What is adultery?

The Seventh Commandment - "Thou shalt not commit adultery.." (Exodus 20:14) - What is adultery?

When a child is born, there is never any doubt as to who the mother is. But, as has been the case throughout all of human history, the identity of the father is sometimes less than certain. The Jewish word na'aph (pronounced naw-af) is translated as adultery in " (Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 20:10; Proverb 6:29,32; Ezekiel 16:32, 38 and Hosea 4:14). The law clearly states: "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.." (Leviticus 20:10)

In John 8:2-11 we read: ""And early in the morning He came again into the Temple (2 Corithians 6:16), and all the people came unto Him; and He sat down, and taught them." "And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto Him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the Law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest Thou?" "This they said, tempting Him, that they might have to accuse Him."

The Old Testament lists adultery as a capital crime (Lev. 20:10). Jewish Law does not forgive. Halakha (the collective body of Jewish religious law, defines adultery as a sexual encounter between a married woman and a man not her husband. An affair between a married man and a single woman is not considered adultery. The Mosaic law was very tough on crimes against people, relationships, and the family unit. These religious scribes and Pharisees were trying to impale Jesus on the horns of this created dilemma: If Jesus agreed with the Old Testament law and called for her execution, they could accuse Jesus of sedition before the Romans, because since 30 AD the Romans had taken away the Jews' right of capital punishment. If Jesus said the adulteress shouldn't be stoned, they could accuse him of false teaching and discredit him with the people, because of what the law clearly mandated.

Jewish civil law had very strict conditions under which this crime of adultry could be punishable by execution. It required that the man and the woman be caught in the act (Num. 5:13). "In the case of adulterers, they (the witnesses) must have seen them in the posture of adulterers." Another scholar of Talmudic law notes: "(It is not just an issue) of their having seen the couple in a `compromising situation,' for example, coming from a room in which they were alone, or even lying together on the same bed. The actual physical movements of the couple must have been capable of no other explanation, and the witnesses must have seen exactly the same acts at exactly the same time, in the presence of each other, so that their depositions would be identical in every respect." But the same law stated that both parties were to be produced and prosecuted (Deut. 22:22) together. It obviously takes at least two people to commit adultery! If these scribes and Pharisees had really caught this woman "in the very act," then where is the man? These religious men brought only the woman to Jesus for condemnation and sentencing in order to discredit and entrap Jesus. They may have personally solicited her services, then on a pre-arranged signal burst in, let the adulterous man freely go and dragged only the woman caught in adultery to Jesus. This lone woman proves these religious leaders were either false witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:16-21) or accessories to the crime and therefore guilty of adultery themselves! If this is not so, where is the proof of the alledged adultery? Why was the man that she was "taken in adultery, caught in the very act" not brought to Jesus with her. Whoever he was, he was just as guilty and just as subject to "the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death" (Leviticus 20:10 KJV) that the scribes and Pharisees quoted in condemning the woman.

How did Jesus handle their attempt to entrap Him?

Jesus (Genesis 1:26-27) stooped down, and with His finger (like He did in Exodus 31:18) wrote (the first great commandment - Matthew 22: 27-28) on the ground (Genesis 2:7, 3:19), as though He heard them not (Proverbs 15:1) . 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. And again He stooped down, and wrote (the second great commandment - Matthew 22:39) on the ground." "And they which heard (not saw) it, being convicted by their own conscience (Jeremiah 31:33 and Hebrews 10:16) , went out one by one (John 6:66), beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 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?" "She said, No man, Lord." "And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." See - Hosea 4:14.

In a real sense, this sinful woman is an illustration of all of us. We have all sinned, we have all broken G-d's laws, we all deserve condemnation and death. If Jesus would not have stooped down, to write the laws in our hearts and given us consciences- we all would never have been able to repent. It is only by repenting that we are able to come to Jesus and ask him for forgiveness. "[There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Rom. 8:1). Do you fully understand Hebrews 4:14-16?

I have heard denominational pastors teach that Jesus wrote various sins in the dirt accusing these religious leaders but, Jesus is not the accuser of the bretheren - the devil is - and sadly, the devil is often helped accusing the brethren by religious leaders. (See Revelation 17:5 and 18:4 - to see how G-d remembers the great adulteress whore.)

Spiritual adultery - Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Because thou hast forgotten Me, and cast Me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy harlotries. The LORD said moreover unto me: 'Son of man, wilt thou judge Oholah and Oholibah? then declare unto them their abominations. For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery; and their sons, whom they bore unto Me, they have also set apart unto them to be devoured. Moreover this they have done unto Me: they have defiled My sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned My sabbaths. For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into My sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, thus have they done in the midst of My house." (Ezekiel 23:35-39)

"Blessed are they that do His Commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." (Revelation 22:14-15 KJV)