John Gill Commentary John 8

Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives .
Which lay eastward of Jerusalem, about a mile from it; Christ went to this mount on the evening of the last day of the feast of tabernacles; partly to decline the danger, and avoid the snares the Jews might lay for him in the night season; having been disappointed and confounded in the daytime;

and it may be for the sake of recreation and diversion, to sup with his dear friends Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, who lived at Bethany, not far from this mount; and chiefly for private prayer to God, on account of himself as man, and for his disciples, and for the spread of his Gospel, and for the enlargement of his interest; this being his common and usual method, (Luke 21:37) .

And early in the morning he came again into the temple
Which shows his diligence, constancy, and assiduity, in his ministerial work, as well as his courage and intrepidity; being fearless of his enemies, though careful to give them no advantage against him, before his time:

and all the people came unto him ;
which also commends the industry and diligence of his hearers, who were forward to hear him, and were early at the temple for that purpose, and that in great numbers:

and he sat down and taught them ;
he sat, as his manner was; (See Gill on Matthew 5:1); and taught them as one having authority, and such doctrine, and in such a manner, as never man did; with all plainness, boldness, and freedom.

And the Scribes and Pharisees The members of the sanhedrim, who were no less diligent and industrious in their wicked way, seeking all opportunities, and taking all advantages against Christ; and fancying they had got something whereby to ensnare him, and bring him into disgrace or danger, they pursue it; and

brought unto him a woman taken in adultery ; who, as some conjecture, might have been taken in it the day before, in one of their booths; being drawn into it through intemperance and carnal mirth, which at this feast they greatly indulged themselves in; which shows that they were far from drawing the Holy Ghost at this time upon them; that on the contrary, they fell into the hands, and under the power of the unclean spirit: who this woman was, is not material to know; what is pretended to be taken out of the annals of the Spanish Jews, is no doubt a fable; that she was the wife of one Manasseh of Jerusalem, an old man, whose name was Susanna ^F4 :

and when they had set her in the midst ; of the company, as the Persic version reads, to be seen by all the people. This history of the woman taken in adultery, is wanting in the Alexandrian copy, and in other ancient copies; nor is it in Nonnus, Chrysostom, and Theophylact; nor in any of the editions of the Syriac version, until it was restored by De Dieu, from a copy of Archbishop Usher's; but was in the Arabic and Ethiopic versions, and in the Harmonies of Tatian and Ammonius;

the former of which lived about the year 160, which was within 60 years, or thereabouts, of the death of the Evangelist John; and the other about the year 230; it was also in Stephens's sixteen ancient Greek copies, and in all Beza's seventeen, excepting one; nor need the authenticness of it be doubted of; Eusebius ^F5 says that it is in the Gospel according to the Hebrews; nor should its authority be called in question.

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: Vid. Selden. Uxor Hebr. l. 3. c. 11. p. 377.
• F5: Hist. Ecless. l. 3. c. 39.

They say unto him, Master They applied to him in a handsome and respectful manner, the better to cover their ill design:

this woman was taken in adultery ; by two persons at least, who could be witnesses of it; otherwise the accusation was not legal; see (Deuteronomy 19:15) ; though in the case of a wife suspected of adultery, they admitted a single witness as valid ^F6 :

in the very act ; or "in the theft itself", for adultery is a theft; it is an unlawful use of another's property; see this word used in the same sense, in Heliodor, l. 1. sect. 11.

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: Maimon. Hilchot Eduth, c. 5. sect. 2.

Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should, be
stoned

Not in (Leviticus 20:10); for though according to the law there, an adulteress, one that was a married woman, and so an adulterer, that was a married man, were to be put to death; yet the death was not stoning, but strangling; for it is a rule with the Jews ^F7 , that where death is simply mentioned (without restraining it to any particular kind) strangling is intended, and which rule they apply to this law: and accordingly in their Misna, or oral law, one that lies with another man's wife, is reckoned among those that are to be strangled ^F8 :

Kimchi indeed says ^F9 , that adulteresses, according to the law, are to be stoned with stones; but then this must be understood of such as are betrothed, but not married; and such a person, Moses has commanded in the law, to be stoned, (Deuteronomy 22:23Deuteronomy 22:24) . And with this agree the traditions of the Jews ^F11 ; ``a daughter of Israel must be stoned, who is (hawvn alw) (howra) , "betrothed, but not married".''

And such an one we must believe this woman was; she was betrothed to a man, but not married to him, and therefore to be stoned:

the Jews ^F12 have also a saying, that if all adulterers were punished with stoning, according to the law, the stones would be consumed; but they would not be consumed;'' adultery was so common with that people:

but what sayest thou ?
dost thou agree with Moses, or not?

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: Maimon. Hilchot Issure Bia, c. 1. sect. 6.
• F8: Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 10. sect. 1.
• F9: In Ezek. xvi. 40.
• F11: T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 51. 2.
• F12: have also a saying, that if all adulterers were punished with stoning, according to the law, the stones would be consumed; but they would not be consumed;'' adultery was so common with that people: