Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah is the Last day of Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles). Tishrei 22, Shemini Atzeret, and Tishrei 23, Simchat Torah, in ancient times were considered one long day and celebrated on Tishrei 22
With that as a background, consider this:
Visualize yourself planning and organizing a seven-day reunion for good old times and you invite everyone. But this is no "regular" reunion: It is one solid week of food, music, dance, and fun.
Sooner or later, things are going to start winding down and people will begin to leave. Because you are the host, you quietly go over to a few of your best friends and whisper: "Stick around after everyone else leaves - that's when I'm breaking out the good stuff."
At the end of Sukkot, God added a special day called Shemini Atzeret, literally the "Eighth Day of Assembly".
During the week of Sukkot, 70 bulls are offered as sacrifices for the Nations. On that great day, only one bull was offered -- reflecting the Jewish people. It is a day of great closeness with our Creator, as He asks His Jewish children to remain with him for extra personal time together.
In John 7:37, it reads, "In the last day, that great day of the feast ...."
This last day would be known as Hoshana Rabbah, or Tishrei 21.
In the next verse, John 8:1-2, it reads, "Yeshua went unto the mount of Olives. 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."
This is the next day after Hoshana Rabbah, the day called Shemini Atzeret.
What does that show us?
Yeshua, the author of the Torah, is going to be questioned about the Torah on the day referred to as "the rejoicing in the Torah"
Re-reading John 8:2, it says, “Now very early in the morning [Shemini Atzeret], he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down and taught them.”
It is on this day, Shemini Atzeret, that the adulterous woman was brought before Yeshua to pass judgment.
Now, Consider this:
John 8:6-8 reads, “Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women: what then do you say? They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of. But Yeshua stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her." Again, he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.”
The Pharisees were misapplying Moses' law here since "stoning" was the punishment commanded for a betrothed girl before her marriage, and the woman before they was married.
Deuteronomy 22:23-27 reads, “If there is a girl who is a virgin engaged to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her, then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city and you shall stone them to death; the girl, because she did not cry out in the city, and the man, because he has violated his neighbor's wife. Thus, you shall purge the evil from among you.”
With this scripture in mind. I want to ask a question:
Where was the man who was the partner in the sin?
The Pharisees cared nothing for the word of God and were only interested in cooking up some charge against Yeshua.
What did they hope to gain? – Two things
(1) If Yeshua had concurred in asking a death penalty for the woman, they would have hauled him before the Romans who had made it illegal for the Jews to assess such a penalty.
(2) If the Lord had recommended mercy, they would have placed him at variance with Moses and made a lawbreaker out of him!
It was a trap
Verse 7 says, “But 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.”
This scripture, even today, has been extremely misused to say that you should never judge anyone, yet, when applied in its context, it does not mean it.
Deuteronomy 17:7 reads, "The hand of the witness shall be the first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people."
Yeshua was demanding that the witness reveal himself and cast the first stone, but the Lord demanded something else - such a witness would himself have to be without sin in this case.
Again, where was the man?
That witness had to be the man the woman committed adultery with or helped set her up. He would not have been without sin in this case. Again, the Pharisees' trap closed without trapping Yeshua.
The Lord had neither condoned any kind of sin nor contradicted Moses. He just turned the tables by an appeal to conscience. There is no coward like a guilty conscience.
This is the only instance of Yeshua, in body form, writing.
What did He write?
A lot of people have questioned this, but the scripture gives the answer: The names of the people that were there, starting with the eldest and going down to the youngest.
Why is this known?
Considering the cycle of the Torah at that time, The Haftorah in the Temple read that day may have been Jeremiah 17. It talks about the Unrepentant Jew.
Read verse 13. “O Adonai, the hope of Israel, all that forsake you shall be put to shame. They that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Adonai, the fountain of living waters.”
John 8:9 reads, "When they heard this, they went away one by one, beginning with the oldest, and he was left alone with the woman standing there."
The names started from the oldest to the youngest. That is how they left.
How could Yeshua have known the ages of the men?
Only one person in scripture was able to do this - Joseph, when his brothers did not know it was him
Genesis 43:33 reads, "Meanwhile, the brothers were seated in front of Joseph in birth order, from firstborn to youngest. The men stared at one another in astonishment. "
Let's continue:
John 8:10-11 reads, “And Yeshua lifted up himself, and said unto her, Woman, where are they? Did no man condemn you? And she said, No man, Lord. And Yeshua said unto her, Neither do I condemn you: go your way; from henceforth sin no more.”
Yeshua’s response showed four things:
1. He was not against the Torah – Needed two witnesses to condemn her
2. He was merciful towards the woman
3. He opposed her sin
4. He could silence people trying to trap Him and put them to shame
What would have been your Response and Why?
Shalom