Hi Mike,

I have been a little disoriented lately with confusion regarding the Scriptures. I agree with your comment that Truth does not change. But when I came across Deu 22:20-21 or any other instance of encouraging death by stoning, I have found it hard to stomach that that could be Truth (not to mention unchanging Truth).
I apologize up front if I misunderstood or have been unable to understand what you meant by “Truth does not change.”
Thank you for any insight,

N____

Hi N____,

Thank you for your question regarding death by stoning in Deuteronomy.

Deu 22:20 But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel:
Deu 22:21 Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father’s house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you.

This is the carnal law God gave Moses to govern carnal life in the nation of ancient Israel.

Heb 7:16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

If a woman was proven to have had sex outside of marriage, she was to be stoned to death. The verses which follow instructed that ancient nation do the same if a man was caught having sex with another man’s wife.

Deu 22:22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.

Now let’s contrast these words concerning the judgment meted out for adultery and fornication under Moses, to the new “law of Christ”.

Joh 8:3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
Joh 8:4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
Joh 8:5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
Joh 8:6 This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
Joh 8:7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
Joh 8:8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
Joh 8:9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

These “scribes and Pharisees” are the very same people who today have nothing better to do than to take the time to find fault with their own brothers and sisters in Christ, who have done nothing but feed them spiritual “loaves and fishes”, and heal them of their spiritual diseases. If those who are of this spirit had any true interest in what was actually in the scriptures, they would have gone to those scriptures, and they would have trembled before those words, instead of quoting only what was convenient for them to attempt to accuse the Christ of God.

Joh 8:11  She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

What is the difference between the law of Christ and that of Moses? Christ did not condemn her for her sin, which was nothing more that the fruit of the law of sin which Christ himself had placed within that woman at creation. But neither did he condone her actions. This woman, just like each of us, was shown mercy. Now would that mercy have ended if she did commit adultery again?

Psa 107:1  O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever [ Hebrew, olawm].

Isn’t it interesting that the people who want the Hebrew word ‘olawm’ to mean ‘eternity’ when it comes to the subject of hell, don’t believe it means that in this verse? Now since the law of Moses did not provide for mercy, it was not Truth, but it was a temporary carnal commandment for a carnal nation “till the seed should come to whom the promise was made”. Notice how scripture contrasts the law of Moses to the law of Christ.

Joh 1:17  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

So the only people who claim that the law of Moses was Truth are those who do not believe Joh 1:17.
Just as manna seemed to be the true “bread from heaven”, and Christ Himself labeled it as such when giving it to Israel in the wilderness, it was nevertheless just a shadow and a type of the true “bread from heaven”.

Exo 16:4  Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
Joh 6:31  Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Joh 6:32  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
Joh 6:33  For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

Was manna really “bread from heaven”? Only in type and shadow. It was, in reality merely a shadow of the true bread from heaven which gives us true and lasting nourishment.

Joh 6:48  I am that bread of life.
Joh 6:49  Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
Joh 6:50  This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
Joh 6:58  This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

So that is the truth of the entire economy of ancient Israel. “They were not ministering to themselves but to us”. These things all happened to them, and they were all written down for us as types and shadows of us.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [ Greek, typos, type, shadow]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

So everything that happened under that law was “unto us” and “not unto themselves”. You will find no Jews who would agree with that statement, and the same is true for the Christian world. Nevertheless there it is. The entire Mosaic system is just a shadow of how we are to show no mercy to the adulterous false doctrines within us which stem from the doctrines of that great harlot, Babylon.
If indeed God were not intent upon saving all men, and the world denies this, then He would indeed be a monster. But he is in the process of saving all, and He will do so through you and me if we are granted to be in that “blessed and holy first resurrection”.
So I hope that these verses of God’s Word will help you to see that God is saving all “through death” and that the end of a thing really is better than its beginning, no matter what that end is. It is through the relinquishing of this body that our new body is given, and it is the same event for all; even the women and the men who were and are stoned for adultery.

Ecc 7:1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.
Ecc 7:8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

I pray these verses help you to see that God is, was and always will be an unchanging, loving heavenly Father, who will, through the different dispensations and through even death, bring us all to Himself in His own appointed time.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike