If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. John 7:36 (MSG)

Water and Dust – Written In Dust Series – Part 4

Go to PART 1  |  PART 2  |  PART 3  |  PART 4  |  PART 5  |  PART 6 |  PART 7

We need to talk about “The Ordeal of Bitter Waters,” because it's bizarre and crazy and relevant to the woman accused of adultery and brought before Jesus in John 8.

In Ancient Hebrew tradition, if a man suspected his wife was cheating but had no proof, he could bring her to the High Priest, present a jealousy offering, and subject his wife to a strange ceremony that was meant to determine her guilt or innocence.

Yep, we’re talking potions and prayers and weird rituals to determine guilt, over proof and witnesses. You can find it in Numbers 5. Google it, too. Fascinating (frightening).

Long story short, the ceremony was meant to be so shaming, that the woman questioned would confess her crime. Her hair and breasts would be shown, and she was made to say an oath. The priest would mix into a jar of Holy Water, dust from the tabernacle floor. He would then explain that after she drank this water, if she were guilty, her womb would shrivel and her abdomen would swell. Thus everyone would know her shame. He would write this curse out three times on a piece of leather, wash the leather clean with the mix of dirt and water, catch the drip off in a bowl, and make her drink the mixture of water, dirt, and ink.

Yep. It’s in the Bible, people.

Bookmark this fun fact about a potion of water and dust and ink that a woman accused of adultery was made to drink, because there’s another ritual that’s important to our story.

Back to the Feast of Tabernacles and a moment that gives meaning to Jesus' writing spree in the dust.

We mentioned a post or two ago that at the time of the goings on in John 8, the Hebrews were celebrating the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles: the last feast of autumn and of the year. The Feast was about dust and water and harvest and hope. They prayed the rains would come, God would provide, and that when Summer came, there would be food to eat.

At one point in the ritual, a priest would read out this verse from Jeremiah:

“Lord, you are the hope of Israel;
all who forsake you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust
because they have forsaken the Lord,
the spring of living water.” (Jer 17:13).

Don’t treat lightly the ancient's use of symbolism in not only their writings but in the way they put their stories together, too. Water and dust have significant meaning.

Water is spirit and life. Without water, dust is the absence of those things. But even with the absence of water, dust has the potential for life. Genesis tells us this in poetic form: Adam was made out of dust, and when mixed with Spirit, life ignited in him.

Consider a Feast of Tabernacles that was followed by a rainless winter and a poor summer harvest. For ancient cultures, they considered that this was the result of sin rather than a weather pattern. Just like if a woman accused of adultery drank the absurd potion of water and dust and ink and became ill was proven guilty, dust that wasn’t met with water was, too.

Just a day or two after the Jeremiah verse was read out loud, Jesus was asked to condemn a woman to death for adultery, and instead of getting her to drink water and dirt and ink mixed together, or letting her accusers stone her, he bent down and wrote in the dust… a different kind of ink for a different kind of ruling where the revelation revealed is about the accusers, not the accused.

Go to Part 5 – Rivers of Living Water »

Written by Lizzy Milani

[vcex_image_grid columns=”3″ pagination=”false” thumbnail_link=”custom_link” link_title_tag=”true” custom_links_target=”_blank” overlay_style=”title-category-visible” columns_gap=”5″ img_hover_style=”fade-out” image_ids=”20934,20935,20937″ custom_links=”https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1239768002?pt=118656308&ct=blog%20footer&mt=8,https://www.pktfuel.com/dailyemail,https://www.pktfuel.com/support” img_height=”350″]