Origin of additional
words than the Bible in Desire of Ages of the pericope of the Adulterous Woman
By Koot van Wyk and SookYoung Kim
Introduction The pericope adulturae or the woman caught in
adultery in John 8:1-11 of the English Bibles, is one of the most famous
reactions of Jesus in the Gospels. As beautiful and dramatic as the scene is
for this event in Jesus’ life, the pericope did not receive always a welcome
stance in certain quarters. So there
were voices of doubt whether it should be in the Bible. Then another issue was, where does it
chronologically fit in? There are those who argue that the pericope should go
after Luke 21 and that he was the author of the piece. Other manuscripts had it
as John 16 in the year 800 A.D. Scholars
have looked at the incident in comparison with the event with Susanna in the
apocrypha of Daniel 13. Others associate it with Pelagia and Theodora, the
adulterous wife of Justinian. Then there
is a comparison with a hadith in Islam making the woman a man that was caught
in adultery. To be or not to be is not
the question in this writing. The interest is only on what Jesus wrote when He
bent down to write. That is the question. On this question a kaleidoscope of answers were
offered by the churchfathers: ten commandments, words from Jeremiah: “earth
accused the earth”, a mirror , names . What the content was that was written
also presents a variety: ten commandments,
“earth accused the earth”, their sins. It is the last one in this list
that really is of interest for this study for Ellen White in Desire of Ages (1898)
also added to the biblical text saying that He wrote their sins. Hardly any churchfather said that their sins
were written down on the ground. Not one could be found saying that precisely.
But what was found are some Armenian manuscripts and a Greek manuscript U from
the 10th century listed by B. Metzger in his Greek edition of the New
Testament. So, sometime in the Middle
Ages, somewhere in the Levant, a scribe or copyist added that their sins were
written. These manuscripts are brought to bear on the question where Ellen
White could have possibly got this idea from? The issue is then, since Ellen White had no
education, was not a scholar, nor grammarian, could not read Armenian and
Greek, in what English book or article can one find these words close to the
publication of Desire of Ages? A hunt was made of literature around 1858 to
1898 to see how this could have been borrowed or slipped into Desire of Ages
from another source. In a way, this is a text-analytical
investigation of sources for ideas in a book showing connections or the opposite,
differences that may cancel borrowing completely.
Sources and Help of Ellen White with Desire of
Ages The writing of R. Graybill and R. W. Olsen
published on the 23rd of May 1979 indicate the sources that were in the Library
of Ellen White. For the order of events in the Desire of Ages, she was using
the work of Samuel Andrews. Some other
books were to be obtained for Desire of Ages as indicated in a letter by W.
White. In the work of Samuel Andrews 1891 on page 345
is mentioned in two sentences: “An adulteress is brought before Him, whom He
directs to go and sin no more.]” That is it. Nothing more nothing less. Andrews
is not the origin of the writing of their sins that Ellen White mentioned in
Desire of Ages. Marian Davis was the secretary of Ellen
White. But the countercheck of their
influence on Ellen White was the subject of the investigation of the
pessimistic eyes of M. E. L. Andreasen personally for 90 days. He was changed
from skeptical to believing and confirming. When they added something they had to write for
permission by Ellen White first. Sometimes Marian Davis would ask Ellen White to
dwell on topics and subjects listed by herself. Then Ellen White did not
because the Spirit did not lead her to do so.
Ellen White repeatedly indicated that she is not
a scholar or a grammarian and in need of assistance for printing her work. She was helped by her husband between 1858 to
and in the 1890’s with Desire of Ages by Marian Davis. Farrar, Hanna, Andrews. At least three
sources mentioned that should come. They will be considered for the addition of
the note on the sins written on the ground in the temple of the pericope
adulturae. Since 1858 for the Life of Christ scrapbooks,
she indicated inspiration from God. Marian Davis indicated in 1893 that the
compilation of Desire of Ages is with about 30 or more scrapbooks by Ellen
White’s hand put together. There were
also about 50 manuscripts and half a dozen bound volumes. Many other pages too.
Davis had some liberties but could not edit if
the manuscript was not in Ellen White handwriting. Davis also could not add something if it was
not in the handwriting of Ellen White. Glossing could be done, but from Ellen
White’s hand or if sentences were suggested to be added, they had to pass Ellen
White’s scrutiny. This is very important for us to consider with the added
information about the sins written on the ground. Ellen White would wake up at four o clock in the
morning in New Zealand to write on Desire of Ages. The manuscript was completed on the 16th of July
1896.
“He wrote on the ground the sins of each one of
them” F. W. Farrar could have been used (19th of
October 1893). Manuscript U by Farrar: “He wrote on the ground
the sins of each one of them .” DA: “There, traced before them, were the guilty
secrets of their own lives.”
If one looks at the syntax of the two sentences
from Farrar (1893) and from Desire of
Ages (1896-8) there is no one on one relationship. In fact, only three words
compared: them; the; of. None of the nouns compared nor the prepositions or the
verbs. Taken together the words of W. White that his
mother’s secretaries were not allowed to add their own words. If Marian Davis used the book by Farrar in
1893 and wrote in the incident a
paraphrase by herself of the manuscript U in the note she saw in the 1893
Farrar edition after 1893 but before 1898 when it was published, then she would have added a sentence that
Ellen White may not have seen. This is unlikely. Did Ellen White sat with
Farrar’s book in her hand while she was composing the Desire of Ages? Did her
eyes fall on the footnotes and did she see the content of the skeptical Farrar
saying “the impossible and irrelevant surmises as to what He wrote”, ignored
this negative statement and included it anyhow? Unlikely if she was concerned
from the beginning about accuracy as one of her letters in Olsen’s article is
showing. She said that she is not a scholar or a grammarian and emphasized her
inadequacy. She would tend to rather follow Farrar than ignore him, if one must
give credibility to her letter’s content. The testimony of M. E. L. Andreasen at the Ohio
Campmeeting in 1955, who spent 90 days with Ellen White to see how she wrote
the Desire of Ages, did not reveal anything to this effect. She wrote it in her
own hand he said, just like Olsen said in his article on her writing of Desire
of Ages. The two witnesses, direct eyewitness, and researcher Olsen with the
letters of Ellen White and secretaries, correspond 100% on this issue. The researches of R. Adams and Walther Rea on
Ellen White’s historiographical skills and manners of writing Desire of Ages,
are filled with inaccuracies. This was illustrated by later researchers. One
can mention and see online excerpts of their work by two researchers: David J.
Conklin, Kevin L. Morgan, (2011). The
names of A. Treiyer, E. de Kock, are necessary sources for consideration. Walther Rea for example, tried to explain how
Desire of Ages and the work of Hanna on the Life of Christ compared. Many conclusions
of Rea stands under serious review and one can compare his conclusions with the
online comparison in colors of the correspondences between Desire of Ages and
Hanna’s work by Conklin and Morgan. Sometimes the utilization is of a scanty or
hop-and-skip nature. It seems sometimes to this researcher that Hanna is used
as a kind of linguistic Thesaurus of the English Language, a tool to borrow
good English words or synonyms from? Ellen White said that she was not a
grammarian. For the statement of the writing of their sins
on the ground in Desire of Ages, one looks in vain for these in Hanna. Alfred Edersheim of 1883 was not used by Ellen
White or Marian Davis for the Desire of Ages on the pericope adulturae for he
left it out of his Book, as he explicitly said.
“bowing his head, was writing with his finger on
the earth to declare their sins” “bowing his head, was writing with his finger on
the earth to declare their sins” DA: “There, traced before them, were the guilty
secrets of their own lives.”
There is the 1895 article in English in
Expositor by F. C. Conybeare about these words on the ground. He mentioned that
the 10th century Armenian Eschmiadzin
Gospels adds to the story the following: “bowing his head, was writing with his
finger on the earth to declare their sins”.
In the Expositor 5 no. 2 of 1895 this was published by F. C. Conybeare.
But Ellen White finished Desire of Ages in the building near the museum of
Ellen White near Avondale College in Australia in 1896 on the 16th of July, as
her letter is indicating. The Expositor was published in October of 1895, so
how soon will it get in the hands of either Ellen White or Marian Davis. Of
course there is still two years before the publication but slipping in was not
possible. The statement of Ellen White is not using the noun “earth” at all.
She said “before them”. That is the closest one will come to the material that
was written on.
“and they were seeing their several sins on the
stones” “and they were seeing their several sins on the
stones” DA: “There, traced before them, were the guilty
secrets of their own lives.” A new Armenian manuscript was found identified
as ANA 4, Tirana. The manuscript adds:
“and they were seeing their several sins on the stones”. This is how it was
translated by V. Nersessian in 2001. But again, it does not compare to Ellen
White’s statement which does not use the noun “stones” at all.
“traced” commonly used by Ellen White The verb “traced” was a common word used by
Ellen White in her own handwriting. The
conclusion is that this sentence was not written by Marian Davis or any other
secretary but by Ellen White herself.
Bibliography
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Thanks for your study!