I would like to take a look at the account in chapter 8 of John’s Gospel, when the Scribes (the soferim) and the Pharisees (Prushim) brought to Jesus (Yeshua) a woman “caught in adultery”. It has been said that “Jesus set aside the Law of Moses in dealing with this woman, and replaced it with grace”. Is this, in fact, a true statement?
First, some context. John chapter 7 makes it clear that this event takes place in Jerusalem, just after the end of the Feast of Tabernacles (a.k.a the Feast of Booths or, in Hebrew, Chag ha Sukkot). The Feast of Tabernacles is a memorial of the fact that when Israel was brought out of Egypt they dwelt in “booths”, tents or tabernacles. It lasts for 7 days and is immediately followed by the “Last Great Day” – an 8th day when the “water libation ceremony” takes place in the temple. The feast had concluded but Yeshua remained in Jerusalem and the next day returned to the temple to teach.
We pick up the story in John 8:2.
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