In John 8, we read about an incident that occurred during the ministry of the Lord Jesus.  The Lord had been teaching in the temple, and a group of scribes and Pharisees came to Him.  They brought a woman they had arrested for adultery, and asked the Lord what He had to say about it.  In John 8:5 we read their question:

 

Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? 

 

These men didn’t want the Lord’s help in making a decision.  Instead, they wanted Him to say something they could use against Him.

 

The Lord didn’t answer their question.  Instead, He did something curious.  John 8:6 states:

 

This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

 

We don’t know how long this continued.  In any event, we learn that the men kept asking their question.   John 8:7-8 tells us:

 

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 on the ground.

 

The Lord finally gave them an answer when He said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.”  Of course, that wasn’t the kind of answer the men were hoping to hear.  However, notice what the Lord did before and after He spoke to them: He wrote on the ground.  What did He write?  The Bible doesn’t tell us, but it is possible to give an answer to this question.

 

 

Walking on the Sea

 

In several places in the Old Testament, God tells us something about Himself.  Some of these verses deal with ways in which He demonstrates His great power.  For example, in Job 9:8 we read this about the Lord:

 

Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.

 

Recall that in the very first verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1, God tells us that He created heaven and earth:

 

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.  

 

The first part of Job 9:8 certainly seems to be a reference to the creation as revealed in Genesis 1:1.  Now notice the second part of Job 9:8: “treadeth upon the waves of the sea.”  The word translated “treadeth” (Strong’s number H1869) is translated in several different ways; but it mostly has the idea of someone walking over something and pushing down on it so that it is bending under the person’s weight.

 

Next, consider the word translated “sea.”   That is Strong’s number H3220, and it’s used 396 times.  Most of the time, it’s translated as “sea.”  Finally, consider the word translated “waves.”  That word is only translated as “waves” in this one verse.  It’s Strong’s number H1116 (“bamah”), and it’s translated as “high places”100 times out of its 102 uses.  From many Old Testament verses, we know that high places were associated with idol worship; so we should be alert for spiritual meaning in any verse with the word “bamah.”  However, based on the context of Job 9:8 we certainly see a picture of God walking on the waves of the sea.

 

Interestingly, that’s what the Lord Jesus did one stormy night.  In Matthew 14:23-25, we read:

And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.  But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.  And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

 

The disciples saw the Lord walking in the “midst of the sea” as their ship was “tossed” with waves!  The account goes on to tell us they were so terrified at this sight that they cried out in fear.  Even though it was a very disturbing experience, these men were privileged to see the Lord Jesus demonstrate to them in a unique way that He is God.

 

 

Through the Midst of Them

 

In Luke 4, we read about an occasion when the Lord Jesus taught in a synagogue in Nazareth.  The Lord had already begun His ministry by that time (Luke 4:14-16), and people throughout the area knew about Him.  The Lord Jesus had been brought up in Nazareth, so one might think the people there would have been happy to hear the Lord teach in their synagogue.  However, God’s message is not something unsaved people can accept.

 

The Lord Jesus reminded the people in the synagogue that there had been severe need in Israel hundreds of years earlier during the great famine of Elijah’s day (1 Kings 17), but Elijah wasn’t sent to help any of them.  Rather, he was sent to a poor widow in the city of Sidon (Luke 4:25-26).  Also, there had been many lepers in Israel at that time, but God sent Elijah to heal only Naaman – who was a Syrian (Luke 4:27).  For us, the lesson from these examples is that God chooses when and where to save people.  Salvation isn’t a matter of descent or birthright, and it isn’t up to man to decide that he wants to be saved.

 

When the people heard what the Lord had said, they were so enraged that a group of them grabbed Him and brought Him up to a high location outside the city to throw Him down – as we read in Luke 4:28-31:

 

And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.  But he passing through the midst of them went his way, And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days.

 

It wasn’t in His plans to die that day, so the Lord Jesus simply passed “through the midst of them and went his way.”   There is no reason to think that the Lord struggled to get free or talked His way out of the situation.  Instead, He just used His power to transform Himself.  That’s how He was able to pass “through the midst of them.”  With this incident in mind, read Job 9:11:

 

Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not.

 

This verse is telling us about something God can do (see also Deuteronomy 23:14).  When we read this verse from Job and remember what the Lord Jesus did on that hill outside Nazareth, we see it was another way in which He demonstrated He is God.

 

 

He Maketh the Storm a Calm

 

Much of Psalm 107 deals with God’s control over nature.  Some of its verses (see Psalm 107:23-25) show us a picture of men in a ship at sea when a storm arises.  Notice verses 28-30:

 

Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.   He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.   Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.  

 

It is the Lord who “maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.”  Do these verses remind you of anything?  In Mark 4:37-39, we read about an occasion when the Lord Jesus was with His disciples on a ship:

 

And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.  And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?  And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

 

The disciples who witnessed this event were amazed at what happened.  Did they know about those verses from Psalm 107, or realize that their Master had just done something only God can do?  Probably not, for in Mark 4:41, we read:

 

And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? 

 

Unlike those disciples, we have the whole Bible and are able to search out these things.  Some of what we discover is that the Lord Jesus proved by His miracles that He is God.

 

 

The Finger of God

 

Do any of these miracles help us know what the Lord Jesus wrote on the ground when the scribes and Pharisees came to Him that day?  They do, but only if you know about something else in the Bible.

 

In Exodus 20:1-17, we find the Ten Commandments the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:20, 23).  These were written on two tables or tablets of stone.  The Bible reveals there were actually two sets of these tablets. Moses broke the first set in anger when he came down from the mountain and saw the golden calf that his brother Aaron had made (Exodus 32:17-19).

 

The Lord then had Moses carve out another set of tablets (Exodus 34:1) and again ascend Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:2-4).  Moses was up there with the Lord 40 days and nights.  When he came down, he brought the second set of tablets.  They were kept in the ark and survived for centuries (2 Chronicles 5:10).

 

The Bible indicates that God Himself wrote on both sets of tablets.  However, in verses applying to the first set we learn something that helps us to understand what the Lord Jesus did that day when He wrote on the ground.  In Exodus 32:15-16, we read:

 

And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.  And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.

 

Now notice what we read in Exodus 31:18:

 

And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

 

Here, we learn how God wrote the “testimony” or law on stone: He did it with His finger!  By keeping this in mind and remembering that the Lord Jesus demonstrated by many miracles that He is God, we can now understand something about John 8:6:

 

This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

 

It was no miracle for the Lord to stoop down to the ground and write.  Almost anyone could do that.  However, when the Lord Jesus did it, He showed the scribes and Pharisees that it was He who had given Moses the Ten Commandments.  Just as the miracles demonstrated that the Lord Jesus is God, so did this simple act of stooping down to write on the ground.

 

Some Overlooked Words

 

Although the Bible doesn’t tell us so, it is very reasonable to conclude that the Lord Jesus was writing out the Ten Commandments that day.  It was a way to show the scribes and Pharisees that He was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and that it was He who brought the children of Israel out of Egypt.  The story of the Exodus is very relevant for Christians today, because it shows us a picture of God’s people (represented by Israel) being rescued from spiritual darkness (represented by Egypt under the pharaoh who ruled at that time).

 

The Ten Commandments are also very relevant today.  Even many people who are neither Christians nor Jews have read these commandments.  They are even displayed in public at some places.  However, often when we see them in print or in public we find that they begin with Exodus 20:3:

 

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

 

This verse is listed as the first commandment.  The Lord Jesus may have had enough time to write out those words while He stooped down to the ground.  However, in all likelihood He didn’t start His writing with that verse.  It is actually the preceding verse that has the first words the Lord spoke to Moses when giving him the Ten Commandments.  These words are often omitted when we read the list, and are found in Exodus 20:2:

 

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

 

Did the Lord Jesus write those words on the ground?  We can’t say with certainty, but it appears very likely He did.  His writing that day would have been consistent with everything He did and taught during His ministry of about three and a half years.  In many ways, He revealed that He was the God of ancient Israel.  That was the real message on the ground.