasant that my fence has fallen down, and the porch has rotted, the door can barely open - the hinges are all broken, it needs to be replaced, that the roof is leaking - I expose basins and buckets in the rain. And making a roof again requires money. Everything needs money. Now no one will work for a bottle of moonshine. But the man owner is not in the house.

But I am silent about the hidden in front of the icon. I think Nikolayushka himself will guess. I’m not an old woman yet; life is very bad for me without a strong man’s shoulder. I silently ask: “Send me a life partner, send me a man, I can’t live alone anymore - it’s hard to go to bed in a cold bed!”

I approached the icons of the Mother of God. I prayed, cried, felt Her warmth. But I was embarrassed to say about the secret or ask Her for a husband or at least some decent man. I thought: “She hasn’t lived with her husband even for a day. She’s a Virgo – pure and immaculate. She won’t understand me, a spoiled woman.” And why bother Her with such requests? We are sinners, carnal - the flesh comes first for us.

At the main work in the workshop we have only women - the foreman, the boss, and the workers. All the women talk without blushing about all their women’s affairs and behave very freely, they are not shy in their clothes or poses, and they don’t particularly choose their words - such swearing is enough to make your ears wither. I listen to some and wonder how they live! They live with living husbands - and everyone is unhappy! Everything is wrong for them and everything is wrong for them!

But they don’t know what they need, they have only stupid fantasies on their minds - they say, to find a rich lover so that he can give them money, or to marry a millionaire so that he can sit at home and do nothing.

Women are fools! They don’t understand their own happiness. One says, it would be better if this husband didn’t exist, I can’t see his face - I’m tired of my pestering, this is the third time I’m running for an abortion, I don’t want to create poverty. And another echoes her, they say, what are men for, she used it once and threw it away. Shame!

And when I remember my Nikolenka, my head will spin from the memories. Then I can’t find a place for myself, I can’t calm down. And I think: “Why don’t women love their husbands? Why don’t they respect and value their husbands during their lifetime?” And then: “The Lord took Nikolenka from me - that means He needs him there more.”

Will I never experience more feminine happiness? Should I really no longer fly through the skies? This thought makes me sad, I don’t feel good. It’s a shame: my feminine beauty is fading, my body is disappearing, I’m lonely... This makes my soul empty and cold. Melancholy presses like a hoop, presses on my heart like a board from the coffin...

...I woke up from my nap and looked: there was a forest all around, darkness, no lights on the highway. And what a spirited driver he turned out to be! - He unbuttons my clothes and tears the buttons. I’ll shout at him: they say, you, so-and-so, what are you doing?! And she began to fight him off with all her might. And he pulled out a knife and put it to my throat, and with such force - I felt blood running in a warm stream down my neck. But she decided not to give in to the rapist, but prayed with all her being: “Lord Jesus Christ, save me! Nikolai Ugodnik, help!

The non-Russian put his cleaver, which is used to slaughter cattle, and thought that he could deal with me anyway. Yes, they are rather weak, these “buy and sell” visiting peasants, compared to our Russian collective farm woman. We got into a fight with him. When I gave birth, I ripped it all up with my nails. But I feel that my strength is running out, the infidel is overpowering me.

My rapist began to fuss. He began to obsequiously talk with the stranger about something. I can feel from his voice that he was very frightened, he has become so flattering, ingratiating himself, fawning over the stranger. It’s obvious that he’s afraid of responsibility - I guess in their hot countries they don’t treat women like that...

I grabbed my things in my arms, grabbed gifts for the children from the back seat and started running, fortunately it was just a stone's throw from the highway. And there it was not far from home. I’m running, I can’t feel my feet under me, as if someone is pulling me forward - the running is so easy, it doesn’t give me shortness of breath.

I didn’t really see my savior. I just saw that he was an older man with a white beard. Of course, this could not have happened without Heavenly intercession. Where could a stranger come from at night, in winter, in the middle of a dark forest? Unless Nicholas the Wonderworker came to my aid.

I ran home, locked the doors tightly, lit a lamp in front of the icons, and prayed so well, with such warmth of heart, to Christ God and St. Nicholas the Pleasant for my salvation that I still carry that joy in my soul.

I still have a mark on my neck from that incident.

But that's not all I have to say. When I began to sort out my bags and packages, in one of them I found the rapist’s belongings, taken by accident, and among them money, large bills. I need to work for this amount for about three years. At first I was very afraid that a non-Russian would find me to take the money. Apparently, he was ashamed to meet me, and he was afraid that I would report him to the police. And even then, for attempted murder and violence, the sentence is a considerable one.

In confession, I told the priest everything (even though I was very ashamed), revealed all my thoughts and repented of my sins. I was greatly tormented by the question: what should I do with the money? The priest thought that I should keep them for myself, since I am a lonely woman, and I suffered cruelly from a foreign rapist - where to look for him now?

Then the priest forgave my sins and spiritually judged: you, they say, waited, begged God for yourself strong man for depraved, prodigal deeds; Heaven heard your prayers, and such a man was found for you, but not the one you prayed for, but a rapist and murderer - however, all this is providential, for your admonition and correction of your difficult widowhood.

Therefore, one must not impose one’s will on the Lord, but must seek first of all God’s Providence and God’s will.

“Go,” the priest told me, “and sin no more.”