In dealing with this study, adapted from chapters 7 and 8 of Yahuchanan [John], I have typed out the chapters from the Peshitta, with the Hebraic names and renderings for a better understanding of what is actually happening. These events are taking place during the Chag HaSukkoth [Feast of Tents], the fall feast. I understand that there is a wee bit of text here, but there is too much here to assume that everyone is familiar with these passages, knows the underlying history and has the same translation, so please bear with me.

Some of the background, which will be explained further: The Heykal is the temple of the Yahudiym [Jews]. This temple resides in Yerushalayim [Jerusalem]. This is not the original temple, which was destroyed when the Yahudiym were carted off into captivity. This is the one rebuilt when a group of Yahudiym came out of captivity. But this heykal has been added on by the Herods [Idumeans] and is being presided over by various groups jockeying for position, appointed by the Herodser. The word heykal is Aramaic, showing its later use, just prior to and after the captivity to Babel. The full explanation of the heykal is another study. The water pouring ceremony is one either created or adapted. I have not found the origins of it yet, but it is not instituted by YHWH for Chag HaSukkoth [Feast of Tents].

The Talmud, referenced below is the Oral Torah, that was passed along between sage and students. Some Yahudiym consider it equal to, if not greater than the written Thorah. Originally, the Oral Law was not written down. As the rabbinic decisions became too numerous to memorize, rabbis, such as Hillel, Akiba and Meir sought to classify the law and create ways to aid in memorizing it. These attempts did not gain widespread acceptance. As the revolts and persecutions against the Yahudiym [Jews] increased, the number of men that knew the Oral Law decreased, putting oral transmission in jeopardy. From about 10 CE to 220 CE, rabbinical tannaim (teachings of the Oral Law) accumulated. Rabbi Akiba attempted to codify Halakah. His student, Rabbi Meir, continued the work. Their student, Judah HaNasi [Judah the Prince], rearranged the whole Oral Law and wrote it out, with some personal additions, calling it the Mishnah of Rabbi Jehuda. It was so widely accepted that it came to be called The Mishnah, and was considered the authority of the Yahudiym. This was written about 200 CE. There are two schools of Talmud, Jerusalem/Palestinian of the school that resided there and the Babylonian from the larger school that remained in Babel after the exile. The Jerusalem Talmud was compiled about 425 CE and the Babylonian was in various stages of being finalized in 500-650 CE.

The Peshitta is the Aramaic New Testament. Most of which was originally compiled in Aramaic and Syriac, the common, local tongues at the time. As the “church” spread west, the common tongue was Greek, which the current received text comes from and then Latin. Each of these subjects have studies on my site and can be referenced more fully if you should desire.

Chapter 7

After these things Yahusha walked in Galiyl [Galilee], for he would not walk in Yahudah [Judah], because the Yahudiym [Jews] sought to slay him. And the Chag HaSukkoth [Feast of the Tents] of the Yahudiym drew near. And the brothers of Yahusha said to him, Leave here, and go into Yahudah; that your students may see the works you do. For there is no one who does any thing in secret, and wills himself to become public. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. For even his brothers did not believe in Yahusha. Yahusha said to them, My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but me it hates; because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. Go you up to the feast [Sukkoth]; I do not go up to this feast now, because my time is not yet completed. These things he said, and remained still in Galiyl. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not openly, but as it were secretly. And the Yahudiym sought for him at the feast; and they said, Where is he? And there was much murmuring among the people respecting him; for some said, He is good; while others said, No, but he deceives the people. Yet no one spoke openly of him, from fear of the Yahudiym. And in the midst of the days of the feast, Yahusha went into the temple [heykal], and taught. And the Yahudiym wondered, and said, How knows this man writing, having not learned? Yahusha answered and said, My thorah [laws/teachings] is not from me, but from him that sent me. He that wishes to do his will, will understand my thorah, whether it is from Elohiym, or whether I speak from my own will. He that speaks according to the will of his own mind, seeks honor for himself, but he who seeks the honor of him that sent him, is true, and evil is not in his heart. Did not Mosheh [Moses] give you the Thorah? Yet no one of you observes the Thorah. Why do you seek to kill me? The multitude answered and said, You have a demon. Who seeks to kill you? Yahusha replied, and said to them, I have done one work, and you all wonder. Because Mosheh gave you circumcision, not that it was from Mosheh, but it was from the fathers, you circumcise a child on the shabbath. And if a child is circumcised on the shabbath day, that the Thorah of Mosheh may not be violated, do you murmur at me, because I have made a man entirely sound on the shabbath day? Judge not, with a respect for persons; but judge you a righteous judgment. And some from Yerushalayim [Jerusalem] said, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill? And look, he speaks publicly, and they say nothing to him. Do the Zeqeniym [Elders] know, that he really is the Mashiyach [Messiah]? Yet we know this man, where he came from; the Mashiyach, when he will come, no one knows where comes from. And Yahusha, while teaching in the heykal, raised his voice and said, You both know me, and you know from where I came. And I did not come of my own accord; but he that sent me is true. Him you know not; but I know him; because I am from him, and he sent me. And they sought to apprehend him; but no one laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. And many of the multitude believed on him, and said, When the Mashiyach comes, will he work greater signs than these which this man does? And the Farushiym [Pharisees] heard the multitude say these things of him, and they and the chief kohaniym [priests] sent officers to take him. And Yahusha said, A little while longer I am with you, and then I go to him that sent me. And you will seek me, and will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come. The Yahudiym said among themselves, Where is he about to go, that we cannot find him? Will he go to some region of the Goyiym [Gentiles], and teach the profane? What is this word he has said, You will seek me, and will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come? And on the great day, which was the last of the feast, Yahusha stood and cried, and said, If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Kethubiym [Writings – inclusive of all the Tanak [Old Testament] have said, Out of his belly will flow rivers of living waters. This he said of the Ruach [literally breath as in the Ruach HaQodesh (breath of the Holy One)], which they who believe in him were to receive, for the Ruach had not yet been given, because Yahusha was not yet honored. And many of the multitude who heard his teachings, said, Certainly, he is a nabiy [prophet]. Others said, He is the Mashiyach. Others said, Does Mashiyach come from Galiyl? Does not the Kethubiym say, that Mashiyach comes of the seed of Dawiyd [David], and from Beyth Lechem [Bethlehem – House of Bread] the town of Dawiyd? And there was a division among the multitude respecting him. And there were some of them who wished to apprehend him. But no one laid hands on him. And the officers came to the chief Kohaniym [Priests] and Farushiym; and the Kohaniym said to them, Why have you not brought him? The officers said to them, Never did a man speak, as this man speaks. The Farushiym said to them, Are you also deceived? Have any of the Manhiygiym [Leaders], or of the Farushiym, believed in him? But this people, who know not the Thorah, are accursed. One of them, Naqdaymon [Nicodemus], he who came to Yahusha by night, said to them, Does our Thorah condemn a man, unless it first hear him, and know what he has done? They answered, and said to him, Are you also from Galiyl? Search, and see, that no nabiy arises from Galiyl. So they went every one to his own house.

Chapter 8

And Yahusha went to the Mountain of Olives. And in the morning he came again to the heykal; and all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. And the Soferiym [Scribes] and Farushiym brought forward a woman that was caught in adultery. And when they had placed her in the midst, they say to him, Teacher, this woman was caught openly in the act of adultery. And in the Thorah of Mosheh, has commanded us to stone such persons. What do you say? And this they said, tempting him, so that they might have ground to accuse him. But Yahusha having stooped down, was writing on the ground. And as they continued asking him, he straightened himself up, and said to them, Whoever among you is without sin, let him first cast a stone at her. And, having again stooped down, he wrote on the ground. And they, when they heard, went out one by one, beginning with the older; and the woman was left, alone where she had stood in the midst. And when Yahusha had straightened himself up, he said to the woman, Where are they? Does no one condemn you? And she said, No man, Adon [master]. And Yahusha said, Neither do I condemn you. Go you, and sin no more.

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The main points we are going to cover are Yahusha’s application of himself, to the traditions they are practicing in the heykal [temple], at that time, trying to draw the people back to YHWH, and the leaders trying to trap Yahusha with a judgment against an adulterous woman.

First we need a wee bit of background on the Sukkoth ceremony that was being observed at that time, in the heykal. In the Talmud, Order Moed, Tractate Sukkah, we see the activities of the Heykal [Temple], before its destruction in 70 CE and the commentary by the Rabbis, concerning Chag HaSukkoth [Feast of Tents]. There are also variances between the two different versions of the Talmud – Jerusalem/Palestinian and Babylonian. Both mention the Water Libation or Drawing Out of Water ceremony. The Jerusalem Talmud has a quote though, that I no longer have access to at the moment and need to reference, but will mention here, with the understanding that I no longer have the photo copy, or at least from 2 moves, know where it is in all my reference materials. In Sed. Moed, Mas. Sukkah 51, “Why is the name of it called the Drawing Out of Water? Because of the pouring out of the Ruach HaQodesh. According to what is said, ‘With joy you will draw out of the wells of salvation.’ ”

This reference is believed to be from YeshaYahu 12:3, “and you will draw waters out of the wells of salvation with joy.” The Talmud even records that as they climbed the 15 steps of the Heykal, with the drawn water from the Pool of Siloam into a golden pitcher, they sang the 15 Song of Ascents 120-134 from the book of Thehilliym [Psalms], one for each step, on each day of Chag Ha Sukkoth. Though the songs do not deal with water, it is part of the ceremony. Some authors believe that the propensity of these Farushiym [Pharisees] and Kohaniym [Priests] to dissect a subject, would have led to discussions and teaching concerning several other connected verses dealing with springs of water for the water pouring ceremony.

I had not given this much thought after reading about the matter, not being particularly interested in the ceremonies of the Heykal, but one day, while reading Yahuchanan [John] 7 and 8, looking at it from the perspective of the Peshitta texts, I was curious about the writing in the dirt episode. I had always heard Christian pastors speculate that it was particular sins that were being written and the guilty offender would then leave when his sin was written. Of course, it was all speculation and I never took it as anything else, but was always curious what Yahusha wrote in the dirt, that caused these religious leaders to leave and no longer pursue their trap against him. There had to be a reason for his writing, I did not feel that he was just doodling.

At this point, I decided to do a word search to see if anything remotely similar occurred in the scripture and found, what I think, is the key to these chapters. Just as a recap, the Yahudiym [Jews] are having a water drawing and pouring ceremony for Chag HaSukkoth. On the last day of Sukkoth, Yahusha mounts the steps of the Heykal and says, “If any man thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Kethubiym [Writings] have said, Out of his belly will flow rivers of living waters.” Since the officers of the Heykal would not seize Yahusha, the leaders decide to trap him by bringing a woman caught in adultery, quoting the Thorah in such matters, then ask him what he says. You need to understand that the Thorah calls for the stoning of not only the woman caught, but the man that would have been with her. It was breaking Thorah for these leaders to not include the man in their trial. It also needs to be understood that the Yahudiym no longer had the right of execution in their trials, the Romans had taken it away from them. This was part of the trap. If Yahusha stated that the Thorah should be kept and the adulterers stoned, the Romans would have taken them as rebels against the Roman Empire, having the Romans do their dirty work for them. If Yahusha stated anything else, he would have been accused by the leaders as not observing Thorah. What they did not count on was what Yahusha did. “But Yahusha having stooped down, was writing on the ground. And as they continued asking him, he straightened himself up, and said to them, ‘Whoever among you is without sin, let him first cast a stone at her.’ And, having again stooped down, he wrote on the ground. And they, when they heard, went out one by one, beginning with the older; and the woman was left, alone where she had stood in the midst.”

YirmeYahu 17:13 states, “YHWH, the miqweh of yisrael, all who forsake you will be ashamed. those who depart from me will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken YHWH, the fountain of living waters.” A miqweh is a collection of water that is used for immersion, what Christians view as baptism. While I have a study on the Miqweh, it is not the focus here. YirmeYahu 2:13 states, “ ‘for my people have done two evils, they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, to hew out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.’ “ The son of YHWH, who was trying to return the hearts of the children to the Father, stood on the steps of the Heykal and declared, as an ambassador of his Father, that if anyone was thirsty to come and drink and streams of living water would pour forth. Instead of embracing Yahusha, the leadership rejected him and chose to continue to reject the Way of YHWH, hewing out their own cisterns. So Yahusha writes in the dirt. I believe he was at first writing this verse, stood up and said to them, “ ‘Whoever among you is without sin, let him first cast a stone at her.’ “ And then proceeded to write their names, from the oldest to the youngest, as the scripture stated.

I don’t believe that these men, learned in their own eyes, even to accusing the average man as knowing nothing of Thorah and cursing them, did not know the other verses dealing with the fountains/springs of living water, especially for a major feast. They created an elaborate water ceremony for Sukkoth and totally missed the living waters of YHWH. Now, the irony is, that these verses also deal with an intimate relationship with YHWH, or in the case of man, with a marriage relationship, which ties in with the woman caught in adultery. This symbolism of springs of water and cisterns is of men and women, of husbands and wives. Mishley [Proverbs] 5:15-23 , “¹⁵ drink waters out of your own cistern, and running waters out of your own well. ¹⁶ should your overflowing springs be scattered outside, like rivers of waters in the streets? ¹⁷ let them be only your own, and not to strangers with you; ¹⁸ let your fountains be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth; ¹⁹ she is a loving deer, a graceful doe; let her breasts satisfy you every time, and always be ravished in her love. ²⁰ and my son, why will you be ravished with a strange woman, and embrace the bosom of a foreigner? ²¹ for the ways of man are before the eyes of YHWH, and he ponders all his tracks. ²² his own iniquities will take the wicked himself, and he will be held with the cords of his sin. ²³ he will die without instruction, and in the greatness of his foolishness he will go astray.”

The men are the springs of water, as YHWH is. The women are the cisterns that receive that water, as Yisrael is the submissive to YHWH is. Yechezqel [Ezekiel] 16 is about a relationship, likened to a marriage, between YHWH and Yisrael. This chapter shows the betrothel, the cleansing of the miqweh for uncleanness, the marriage beriyth [covenant] and all the gifts that YHWH pours out upon His bride. But the bride does not remain faithful to Him. She becomes a whore, an adulterous wife. She is the broken cistern that cannot hold the springs of living water. She, Yisrael, rejects the Living Water, her husband. The book of Hoshea is symbolic of the adulterous woman. We also see in Revelations 21:6 and 22:1,2 the Water of Life (living water) flowing from the throne of YHWH and of the Lamb. Do you see the connection between the adultery, the whoring and the uncleanness, defilement, that so necessitates the miqweh of YHWH’s pure, life giving water to cleanse us from filth? This is the message that Yahusha was trying to get across.

According to the Thorah of YHWH, the witness or accuser to a crime, if one is to be found guilty, is the first one to throw the stone in a stoning. As I mentioned earlier, the leaders trying to trap Yahusha with this case of adultery did not keep the Thorah of YHWH by bringing the man also caught. Wayyiqra [Leviticus] 20:10, “and a man who commits adultery with the wife of a man, who commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, the adulterer and the adulteress, dying will die.” HaDebariym [Deuteronomy] 22:22, “if a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they will both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman. and you will put away the evil from yisrael..” So an adulterous leadership brings an adulterous woman for judgment and finds that their adultery is actually the one that is exposed and judged. Since they leave, due to the writing of Yahusha in the dirt, Yahusha rises and asks the woman, “ ‘Where are they? Does no one condemn you?’ And she said, ‘No man, Adon [master].’ And Yahusha said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go you, and sin no more.’ “ No witnesses, no sentence. A quasi mistrial.

Taking a golden pitcher, with all pomp and circumstance, drawing water from the pool of Siloam and quoting a nabiy’s words concerning drawing water with joy from the wells of salvation does not cut it with YHWH. It was a made up or adopted ceremony that was never instituted for Chag HaSukkoth, a feast whose focus is on harvesting and ingathering as its older name shows, Chag HaAsif. One that is supposed to be joyous before YHWH. It is written in Wayyiqra 23:43 the sukkoth were for a memorial, “ ‘so that your generations will know that in sukkoth, i caused the sons of yisrael to live, when I brought them from the land of mitsrayim; i am YHWH your elohey." '  Nowhere does it speak of a directive to gather water and pour it down the steps of the Heykal, which sounds very much like the admonition in Mishley [Proverbs], quoted earlier, of what not to do, “should your overflowing springs be scattered outside, like rivers of waters in the streets?” It is a sad thing when men hew out their own cisterns, make up their own traditions, instead of drinking deeply, cohabiting, of the salvation of YHWH.

Instead, they should have been like the Shomron [Samaritan] woman at the well – Yahuchanan 4:4-14 ,  “Now he had to go through Shomron [Samaria]. So he came to a town in Shomron called Sychar, near the plot of ground Yaaqob [Jacob] had given to his son Yahusef [Joseph]. Yaaqob's well was there, and Yahusha, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. When a Shomron [Samaritan] woman came to draw water, Yahusha said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’ His students had gone into the town to buy food. The Shomron woman said to him, ‘You are Yahudiy [a Jew] and I am a Shomron woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’ For Yahudiym do not associate with Shomroniym. Yahusha answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of the Elohiym and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.’ ‘Sir,’ the woman said, ‘you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Yaaqob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?’ Yahusha answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’ "

Kathryn QannaYahu