Scribbling of Curses

I once had a discussion with a friend during my corporate days. We came from different Christian backgrounds, but we often sat together and talked with whatever little knowledge we had about the Bible. One of our most heated conversations was about John 8—the moment when the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and placed her in front of Jesus. Their intention wasn’t justice; it was to trap Him. Jesus, fully aware of their scheme, simply said, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone.” And, they quietly walked away. And finally Jesus looked at her and said He did not condemn her either, but asked her to go and sin no more.

There are a few details in this passage that always stand out. For one, not a single person stayed back—not even the Pharisees or scribes who dragged her in or from the youngest to the oldest. For another, they never brought the man who was caught with her, even though the law clearly said both should stand before judgment. These things are often talked about.

But the part my friend and I went back and forth on was this: it says Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger. And the question that always comes up is, “What exactly did He write?” This is where people tend to get carried away. At times, we cling to the least important details and try to make an entire theology out of them. My friend quoted someone who preached at length about what Jesus might have written, even though the Bible doesn’t say. I had always wondered too. Some say the finger of God wrote the Ten Commandments on stone, and now the finger of God in flesh was rewriting something new on the dust.

But recently, I stumbled upon something I had never connected before. Numbers 5:23 describes a ritual where God commands the priest to write the curses in a book—words representing guilt, accusation, and sin—and then scrape them off into bitter water. It was a symbolic act of the accusations being erased and the sin being carried away. Suddenly John 8 made more sense. Jesus wasn’t just writing random words. He wasn’t rewriting the Ten Commandments. He was reflecting the heart of Numbers 5. He was the true priest who removes the record of sin. The written accusations against that woman were not just ignored—they were erased. Not because she was innocent, but because He was standing there.

And as we read this, I want to gently remind you and me to repent from our mistakes and confess them before the Lord. The same Jesus who stooped down to erase her accusations is still willing to wash ours away as well.