John 8:1
[[but Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives.]]
Textual Variant: Verses from 7:53 to 8:11 form what is commonly known as “the Story of the adulterous woman”. Scholars agree that it is not part of the original text. It is a story that Papias of Hierapolis used to tell, based, apparently, on the lost “Gospel according to the Hebrews”. The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses (among others the Old Syriac) do not contain this entire chapter (see Eusebious in Ecclesiastical History 3, 39:17).
The interpolation seems to include some irregularities that are contrary to Jewish Law. The crowds of scribes and Pharisees pretended to stone the woman in the middle of the street without any previous trial. Nowhere in Jewish Law it is permitted such procedure.
John 8:2
[[Now very early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down, and taught them.]]
John 8:3
[[The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the midst,]]
John 8:4
[[they told him, Rabbi, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act.]]
John 8:5
[[Now in our Torah, Moses commanded us to stone such. What then do you say about her?]]
John 8:6
[[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.]]
John 8:7
[[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.]]
Yeshua appeals to Deuteronomy here, and in the process, turns the tables,
“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.”
Deuteronomy 17:7
John 8:8
[[Again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.]]
The scribe’s intention is to imply that Yeshua fulfilled the words of Jeremiah,
“HaShem, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be disappointed. Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken HaShem, the spring of living waters.”
Jeremiah 17:13
For more information, see our article, The Secret of the Sotah.
John 8:9
[[They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Yeshua was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle.]]
John 8:10
Yeshua, standing up, saw her and said, Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?
John 8:11
[[She said, No one, Lord. Yeshua said, Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.]]
John 8:12
Once again Yeshua spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.
John 8:13
The Pharisees therefore said to him, You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.
John 8:14
Yeshua answered them, Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you dont know where I came from, or where I am going.
John 8:15
You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one.
John 8:16
Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me.
John 8:17
Its also written in your Torah that the testimony of two people is valid.
John 8:18
I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.
John 8:19
They said therefore to him, Where is your Father? Yeshua answered, You know neither me, nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.
John 8:20
Yeshua spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
John 8:21
Yeshua said therefore again to them, I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you cannot come.
John 8:22
The Judeans therefore said, Will he kill himself, that he says, Where I am going, you cannot come?
John 8:23
He said to them, You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.
John 8:24
I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.
John 8:25
They said therefore to him, Who are you? Yeshua said to them, Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.
John 8:26
I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world.
John 8:27
They did not understand that he spoke to them about the Father.
John 8:28
Yeshua therefore said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things.
John 8:29
He who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.
John 8:30
As he spoke these things, many believed in him.
John 8:31
Yeshua therefore said to those Judeans who had believed him, If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples.
John 8:32
You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
John 8:33
They answered him, We are Abraham’s seed, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say, You will be made free?
John 8:34
Yeshua answered them, Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
“This is through the mystic influence of the Vau, who is always in readiness to pour on it blessing, and who is the “son of freedom” and “son of Jubilee”, who obtains for slaves their freedom. He is a scion of the supernal world, and the author of all life, of all illuminations, and all exalted states.”
Zohar 1:124b, Soncino Press Edition
John 8:35
A slave doesnt live in the house forever. A son remains forever.
“This is the secret of this matter. There are two grades above in which man should be adorned; they are the secret of Faith, and they are one. The first is the secret of the servant and the other is the secret of the son. THE GRADE OF the servant ABOVE is called ‘the master of the whole earth,’ WHICH IS THE SECRET OF MALCHUT, AND THE GRADE OF the son ABOVE is as we stated, “Yisrael is My son, My firstborn” (Shemot 4:22), WHICH IS THE SECRET OF ZEIR ANPIN Everything pertains to the one secret of Faith, and it behooves man to be adorned with these grades OF THE SON AND SERVANT ABOVE to be included within the secret of Faith… HE NOW INTERPRETS THE GRADE OF THE SON, SAYING: Happy is the portion of the son, who deserves to strive to know his Father’s secrets and all the mysteries of His house, like an only child whose father gave him authority over all his secrets. It is to the glory OF THE SON to have power over everything. He who strives in the Torah to know the Holy One, blessed be He, and His mysteries is ‘the son of the Holy One blessed be He,’ and in all the heavenly hosts, there is none that will stop him from entering his Father’s presence at any time he needs to. Happy is his portion throughout the worlds. Therefore, he who strives to know his Father in a particular way, within the secret of Chochmah, MEANING THE CHOCHMAH AT THE RIGHT OF ZEIR ANPIN, is called ‘a son’.”
Zohar, Behar, The Secret of the Servant and the Secret of the Son, Zohar.com
John 8:36
If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
“This is through the mystic influence of the Vau, who is always in readiness to pour on it blessing, and who is the “son of freedom” and “son of Jubilee”, who obtains for slaves their freedom. He is a scion of the supernal world, and the author of all life, of all illuminations, and all exalted states.”
Zohar 1:124b, Soncino Press Edition