Why did God instruct stoning as a punishment?

Why did God instruct stoning as a punishment?

 

Why did God instruct stoning to death as a punishment under the Old Covenant law system?  It’s a troubling question.  I will assume that this question is as troubling to you as it was to me, unless of course, you have already sought after and have discovered the answer and so are now no longer troubled by the question.  If you have not found the answer as yet,  I hope that this part of the study into the morality of God will enlighten you as to why God would include the punishment of stoning to death in his law given to Israel in the wilderness.  A law that the Bible calls Holy: 

 

Romans 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

 

I hope when the true meaning and God’s intentions are demonstrated that it will set your mind at rest or at least give you a reason to investigate the subject in more detail.   

 

I am sure that most people would agree that there cannot be many more inhumane, barbaric, brutal and cold blooded ways of administering capital punishment upon a person or indeed a living thing, than bludgening someone or something to death with stones.  This action would usually be carried out by a group of people that would normally take numerous hits to inflict death,  rather than just one single fatal blow.  The victim dying of blunt trauma. I can’t even imagine the pain that this would cause before the eventual death.  A simply horrific way to die.   Even if they had been found guilty of a crime that had been deemed worthy of being sentenced to death for committing, stoning remains nothing short of a cruel way of administering that punishment.  Even in a time when more “humane” ways of executing the execution such as the electric chair and lethal injection were not available.  I do hope that the sarcasm of the use of humane was not overlooked.  God most certainly had alternative ways in which he could have instructed the administration of the death penalty.  It was his law after all. It was God that included the punishment of death within his law and the way in which it was to be administered. 

 

So with that said I reiterate the question, why did God instruct stoning to death as a punishment under the Old Covenant law system? 

 

What we will see is that it was never God’s intention that stoning would form part of his way of life, neither was it in fact intended that anyone would actually carry out the act even when the punishment was written into the law.  This may seem rather strange seeing the fact of the punishment being prescribed in the law but all will be revealed as we go on. 

Living life under God, was intended to be a much different way of life than that of living as a pagan, under the pagan gods. Life under the one true God, YHWH, had the Israelites followed God’s instructions to them would have meant a life full of blessings and prosperity.  They would be protected against famine, there would always be an abundance of food in the land.  They would be protected from their enemies.  Any enemy that would seek to attack the Isralites would fail. However this was not the life that Israel chose for themselves.  They chose to be disobedient and turn away from God.  The inclusion of stoning in the law given to the Israelites through Moses by God was actually to defeat the pagan practice and the paganism that the Israelites so often reverted back to. 

 

The first time we are introduced to stoning in the Bible is in Exodus chapter 8 verses 25 and 26:  

 

Exodus 8:25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. 26 And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? 

 

Here, we see that this was in fact Moses, speaking to the Pharaoh of Egypt,  while the Israelites were still themselves slaves under the Egyptians in Egypt, telling the Pharaoh that the people of Egypt would stone the Israelites if they did what the Pharaoh had given them permission to do, which was to go and sacrifice to their God in the land of Egypt.

 

God, who had heard the cry of the Israelites, from within their captivity, had chosen Moses to lead the Israelites out of that captivity.   God had instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh to let his people, the Israelites, leave Egypt. Israel had at this point been in Egypt for 215 years and slaves for somewhere between 80 and 144 years:  

 

Exodus 5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. 

 

Moses had warned Pharaoh that should he refuse to comply with the demand then there would come upon Egypt almighty plagues, which we have already covered in that chapter of this book. 

 

However Pharaoh had refused to adhere to the demands that Moses had besought him with. God had then embarked on administering the ten plagues upon Egypt.  This we have already broken down in detail earlier in this study. 

 

Exodus 5:2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.

 

By the time we get to the conversation between Moses and Pharaoh, four of these ten plagues, the plague of blood,  the plague of frogs, the plague of gnats and the plague of flies had already been administered by God upon Egypt. 

 

Pharaoh at this point, although still not willing to allow the Israelites to leave their enslavement and captivity permanently, had at least now rescinded slightly,  deciding to allow them to go out into the land of Egypt, and Sacrifice to their God. Even this was something that previously he had forbidden.  This we see in chapter 8 verse 25 of Exodus:

 

Exodus 8:25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.

 

It is to this, Pharaohs command to go into the land of Egypt and sacrifice unto the God of the Hebrews, that Moses replies that it was not good for them to do so.  Moses claims that sacrificing to their God would be seen as an abomination to the Egyptians and for doing this before the eyes of the Egyptians, the Egyptians would have stoned them: 

 

Exodus 8:26 And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? 

 

So the first time we see a reference to stoning in the Bible it is in reference to the Egyptians who Moses claims or at least he makes an assertion to the fact, would stone the Israelites for sacrificing to the Israelites God before them. 

 

The Israelites would have sacrificed a lamb.  The lamb was seen as sacred in Egypt.

 

It was Moses, not God, that brought up the punishment of stoning. Moses had gotten the idea of stoning as a means of punishment from somewhere else. 

 

The next time we see a reference to stoning is when Moses is talking to God in Exodus chapter 17 regarding the Israelites who were complaining about Moses who they believed had taken them out of Egypt only to kill them in the wilderness through thirst: 

 

Exodus 17:3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? 

 

Moses had enquired to God as to what he should do regarding the people and stated to God that the people were ready to stone him: 

 

Exodus 17:4 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.

 

It is important to notice that on both of these occasions, it is not God referring to stoning, but rather the Bible recording the assumptions of Moses in regards to stoning.  On both occasions it is Moses, who it is believed by many scholars, wrote the book of Exodus where these words are found,  who makes the claim regarding being stoned.  He first makes this claim to Pharaoh and then later to God, that stoning was the likely consequence of the actions.  His assumptions may well have been well-founded but they were not proclamations or the instructions of God.  It was not God who had made reference to Moses being stoned but Moses himself.  

 

So we see Moses referred to stoning long before the law was given to Israel.  Before the punishment of stoning had been included as part of the law that God would give through Moses, Moses had twice referred to it as a likely punishment. 

 

Stoning then, as we can see was already a punishment that the Israelites or at least it would seem Moses, understood.  The Bible does not give any further details as to why Moses assumed stoning, only that Moses believed this would be the outcome.  There is historical evidence of stoning being an ancient near east method of capital punishment but we cannot be sure as to where exactly Moses obtained his knowledge of it.  It is possible that Moses had picked this idea up from the Egyptians themselves during his time living in Egypt, although there is little to no historical evidence to support the understanding that the Egyptians engaged in stoning as a form of punishment and so there is little to no historical evidence to support this assertion.  It does not necessarily however negate the assertion.  We must at least acknowledge that after Moses makes this claim to Pharaoh, Pharaoh does not, or is not recorded as anyhow, denying Moses’ claim regarding him being stoned.  Pharaoh does not inquire as to what stoning is, so it is reasonable to assume that Pharaoh also had knowledge of stoning even if it cannot be demonstrated that the Egyptians would have carried out the stoning that Moses presumes.  We must also remember that Moses had dwelt for forty years in the pagan land of Midian, outside of Egypt and it is possible, although again not something that is biblically provable, that this is where Moses had acquired his knowledge of Stoning.  Moses had fled to Midian from Egypt after he had killed an Egyptian who was beating one of his Hebrew brethren, to escape Pharaoh after Pharaoh had desired to have Moses killed for this crime.  The Bible does not specifically state how Moses had killed the Egyptian although seeing the references to stoning that Moses had used it should not be dismissed, albeit it is highly speculative, that Moses had used a rock or stone in the process of doing so.  Maybe this is where Moses formed his idea. 

 

However Moses had come to possess his awareness of the act of stoning as a form of punishment he most certainly did have knowledge of what it was and it can be reasonably asserted that this knowledge did not come by way of the commandment of God seeing nowhere is stoning ever mentioned or commanded by God before Moses refers to it and Moses does not record God as having declared this as a punishment prior to him asserting it. 

 

The first time that we see God himself declaring the punishment of stoning is in Exodus chapter 19 when God instructs Moses to tell the people not to go up into Mount Sinai or to touch it.  God declared that any man or beast that did so should be stoned to death.  

  

 

Exodus 19:10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, 11 And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. 12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: 13 There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.

 

So God does command this punishment as clearly shown. 

 

The next important thing to notice here is that the command given by God to punish anyone that disobeyed him with stoning was just before God gave Israel, through Moses, the ten commandments and the law that the Israelites would live by on mount Sinai.  The law that was being added because of their transgressions against him while they wandered in the wilderness, having just left the slavery that God had redeemed them from.  The transgressions that they had committed during the time that they had been wandering in the wilderness after leaving that very slavery in Egypt through the intervention of God who had brought them out of Egypt to take them to the land he had promised. 

 

This command, at Mount Sinai however, did not form any part of the law.  We will come back to this command a little later. 

 

What we now need to highlight is that the command of stoning within the law itself was originally ONLY for that of an Ox and not for a person. 

 

God instructed within the law,  the stoning of an Ox that had gored a human, either man or woman so that that person should die: 

 

Exodus 21:28 If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit. 29 But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.

 

The owner of the Ox was also to be sentenced to death, only if the Ox had killed someone and it was found that the Ox had previously hurt or tried to hurt someone in the past and the owner took no care to control him, despite knowing that the Ox had previously done this.  The application of this sentencing to the death of the owner is not directly stated. 

 

 Within the law that was given by God through Moses at mount Sinai there was no specific punishment of stoning for anyone for any reason whatsoever . 

 

The laws specifying the stoning of a person to death, and for which specific crimes, do not start to appear until the book of Leviticus.  They were added to the law at a later period in time.  They were not included in the law in its original form as it was given at Mount Sinai. 

 

The first law that stoning was added to, as a punishment, was the giving of their seed unto Molech.  This punishment was for the children of Israel or any stranger that dwelt amongst them:

 

Leviticus 20:2 Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.

 

The giving of the seed to Molech was a pagan practice.  A sacrificial ritual that pagans participated in to please and appease their gods.  There are a number of different understandings of what this means and how this was performed.  Although I will not be investigating the particulars of this ritual here it is likely that they were either literally killing their children in the fire or they were making them go through the fire, if they came through unharmed they were spared, the gods favouring that child.  If they were burned then they were killed to appease the gods. 

 

In the book of Micah, we do get a glimpse as to why the Israelites themselves were performing the act: 

 

Micah 6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

 

It would seem that they were doing so as a sin offering.  They were using their children, their firstborns anyway,  as a sin offering to the gods.  Here the prophet is asking if the LORD would be happy if this sacrifice was done to please him. 

 

How and for what purpose the ritual was performed is, in any case, irrelevant, the simple fact is the Israelites were participating in it and the punishment of stoning for participating in the act was given.

 

Stoning was also to be the punishment for anyone that had a familiar spirit or who was a wizard: 

 

Leviticus 20:27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.

 

We then see the punishment of stoning added for blaspheming the name of the LORD:

 

Leviticus 24:10 And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp; 11 And the Israelitish woman’s son blasphemed the name of the LORD, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:) 12 And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them. 13 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 14 Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. 16 And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.

 

Here we see that this was added after a man had blasphemed the name of the LORD and had cursed.  An important piece of information given is that the man was the son of an Israelite woman but his father was an Egyptian. 

 

There are also laws regarding stoning found in the book of Deuteronomy.

 

The punishment for stoning added for those that would attempt to entice people into serving false gods, turning them away from the LORD: 

 

Deuteronomy 13:6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 8 Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 9 But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

 

We see God stating it was so they would not do such wickedness: 

 

 Deuteronomy 13:11 And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.

 

The punishment of stoning clearly being identified as a deterrent against participating in the things that they were participating in. 

 

Then comes the command to punish with stoning to death anyone that has gone and actually served other gods including worshipping the sun,  the moon or any host of heaven.  They have committed a wicked thing and should be stoned to death for it: 

 

Deuteronomy 17:2 If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, 3 And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; 4 And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: 5 Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die. 6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 7 The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.

 

We again see the similar statement as to put away the evil from among them.  This being a deterrent clearly indicated. 

 

Then we have a command dealing with bearing false witness regarding the virginity of a woman that would also carry the punishment of stoning to death.  If a husband stated that his new wife was not a virgin on their wedding night but it was proven that she in fact was, then that man was to be stoned to death for bearing false witness against her:

Deuteronomy 22:13 If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, 14 And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: 15 Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: 16 And the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; 17 And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. 18 And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him; 19 And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days.

 

The reason the man would be stoned to death for bearing false witness is because if the accusation were true then it was the woman that was to be stoned to death because she had played the whore.  So the punishment for not being a virgin on the wedding night is death by stoning: 

 

Deuteronomy 22:20 But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: 21 Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.

 

Therefore by bearing false witness against his wife the man would effectively be sentencing her to death if it could not be proven that she was a virgin. 

 

Again, here we see the statement regarding putting the evil away from amongst them. 

 

The final laws that included the punishment of stoning for breaking were, as we have already seen in the chapter dealing with rape in the Bible, a person that committed the act of rape and someone that committed adultery: 

Deuteronomy 22:22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel 23 If a damsel that is a virgin be betrothed unto an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her; 24Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.

And of course, the statement to put the evil from amongst you. 

There then, were only specific laws which would carry the punishment of stoning such as:

 

Giving your seed to Molech
Having a familiar spirit or being a Wizard
Blaspheming against the name of God

Bearing false witness (which would have resulted in the death of someone else) 

Rape

Adultery 

 

Stoning as a form of punishment, although not originally part of the law, was introduced into the law. However, what should be noted is, as demonstrated,  this punishment is given as a direct response by God to the things that the Israelites were incorporating into their way of life and were very clearly participating in.  These laws are therefore given to combat the acts the Israelites were already engaged in. They were reactionary laws.  

 

What is also very important to highlight is that these punishments of stoning came after the golden calf incident at mount Sinai which is a very specific point in the history of Israel and the Israelites,  It happened while Moses was with God upon Mount Sinai obtaining the ten commandments. 

 

The Golden Calf

Moses had ascended up into the mountain as instructed by God, where he would eventually reside for forty days and forty nights and would receive from God the two tablets of stone containing the ten commandments.  However during his time upon the mountain the Israelites had become restless due to the length of time that Moses was gone.  Not knowing what had become of him, they concocted the idea to create for themselves an Idol.  This idol would represent the gods that would go before them. It is already evident that the Israelites who had just been led by YHWH out of Egypt were not simply going to have one God.  They were all too aware of other gods having spent their entire lives under the gods of Egypt. This was going to be a long-running battle between God and his people. 

They went unto Aaron and besought him in the matter: 

 

Exodus 3:1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

This specifically went against the already given commands not to have any other gods before YHWH, neither to make for themselves any idols and was a blatant transgression against the command that they had only just received:

Exodus 20:3Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

A detail that is often overlooked or that maybe goes unnoticed is that the Israelites attributed being led out of Egypt to the man Moses.  They did not know what had happened to him despite the fact that Moses had been called by God, the same God who in reality was the one who had led them out of the land of Egypt, up into the mountain.  

Aaron the brother of Moses, agreed to the request of the Israelites and he told the people to remove all their golden earrings and bring the gold to him:

 Exodus 32:2 And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 

All the people did as Aaron had requested and brought to him all the golden earrings that the people had in their ears:

 

Exodus 32:3 And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 

Aaron then fashioned the gold with a graving tool, into a golden calf, to which the people proclaimed that this golden calf represented the gods, notice this is plural,  that had brought them out of the land of Egypt: 

Exodus 32:4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 

The people had totally disregarded the commands of YHWH and had created for themselves a golden idol that they proclaimed was the gods that had bought them from Egypt.  The calf as we already know was one of the Egyptian gods.  The Israelites had incorporated pagan idols, idols that they were already acquainted with, namely that of the Egyptians,  amongst themselves despite the strict command of YHWH not to do so.  This integration of pagan worship of the gods would be the predominant reason as to why God, the true God YHWH, would add the punishment of stoning people rather than just the Ox to the law that the Israelites would be required to live by.    

The Israelites had fallen back into the same pagan worship as that of the Egyptians so soon after YHWH had demonstrated his power over the Egyptian gods and had brought them from their captivity within Egypt and out into the wilderness.  They had attributed the very act of being led out of Egypt to this idol that they had made.  They had totally and utterly disregarded the God that had in fact done so. 

Forsaking YHWH the people then even sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings unto the idol of the golden calf that Aaron had made.  The insult to God at this point is both blatant and unbelievable:

Exodus 32:5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. 6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

God informed Moses of the peoples’ transgression against him, stating that they had corrupted themselves by making and worshipping the golden calf that they had proclaimed were the gods that brought them up from Egypt.  This. as already mentioned, going against his command for them not to do so.  He further told Moses to go back down to the people and that his wrath would consume them.  God also stated that he would make Moses a great nation: 

 

Exodus 32:7 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

 

Moses however appealed to God to repent of his anger towards them and not consume them.  Moses stating that if God did in fact destroy the Israelites, the Egyptians would claim that God had indeed brought Israel out of Egypt just to kill them in the wilderness, just as the Israelites themselves had made the accusation that he had done so: 

 

Exodus 32:11 And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. 

 

Moses further appealed to God to remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel (Jacob) and the promise that he had made by his own self, unto them, that he would give the seed a land that they would inherit forever.  For the promise was made first to Abraham. 

Exodus 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. 

 

And God did in fact repent of the evil that he had thought to do to his people because of what they had done: 

 

Exodus 32:14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

 

The integration of pagan worship though is very evident.  Although God had recanted on his consuming the people, the Israelites would again fall back into the pagan worship of God and would again worship him as the pagans worshipped their gods.  They began to sacrifice their children to Molech and other such pagan practices.  When we look at the laws within the book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy for which stoning was prescribed as the punishment for breaking as already outlined,  we can’t help but notice that the central issue was for the pagan worship of God or for turning away from the true understanding of who God is, and following after pagan gods. 

 

The Israelites, by incorporating the pagan beliefs and pagan worship of gods into their worship of the LORD, were not in fact, worshipping the LORD but the false gods.  So God utilised the pagan punishment of stoning, within his law that was given to the Israelites, as a punishment,  for the Israelites worshipping him in the way that the pagans had worshipped their gods.  Thus, God would use it so that pagan worship would destroy itself, or at least the perpetrators of pagan worship, by way of pagan punishment for that pagan worship. 

 

God allowed them to reap what they sowed:

 

Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

 

They served and obeyed those false gods and so they were servants of those false gods, which led to death: 

 

Romans 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

 

And so the works of paganism were destroyed by pagan practices. 

 

Jesus explained that a house divided against itself would not stand. 

 

We find this in the gospel of Matthew.  Jesus was accused by the Pharisees of casting out devils by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the devils: 

 

Matthew 12:23 And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.

 

This being after they had heard that Jesus had cast out a devil from a blind and dumb man and the people had asked was Jesus not the son of David (the Messiah that they were waiting for):

 

Matthew 12:22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. 

 

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for their accusations against him regarding the source of his power and ability to cast out devils.  Jesus explained that if Satan cast out Satan then being divided against himself he would not be able to stand.  Jesus even questioned the Pharisees asking them had he in fact cast out devils by the power of Beelzebub by whom did their children cast them out by?:

 

Matthew 12:25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? 27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.

 

God simply used the pagan system that the Israelites had so often reverted back to and incorporated into their worship of him such as putting their children through the fire to Molech, to punish the Israelites usage of the pagan system of worship that they had incorporated.  Turning the pagan system in on itself, destroying the works of pagan worship with the works of pagan worship so that it would divide itself and be unable to stand, just as Jesus had explained while defending the Pharisees claims regarding his casting out of devils. 

 

God even stated in the book of Ezekiel that because the children rebelled against him and didn’t walk in his statues nor kept his judgements and because they went after their father’s Idols, that he gave them statutes that were not good and judgement by which they should not live.  God polluted them in their own gifts.  Gifts here being the Hebrew מַתָּנָה mattanah which can mean a ritual offering.  So, he polluted them in their sacrificial offerings, they sacrificed their own children to their false gods.  As we see it then states “in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb” in verse 26.  The Israelites making their children pass through the fire to Molech:

 

Ezekiel 20:19 I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; 20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God. 21 Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. 22 Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth. 23 I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries; 24 Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols. 25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live; 26 And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.

 

In the book of Zechariah, the prophet is sent to the Israelites to tell them to turn back to the LORD and that should they do so the LORD would turn back to them: 

Zechariah 1:3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. 

 

They are told not to be like their fathers who the former prophets had pleaded with to turn away from their evil ways but had not listened to them and had not returned to the LORD: 

 

Zechariah 1:4  Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the Lord.

 

The Israelites in their reply, and this is very important, themselves stated that God had dealt with them according to their ways: 

 

Zechariah 1:6  But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.

 

Further evidence can be found in the book of Jeremiah, where God proclaims that when the Israelites would ask why they were in captivity the answer would be as they had served strange gods they would serve strangers: 

Jeremiah 5:19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Wherefore doeth the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shalt thou answer them, Like as ye have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

 

Those strangers served other gods, false gods and so God would allow the Israelites to serve the false gods through the captivity of the people who served false gods. 

 

If we go back to the first time that God had commanded the punishment of stoning in Exodus and apply the understanding that we have ascertained, we will see that God simply utilised their own understanding and applied it back to them. 

 

Stoning was a punishment that the Israelites, or at least Moses was already aware of, feared and according to Moses the Israelites would have themselves engaged in. 

 

This command was given, as seen, just before God gave the Israelites the law. This was 3 months after the people had left Egypt. They had been wandering in the wilderness during this time:

 

Exodus 19:1 In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.

 

The Israelites had been murmuring against God and had, on numerous occasions during those three months after leaving Egypt, claimed that God had led them out of Egypt only to kill them in the wilderness: 

 

Exodus 14:11 Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt?

 

Exodus 16:3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger:

 

Exodus 17:3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

 

The Israelites had chosen to believe something about God that was not at all accurate, that was not in any way the truth.  They were making false accusations against him.  God had not sought to kill them in the wilderness. In fact, God was doing the exact opposite. He had brought them out of Egypt to take them into the land that he had promised their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 

This is the reason that the Israelites, who had left Egypt to be taken to the promised land by God, would not in fact enter into the land that he was leading them to.  God explicitly stated, that it was because of the murmurings of the Israelites, who had stated that God was going to kill them in the wilderness was the reason why they had not entered into the promised land but rather they had indeed died in the wilderness as they had claimed he had supposed to do to them.  As the Israelites had spoken, so God would do to them.  They would fall in the wilderness.  The Israelites from twenty years and older would not enter into the promised land. Only Caleb and Joshua would enter: 

Numbers 14:26 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. 28 Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: 29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, 30 Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 

 

Despite having been led out of Egypt by God who was actually protecting them and had indeed already displayed great powers of that protection time and time again, which the Israelites had been direct witnesses to in Egypt ( captivity)  and outside of Egypt (freedom)  such as the parting of the sea,  they believed that he intended to kill them instead.  The Israelites had incorporated their false beliefs about other gods into their understanding of the LORD.  Kind of like what those Christians this book has been written to address do today. 

 

In the same way that they had murmured against God and proclaimed that God would kill them in the wilderness, God had visited that very proclamation back upon them and indeed allowed them to perish in the wilderness where they had said he would kill them.

 

Just before this statement, we get told that yet again,  the people were murmuring against Moses and Aaron.  They would even this time declare that not only did God bring them out of Egypt to die, this time by the sword, but also that it would be better for them to return to Egypt:

 

Numbers 14:1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! 3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? 4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

 

If we look at the context of this proclamation we will see that it was immediately after spies had been sent to the land of Cannan, the land that God was going to give them, and the spies had brought back a false report.  They had claimed that the land was possessed by people who were stronger  than they were, outnumbered them and that they could not take it.  

 

Caleb and Joshua proclaimed that they could take the land by way of help from the LORD.  If the LORD delighted in them then he would take them into the land.  

 

We can see even more evidence here of the Israelites willingness to engage in the act of stoning people, as their response to the proclamation of the two men was to call for them to be stoned:

 

Numbers 14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. 6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: 7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.8 If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. 9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not. 10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.

 

However, the people’s desire to stone Caleb and Joshua was not based upon acting as per the commandment within the law.  There was no law that would allow them to administer the stoning of Caleb and Joshua.  The 2 men had committed no crime and certainly none worthy of such a punishment.  This was simply the people, the Israelites,  themselves who had wanted to do so.  They were not acting in accordance with the law or with God.  They were acting solely on their own accord based upon their own desires. 

 

God stated in a Psalm that the people had not known HIS ways, they erred within their heart and that they would not enter into his rest: 

 

Psalm 95:10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways 11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

 

Their hearts were not following God. 

 

Because of their false claims regarding God, God had simply visited upon the Israelites the punishment of their own understanding.  

 

He did this because of their own incorrect beliefs and murmurings about him.  God simply allowed them to be condemned by their own false affirmations from their own mouths. 

 

This condemnation via their own mouths is perfectly demonstrated in the Parable of the Ten Minas found in Luke 19. 

 

This parable, like many of the parables, is very often misunderstood and misrepresented.  But like all parables, when understood correctly, has purpose and meaning.

 

In the parable, a nobleman gives ten servants one pound each, before leaving to gain a kingdom: 

 

 Luke 19:12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. 13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come  14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

 

On his return he called for his servants who he had given the money to, to see what they had done with it and how much they had gained: 

 

Luke 19:15 And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. 

 

The first had turned his one pound into ten pounds, for which he was rewarded with having authority over ten cities: 

 

Luke 19:16 Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. 17And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities

 

A second man had gained five pounds for which he was awarded authority over five cities: 

 

Luke 19:18 And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. 19 And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.

 

A third man came and returned to the nobleman his pound, having kept it in a napkin.   This man then claimed he feared the nobleman for the nobleman gained what was not his, he reaped what he did not sow: 

 

 Luke 19:20 And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: 21 For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. 

 

The nobleman then stated that by the man’s own mouth would he judge him.  Believing that he was a man that gained what was not his and reaping what he did not sow he should have at least given the money to the bank so as to gain usury on it.  The man, had what was his, taken from him and it was given to someone else: 

 

Luke 19: 22 And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: 23 Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? 24 And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. 25 (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) 26 For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. 27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

 

The man’s own understanding of the nobleman condemned him of his actions.  Just as the Israelites own understanding of their God had condemned them. 

 

.Jesus had himself used this parable to explain an incorrect understanding about when he would bring about the kingdom.  They believed, incorrectly, that the kingdom would appear immediately:

 

Luke 19:11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. 

 

Incorrect understandings about God leads to incorrect proclamations about him. 

 

Despite the law, which very clearly stated that stoning was to be the punishment for certain crimes, the administration of the punishment could not or at least should never have actually been administered.  It was not possible that the Israelites would, in fact, be in a position, a state of being sinless, in order to carry out the prescribed punishment. 

 

Jesus demonstrated that it was only those that were themselves without sin that were able to administer the punishment of stoning itself. 

 

This is found within the famous biblical story of the woman caught in adultery. 

 

Jesus was in the temple teaching people when the scribes and Pharisees came with a woman that had been caught in the act of adultery:

John 8:2 And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.  3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, 

The scribes and Pharisees spoke to Jesus, telling him that the woman had been caught in the very act of adultery: 

John 8:4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

They called Jesus master, which is the Greek διδάσκαλος didaskalos, which is a teacher, instructor, master.  We can see that the scribes and Pharisees recognised Jesus as a teacher or at least they addressed him as such. 

The scribes and Pharisees appealed to the law of Moses and stated that the law of Moses COMMANDED that she should be stoned as her punishment.  As per the law, the Pharisees had every “legal” right to do so.  They then asked Jesus what HE had to say regarding her: 

 John 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

There really was no reason to ask Jesus what he thought as they had just called him teacher.  The law clearly stated what they should do.  They actually did this to tempt him so that they could use his answer to accuse him.  They were basically just trying to get him to say something that they could condemn him with.  This was a tactic they used on a number of occasions: 

 John 8:6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

We do not know what Jesus wrote on the ground.  There are many speculations which include the names of the Pharisees to a simple Bible verse.  There really is no way of knowing for sure and any claim as to what was written is mere postulation. 

Having called Jesus teacher they had tried to trap him.  In their understanding of the law the ONLY answer Jesus could give, seeing he was a teacher, was that she should be stoned according to the law that they had just appealed to and had already declared the punishment as set out by the law. Jesus as a teacher, should have answered as per the law that she should be put to death.

But this was NOT what Jesus declared at all.  The answer that Jesus gave……something most Christians can easily recite, was “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her”:

 John 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 

Now according to the law of Moses, as the scribes and the Pharisees had correctly stated the woman SHOULD have been put to death.  This was the punishment for adultery set out by the law:

Leviticus 20:10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

The woman had been caught in the act of adultery, she was guilty. 

The response of Jesus however was NOT that the woman should be put to death as per the very clear law,   but Jesus rather turned the judgment back onto them that were making the accusation against her. 

Jesus had explained that those who judge by the law will be judged in the same manner, by the law:

Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 

In this way the Israelites were judged. Stoning being a punishment that they wished to engage in was added as a punishment within their law. They would be judged in the way they wished to judge. 

This is something that Paul reiterates in the book of Romans.  Paul states that those that condemn others using the law condemn themselves: 

Romans 2:1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

Paul also states that EVERYONE has sinned and has fallen short of the glory of God:

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

This would mean that those who were wishing to condemn this woman of her sin were in fact also sinners themselves. 

Jesus had earlier stated that the Pharisees did not keep the law.  He explained to them how they broke it and then told them to judge NOT according to the appearance but righteous judgment: 

John 7:19 Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? 20 The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee? 21 Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel. 22 Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. 23 If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? 24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

Only those that were righteous could Judge another unrighteous.  But the Pharisees as Jesus had shown were not righteous in the eyes of the law.  They were as guilty of breaking the law as this woman was. 

Jesus tells us to look at the beam in our own eye before worrying about the speck in our brother’s eye: 

Luke 6:41 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.

It is hypocritical to accuse another while you yourself stand condemned by the very law that you condemn that person with.

James stated that whoever keeps the law but breaks it at one point is guilty of ALL.

James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

 

 

This was something the people who were there clearly understood as one by one they simply left, convicted of their own conscience,  and their own sins, they were unable to cast that first stone.  With the realisation that they too were sinners, they were unable to condemn her using the very law they had appealed to without also condemning themselves in the process, leaving Jesus alone with the woman.  Jesus again wrote on the ground:

John 8:8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 

When Jesus looked up he saw only the woman stood in front of him.  Jesus asked her where her accusers were and had no man condemned her:

John 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 

Condemn is the Greek word  κατακρίνω katakrinó meaning judge worthy of punishment.

No man had judged her worthy of punishment.  No man was able to condemn the woman according to the law without also condemning themselves according to the law. 

The woman replied that no man had condemned her, Jesus then continues and says to the woman that neither did he condemn her:

John 8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Again the Greek word condemn is κατακρίνω katakrinó. Jesus stated that HE did not judge her worthy of punishment. 

However, according to the LAW she was guilty and the punishment according to that same law,  the law that the scribes and Pharisees had appealed to, was for her to be stoned.  Although they were not without sin, Jesus was without sin, he could have cast the first stone and be fully justified by the law in doing so.  In fact had Jesus actually obeyed the letter of the law as it is so often purported that he did, he SHOULD have condemned her, found her guilty of punishment and cast the first stone as the law specifically stated that was to be her punishment.  Jesus as per the law was in fact required to do so and so in not condemning her according to the law Jesus failed to follow the letter of the law. 

But Jesus was, in fact, teaching beyond the letter of the law.  Jesus was not teaching judgment or condemnation instead Jesus was teaching love, mercy and compassion which is what God wanted. 

Amazingly the punishment of stoning was, in fact, a way that God would show his mercy.  We know that God had incorporated the punishment so that pagan worship would be destroyed by Pagan punishment but it also had another purpose.  A much more godly purpose.  Mercy.  It was so that his mercy could be shown. 

Jesus stated that we should judge not and we would not be judged, condemn not and we would not be condemned:

Luke 6:37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:

This would be, NOT to judge and condemn according to the law. Jesus stated NOT to judge and condemn according to the law.

Notice very importantly that Jesus immediately after saying this proclaimed forgiveness. This is something he clearly did with the woman. He forgave her and did not judge her. 

Jesus had not come into the world to condemn it but to save it:

John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Jesus very clearly stated, just four verses after telling the woman that he did not condemn her, that the Pharisees judged after the FLESH.  They judged according to the law, as humans who lived in the flesh under the law rather than the spirit.  

We are told that those that judge without showing mercy themselves will be judged without mercy.  But also that mercy rejoices against the judgment:

James 2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.

 

When a person who is worthy of judgment is shown mercy then mercy rejoices against the judgment. 

 

Jesus, in his sermon on the mount, even stated that those that show mercy will obtain mercy: 

Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Jesus continued that he, Jesus, judged no man:

John 8:15 Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.

Jesus though, states that had he judged his judgement would have been true:

John 8:16 And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.

But there is no condemnation in Christ. Christ had not come to condemn: 

Romans 8:1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Christ had come to call the sinners to repentance, not to kill them or punish them: 

Luke 5:32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Jesus wanted sinners to repent, turn from their sin, not that they would be punished for the sin that they had.  

Jesus stated that all sin can be forgiven, except the blasphemy against the Holy spirit: 

Matthew 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.

If all sin can be forgiven then this would include the sins that carry stoning as the punishment for committing, including adultery.  All a person needed to do is seek the LORD for forgiveness and repent of that sin and they could be forgiven and not condemned.  Mercy would be given. 

 

There are many verses and passages that describe God’s mercy, forgiving the sins of sinners who seek him: 

Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

 

2 Samuel 22:26 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.

 

Psalm 145:8 The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Micah 7:18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Jesus had told the Pharisees to go and learn the meaning of “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice:”

Matthew 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Jesus was quoting a verse from the book of Hosea:

Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Jesus was eating with the tax collectors and sinners when the Pharisees had come and asked him why he was doing so.  He explained to them that it was not the righteous that needed him (the whole need not a physician but the sick):

Matthew 9:10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. 11And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? 12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

It was then that Jesus had quoted Hosea that God would have mercy and not sacrifice telling them to go and learn its meaning.  The meaning as we have seen being that God wanted the turning back to him of the sinners so that he could show them mercy, forgive them so that they would be saved. 

Paul tells us that the law entered so that the offense would abound (increase) but where sin abounded (increased) God’s grace more abound (increased more):

Romans 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

The law was required so that sin could be imputed:

Romans 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

The law was added so that the sin could be imputed but, where sin did increase so did God’s grace.  God would forgive all sins when the person would turn to him and seek his forgiveness and mercy. 

Jesus again would reiterate the Pharisees’ lack of understanding of the meaning  “I will have mercy and not sacrifice.” :

Matthew 12:7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.

We find in the book of Numbers, a particular story regarding a man who was stoned to death for picking up sticks on the sabbath: 

The children of Israel had found a man picking up sticks on the sabbath and had brought him before Moses, Aaron and the congregation: 

 

Numbers 15:32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. 33 And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.

 

However, there was no specific punishment given as per the law.  They did not know what this man’s punishment was to be:

 

 Numbers 15:34 And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. 

 

God told Moses that the man should be stoned.  Yes God told Moses that the man, whose crime was picking up sticks, albeit on the sabbath, was to be stoned to death: 

 

Numbers 15:35 And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death, all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp

 

If we look only at this verse, we do not take into consideration anything that has already been stated here, this seems like a direct command to kill a man with the brutal and compassionless punishment of stoning.  However when we look at this with the understanding that God was trying to use this vile act as a way of calling his people out of paganism we should get a very different understanding of this command.  God was seeking that the people would, rather than engaging in the act, see the brutality of it, the evilness of it and seek mercy for the man.  He had only picked up sticks after all.  He wanted them to seek the forgiveness of God that God had promised to give to those that sought it and repented.  This pagan punishment was going to end the life of a man that had in reality done nothing worthy of such.  Yet their understanding of God or rather the gods, that sin required punishment, that the gods demanded punishment would mean that they did not seek forgiveness or mercy.  The man did not seek mercy.  He was going to die through his and their false understanding.  We then see that they did indeed stone the man to death: 

 

 Numbers 15:36 And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.

 

Pagan understanding destroyed by pagan punishment.

  

Unlike the Pharisees, who could look no further than the law,  God looks at the heart:

1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

Jesus taught love rather than the law because as Paul states love fulfills the law.  Love does no evil to his neighbour:

Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

While the Pharisees wanted to abide by the letter of the law and kill the woman, Jesus showed the woman compassion, love and forgiveness.  Something that is so often missed by those that cannot look beyond the written law today. 

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