John 4:18

Thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband.

The Lord accepts her statement as true in words, but reveals to her his knowledge of the real facts. She had been married five times; the easy divorce laws of the age, permitting. "divorce for any cause," would allow many changes without the death of either party. Some of her husbands may have died;. part were almost certainly divorced. Her sixth alliance did not even have the apology of such. marriage. It was illegal and condemned even by her unenlightened conscience as sinful. The Savior's words are like. probe, keen, severe, but gentle.