John 8:6

“This they said, tempting him, etc.] For they brought this woman, and exposed her in this manner, not because of their abhorrence and detestation of the sin; nor did they put the above question to Christ, out of their great respect to the law of Moses; which in many instances, and so in this, they in a great measure made void, by their traditions; for they say, that for such an offence as adultery, they did not put to death, nor beat, unless there was a previous admonition; the use of which was, to distinguish between presumptuous sins, and wilful ones f370; but if there was no admonition, and the woman, even a married woman, if she confessed the crime, all her punishment was to have her…”

“stooped down--It will be observed He was sitting when they came to Him. with his finger wrote on the ground--The words of our translators in italics ("as though He heard them not") have hardly improved the sense, for it is scarcely probable He could wish that to be thought. Rather He wished to show them His aversion to enter on the subject. But as this did not suit them, they "continue asking Him," pressing for an answer. At last, raising Himself He said.”

“Tempting him - Trying him, or laying a plan that they might have occasion to accuse him. If he decided the case, they expected to be able to bring an accusation against him; for if he decided that she ought to die, they might accuse him of claiming power which belonged to the Romans - the power of life and death. They might allege that it was not the giving an opinion about an abstract case, but that she was formally before him, that he decided her case judicially, and that without authority or form of trial. If he decided otherwise, they would have alleged that he denied the authority of the law, and that it was his intention to abrogate it. They had had a controversy with him about the…”

“That they might have to accuse him - Either of usurping the office of a judge, if he condemned her, or of being an enemy to the law, if he acquitted her. Jesus stooping down, wrote with his finger on the ground - God wrote once in the Old Testament; Christ once in the New: perhaps the words which he afterward spoke, when they continued asking him. By this silent action, he, fixed their wandering, hurrying thoughts, in order to awaken their consciences: and, signified that he was not then come to condemn but to save the world. John 8:7”

“8:6 It is impossible to know what Jesus . . . wrote in the dust. It has been suggested that he wrote the sins of the accusers.”

“tempting: Num 14:22; Mat 19:3; Luk 10:25, Luk 11:53, Luk 11:54, Luk 20:20-23; Co1 10:9 But: Joh 8:2; Gen 49:9; Jer 17:13; Dan 5:5 as though: Psa 38:12-14, Psa 39:1; Pro 26:17; Ecc 3:7; Amo 5:10, Amo 5:13; Mat 10:16, Mat 15:23; Mat 26:63 John 8:7”