Readers of the Gospel have often been interested in the question of what Christ could have been writing on the ground. If we do not forget that many of His actions corresponded to what was said in Old Testament prophecies, then the answer can be the words proclaimed by the Lord through Jeremiah: "Those who depart from Me shall be written in the dust, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water" (Jer. 17:13). Some scholars of the Gospel text, on the basis of the absence of this episode from many of the most ancient manuscripts and of its stylistic features, consider it inorganic to the Gospel of John and inserted from some other text, for example from Luke. But even if the passage really did move during the copying of a manuscript, Jeremiah's words about living water, if our surmise is correct, emphasize the semantic unity of the episode with the preceding and following narrative.
The accusers went away, being convicted by their conscience. We are accustomed to perceive the Pharisees negatively, but they too must be given their due: very many people in their place would not have listened to the voice of conscience and would have behaved differently, mercilessly stoning the sinful woman and, together with her, the pangs of conscience. As was said in another age, "he is not a vindictive man: he does not remember the evil done to another." But these Pharisees remembered; they cannot be called incapable of repentance. And this is one confirmation that Christ did not preach to the wind, but to those who could hear Him, even if they did not want to admit it even to themselves.
