Matthew 19:7-9

The Pharisees Try To Argue Him Down About Divorce (19:7-9).

The Pharisees were clearly taken aback by Jesus' words. They had expected Him to come down either on Shammai's side or on Hillel's. They had not expected Him to bring out that divorce was forbidden from the very beginning of creation. They felt that He must have overlooked Moses' words on the matter. What of Deuteronomy 24:1? Notice in Jesus' reply the difference between the Pharisees use of ‘command' and Jesus use of ‘allowed'. His specific point is that Moses had not given permission for divorce, he had simply allowed it to happen without his approval. Far from being commanded by him it was allowed under sufferance, and only then because he had to cater for the hardness of men's hearts.

Analysis.

a They say to him, “Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorce, and to put her away?” (Matthew 19:7).

b He says to them, “Moses for your hardness of heart allowed you to put away your wives” (Matthew 19:8 a).

c “But from the beginning it has not been so” (Matthew 19:8 b).

b “And I say to you, Whoever shall put away his wife, except for fornication, and shall marry another, commits adultery” (Matthew 19:9 a).

a “And he who marries her when she is put away commits adultery” (Matthew 19:9 b).

Not that in ‘a' the question is concerning Moses' command that a divorced woman can be ‘put away', and in the parallel Jesus points out that someone who marries a wife who has been ‘put away' commits adultery. In ‘b' the putting away was allowed due to the hardness of men's hearts and in the parallel if the man remarried he then committed adultery. Centrally in ‘c' is that from the beginning divorce was not allowed.