8:3,4
The people had come to learn, or possibly hoping to see or receive a miracle. The scribes and Pharisees now appear and they have very different motives, their goal is to trap Jesus in some way. So they bring to Him a woman caught in adultery. There is, of course, the question of what happened to the man? Did he escape before he was caught? Or was this purely a result of the religious leaders being purely opportunistic and just taking the woman because that was easier?
8:5
The woman could have been married, single, or betrothed. Under the Law stoning was the penalty for a betrothed virgin and was applied to both partners involved in the adultery (Deut 22:23-24). Lev 20:10 and Deut 22:22 prescribe the death penalty for unfaithful wives, but without setting out the means of execution. The Mishnah prescribes stoning for a betrothed woman and strangulation for a man or wife. On this basis it would seem that the woman was betrothed but not yet married. However, it is unlikely that the distinction existed in Jesus' day (Carson). It should also be noted that stoning was hardly ever carried out and only the Roman authorities were allowed to carry out execution.
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