Starting in Deuteronomy 17:2 - "“When you begin living in the towns the LORD your God is giving you, a man or woman among you might do evil in the sight of the LORD your God and violate the covenant."
For several chapters now, Moses has been dropping softball-sized hailstones - big, big hints - warning the Israelites. "You guys are about to enter that AWESOME, AMAZING land that God has been promising to all of you for years and years. You are going to be so excited and happy! You will have nice homes, plenty of wonderful food to eat, and you will live in safety. Just remember... remember where you came from.
"...Don't get wrapped up in what you have and forget who gave it to you.
"...Don't say to yourselves, 'Wow, look what all we have accomplished!'"
But God, of course, knows us. He MADE us. And he knew some people would inevitably lose sight of Him, forget the principles they had been taught, and turn away to worship other gods or do evil things.
v. 2 - "...(someone) among you might do evil in the sight of the Lord your God and violate the covenant."
God has been watching even the most well-meaning of His children do that sort of thing for a long time.
Continuing in verses 4 - 5:
"When you hear about it, investigate the matter thoroughly. If it is true that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then the man or woman who has committed such an evil act must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned to death."
God don't play.
He laid out clearly what to do, and laid out clearly what the consequences would be for doing... what He said not to do.
Aha, a caveat! Verse 6: "But never put a person to death on the testimony of only one witness. There must always be two or three witnesses."
In other words, don't just go around accusing and killing people. There must be two or three witnesses to the alleged evil that a person has committed.
Verse 7: "The witnesses must throw the first stones, and then all the people may join in. In this way, you will purge the evil from among you."
Those who brought the accusation would have to really commit to their course of action... and they would be the ones who threw the first stones.
When I read that, a little footnote typed itself out in my mind.
Jesus talked about first stones, too!
In John chapter 7, Jesus went to the Festival of Shelters. Deuteronomy 16 lists several festivals God ordered His people to celebrate regularly. He wants us to celebrate; to be joyful and glad and have a good time, expressing to Him our gratitude for all He has done for us! God's people were instructed to celebrate the Passover, the Festival of Harvest, and the Festival of Shelters,
(Just a side note... here in Louisiana, we have a festival for just about everything! We know how to celebrate strawberries; shrimp and petroleum; watermelon; peaches; jazz and heritage... I could go on and on, but you see what I mean!)
Anyway, years and years after Deuteronomy happened, the Jews were faithfully still obeying God's decree. They were having a festival!
Jesus showed up and started saying all kinds of things they considered outlandish. In particular, he referenced several times the laws given by Moses BUT with a twist on them, applying those rules to live in the current day in which they lived. Heads turned, opinions were mumbled and, a few times, they even tried to arrest Jesus! Good church people don't like nobody stirrin' around in their "that's how we've ALWAYS done it!"
One quote of Jesus' words especially stands out to me. He was talking about judging someone as guilty of breaking rules. John 7:24 says, "Look beneath the surface so you can judge CORRECTLY.." (emphasis mine)
Which brings us to John chapter 8.
Verse 2 says, "...early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them."
(Controversy can be magnetic, can't it? Just a thought.) 😀
Continuing... verses 3-5: "As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd. 'Teacher,' they said to Jesus, 'this woman was caught in the act of adultery.The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?'"
These folks knew their scriptures. The Word said celebrate, they celebrated. And when the Word said to stone someone... well....
Jesus knew all about what Deuteronomy said. He was around way before those words were written and He was observing when Moses shared those laws with Israel.
And most everybody today knows how He responded.
"They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, 'All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!'” (v. 7)
In other words, which of you will stand up and declare yourselves witnesses of the wrong she has done? And, before you answer, think carefully...
This woman was committing adultery, presumably, in a secret and hidden place where there would not have BEEN any witnesses.
"So think," Jesus might have hinted, "about anything YOU might have done, that maybe you thought no one else knew about."
And, as the Bible says, one by one, they dropped their stones and walked away.
Because everyone has skeletons in their closets. Everyone has secrets. No one is sinless.
Therefore, no one is righteous enough to declare someone else guilty. No matter what the charge.
Before Jesus, sin meant stones.
Since Jesus came and introduced His new way to us, sin means an opportunity to be forgiven.
Selah.
