John 8:3

John 8:3. And the scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman taken. In adultery; and making her stand. In the midst.... For the ‘Pharisees,' comp. on chap. John 1:24: for the ‘scribes,' on Matthew 7:29. John nowhere else mentions the scribes: they are frequently conjoined with the Pharisees in the earlier Gospels (Matthew 5:20; Mark 7:5; Luke 6:7, etc.). The scene described in the words before us must have been in a high degree impressive and exciting. The people are still gathered around Jesus and listening intently to His words, when suddenly His discourse is interrupted by the religious authorities of the land, who force their way through the crowd dragging the unhappy culprit along with them, their faces bearing all the marks of eager passion to entrap the object of their hatred; their hands (as will appear more clearly from John 8:7) already grasping the stones by which they would at Least indicate their conviction of the woman's guilt; their words, even before they reach the Saviour, sending a thrill of horror through the multitude, ‘she has been taken in the very act' Without the slightest feeling of compunction. they compel the woman to stand in the midst of the throng, and then they address themselves to Jesus.