Matthew 19:4-7

And he answered, &c.— The accounts which St. Matthew and St. Mark have given of this matter, though they seem to clash upon the first view, are in reality perfectly consistent. The two historians, indeed, take notice of different particulars; but these, when joined together, mutually throw a light on each other. According to both the evangelists, the Pharisees came with an insidious intention, and asked our Lord's opinion concerning divorce. But the answer returned to their question is differently represented by the historians. Matthew says, that our Lord desired the Pharisees to consider the original institution of marriage in Paradise, where God created the human kind of different sexes, and implanted in their breasts such a mutual inclinationtowardseachother,asinwarmthandstrengthsurpasses all other affections wherewith he has endowed them towards any other of their fellow-creatures; and because they have such a strong love to each other, he declared, that in all ages the tie which unites them together in marriage should be stronger than any other tie, and among the rest stronger even than that which binds them to their parents; and that male and female, thus joined together in marriage, are by the strength of their mutual affection no more twain but one flesh; that is to say, constitute only one person in respect to the unity of their inclinations and interests, and of the mutual power which they have over each other's body, (1 Corinthians 6:16; 1 Corinthians 7:4.) and that as long as they continued faithful to this law, they must remain undivided till death separates them. From the original institution of marriage in Paradise, and from the great law thereof declared by God himself upon that occasion, it evidently appears, that it is the strongest and tenderest of all friendships; a friendship supported by the authority of the divine sanction and approbation; a friendship therefore which ought to be indissoluble till death: What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder, by unseasonable divorces. Thus, according to St. Matthew, our Lord answered the Pharisees' question concerning divorce, by referring to the original institution of marriage in Paradise: but St. Mark says, Mark 10:3 that he answered them by referring them to the Mosaical precepts; he answered, What did Moses command you? The evangelists, however, may be easily freed from the imputation of inconsistency, by supposing, that the answer in St. Mark was given after the Pharisees had, as St. Matthew informs us, Matthew 19:7 objected the precept in the law to the argument against divorce drawn from the original institution: Why did Moses then, &c.? "If divorce be contrary to the original institution of marriage, as you affirm, how came it that Moses has commanded us to give a bill of divorce, and to put her away?" The Pharisees, by calling the law concerning divorce a command, insinuated, that Moses had been so tender of their happiness, that he would not suffer them to live with bad wives, though they themselves had been willing; but peremptorily enjoined them, that such should be put away: to this our Lord answers, Mark 10:3. What did Moses command you, &c.? and this question being placed in this order, implies, that he wondered how they came to consider Moses's permission in the light of an absolute command, since it was granted merely on account of the hardness of their hearts. See Macknight, Doddridge, and other harmonists, and the following note. Dr. Heylin, instead of He which made them, in the fourth verse, ο ποιησας, reads the Creator; and instead of said, Matthew 19:5 he reads it was said; for I take the word ειπεν here, says he, for an impersonal verb. It was Adam who said so, and not God. The Prussian editors read, says the Scripture. But on this subject, see the note on Genesis 2:24.