02-23-2011, 12:20 AM
Shlama,
in my opinion the P/A is best not taken as orignally part of the text. since i feel much more inclined to go with the Eastern Peshitta reading, i would not accept it in that manner.
that said, i wouldn't be surprised if this turned out in the end to have been an actual encounter in the life of Messiah. the end of the Gospel of John tells us that Messiah did many things which had not been included in his account, and so the possibility remains that this happened, but was only related at a later date, and inserted at that time. just a possibility, to be fair to the existence of it.
i also don't think it actually contradicts the Torah at all, because according to the Torah an adulteress woman AND man must be brought forth to die. the man was left out, thus the Pharisees were in the wrong here. no actual witnesses were mentioned, which further makes for problems.
so what could Messiah do? He clearly condemned the woman's behavior as worthy of death. that was essentially His answer: "stone her --if you haven't performed error in carrying out the edict of the Torah in this matter."
so to me, He upheld the Torah, condemned her supposed sin, and yet showed His desire for repentance for her actions. basically she survived on the basis of a technicality.
as for me, however, if i have to go with what i would call "inspired" writings, i would leave the P/A out for good measure.
Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy
in my opinion the P/A is best not taken as orignally part of the text. since i feel much more inclined to go with the Eastern Peshitta reading, i would not accept it in that manner.
that said, i wouldn't be surprised if this turned out in the end to have been an actual encounter in the life of Messiah. the end of the Gospel of John tells us that Messiah did many things which had not been included in his account, and so the possibility remains that this happened, but was only related at a later date, and inserted at that time. just a possibility, to be fair to the existence of it.
i also don't think it actually contradicts the Torah at all, because according to the Torah an adulteress woman AND man must be brought forth to die. the man was left out, thus the Pharisees were in the wrong here. no actual witnesses were mentioned, which further makes for problems.
so what could Messiah do? He clearly condemned the woman's behavior as worthy of death. that was essentially His answer: "stone her --if you haven't performed error in carrying out the edict of the Torah in this matter."
so to me, He upheld the Torah, condemned her supposed sin, and yet showed His desire for repentance for her actions. basically she survived on the basis of a technicality.
as for me, however, if i have to go with what i would call "inspired" writings, i would leave the P/A out for good measure.
Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy