N5-12: What Yeshua REALLY MEANT when he said ‘Let he who is without sin throw the first stone!’

“This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, being under the authority of her husband, goes astray and defiles herself, or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall then make the woman stand before the LORD, and the priest shall apply all this law to her. ‘Moreover, the man shall be free from guilt, but that woman shall bear her guilt.'”-Numbers 5:29-31

Today we are going to continue on from yesterday’s post concerning the story of the woman caught in adultery as depicted in John 8 of the New Testament.

Now people all over the world are losing their minds over what I said in my last post.

I stated that Yeshua actually did NOT forgive the woman caught in adultery and the primary reason I gave is that there is no way a Torah-observant Rabbi is going to simply dismiss such a high-handed crime as adultery, a sin that is put on the same level as murder.

Let’s now take an even closer look at this famous NT passage FROM A TORAH PERSPECTIVE.

We’re told that the woman was actually “caught in the act” of adultery. 

I’d like to bring up the question was she really caught in the act of adultery?

Let’s take a good look at the circumstances here.

Those men who hauled the woman over to Yeshua, were they really just and honorable men?

I don’t think so.

I believe they were seething with jealousy over all the attention Yeshua was getting and were trying to find a way to discredit and make a fool out of this young Rabbi who out of all places hailed from an insignificant little town called Nazareth.

So they brought this woman over to Yeshua to test him and they told her “this woman was caught in the act of adultery“.

Now I personally believe these men were lying through their teeth.

But who cares what I believe.

Let’s see what God’s Torah calls for in a situation like this. 

In a situation where a person is accused of a capital crime, the Law calls for at least two witnesses to the crime and the husband must also be present.

And keep in mind throughout this whole ordeal the accused woman remained silent.

There was zero admission of guilt from the alleged adulteress.

Now if we are really going to understand Yeshua’s response to the woman’s accusers, there is one super key point about the Law concerning the witnessing process you need to be aware of.

In a capital case, the witnesses were required to begin the execution process.

Let me say that again.

A witness who testifies against somebody in a capital case is required to begin the execution process.

For example, if this was an execution by shooting, the witness is to be the one who pulls the trigger of the gun.

If an execution by lethal injection, the witness is to be the one who inserts the needle into the accused.

And if it is an execution by stoning, the witness is the one who is to cast the first stone.

There is actually a very good reason for this.

Making the witness participate in the execution process was a very effective deterrent to the sin of “bearing false witness against one’s neighbor“.

Think about it.

If the false testimony of a witness led to the innocent death of the accused, the person who bore false witness would then be a murderer (because he began the execution process).

That’s a huge incentive to not lie or give false testimony.

The point is if the men who had accused the woman of adultery were really telling the truth, there should have been no hesitation on their part to cast the first stone.

In fact, it is required by Torah.

Can you see now why Yeshua said “Let he who is without sin throw the first stone“.

Because in a Jewish execution, it is the witnesses who are to throw the first stone.

“Then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed, to your gates, that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them to death.  On the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.  The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.”-Deuteronomy 17:5-17

And when Yeshua said “he who is without sin“, he was NOT referring to all sins in general.

No, he was referring specifically to the sin of bearing false witness that was fueled by the men’s sneaky motives to somehow entrap Yeshua.

In grand master fashion, Yeshua demonstrated just how sharp his understanding of Torah was.

The men came to him with an accusation, and Yeshua shot them down by telling them if indeed they weren’t bearing false witness, they should just go ahead and cast the first stones at the woman.

If they weren’t lying, they shouldn’t have had a problem with throwing the first stones.

But if they were lying and they did cast those stones, not only did they falsely accuse an innocent woman, but if the woman died, the men would now be murderers before God and they knew it.

Their action of shamefully shirking away is I believe a dead giveaway they were making a false accusation.

To me this whole situation is nothing but a bunch jealous rivals attempting to discredit Yeshua.

It had nothing to do with justice, they just wanted to get rid of Yeshua.

Because the men did NOT throw the first stones, there were now no witnesses to testify against the woman.

The Torah was followed to the tee here.

First Yeshua called for the witnesses to come forward by casting the first stone.

When no witnesses came forward to condemn the alleged adulteress which is what Leviticus requires in order go ahead with capital punishment, Yeshua then moved to the procedures for SUSPECTED adultery which is exactly what we’re studying here in Numbers 5.

We’re going to see that every element of the Numbers 5 water ordeal, the living water, dust, and writing was manifested by Yeshua.

The next time we meet, I’m going to show you how Numbers 5 fits perfectly with Yeshua’s actions in John 8.