Mat 5:32, 19:3-10 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 32. (y) "put away his wife"

Matthew 5:32

Verse 32. Mt 5:31

(y) "put away his wife" Mt 19:9, 1Cor 7:10,11

Matthew 19:3-10

Verse 3. The Pharisees also came. Mt 3:7.

Tempting him. This means, to get him, if possible, to express an opinion that should involve him in difficulty. There was the more art in this captious question which they proposed, as at that time the people were very much divided on the subject. A part, following the opinions of Hillel, said, that a man might divorce his wife for any offence, or any dislike he might have of her. Mt 5:31. Others, of the school of Shammai, maintained, that divorce was unlawful, except in case of adultery. Whatever opinion, therefore, Christ expressed, they expected that he would involve himself in difficulty with one of their parties. Verses 4-6. And he answered and said, etc. Instead of referring to the opinions of either party, Jesus called their attention to the original design of marriage, to the authority of Moses--an authority acknowledged by them both.

Have ye not read. Gen 1:27, 2:21,22.

And said, For this cause, etc. Gen 2:24. That is, God at the beginning made but one man and one woman; their posterity should learn that the original intention of marriage was, that a man should have but one wife.

Shall leave father and mother. This means, shall bind himself more strongly to his wife than he was to his father or mother. The marriage connexion is the most tender and endearing of all human relations; more tender than even that bond which unites us to a parent.

And shall cleave to his wife. The word cleave denotes a union of the firmest kind. It is, in the original, taken from gluing, and means so firmly to adhere together that nothing can separate them.

They twain shall be one flesh. That is, they two, or that were two, shall be united as one--one in law, in feeling, in interest, and in affection. They shall no longer have separate interests, but shall act in all things as if they were one--animated by one soul and one wish. The argument of Jesus here is, that since they are so intimately united as to be one, and since in the beginning God made but one woman for one man, it follows that they cannot be separated but by the authority of God. Man may not put away his wife for every cause. What God has joined together, man may not put asunder. In this decision he really decided in favour of one of the parties; and it shows that when it was proper, Jesus answered questions, from whatever cause they might have been proposed, and however much difficulty it might involve him in. Our Lord, in this, also showed consummate wisdom. He answered the question, not from Hillel or Shammai, their teachers, but from Moses, and thus defeated their malice. Verse 5. Mt 19:4

(d) "What therefore" 1Cor 7:10 Verse 7. Why did Moses, etc. To this they objected that Moses had allowed such divorces, De 24:1 and if he had allowed them, they inferred that they could not be unlawful. Mt 5:31.

(e) "Why did Moses" De 24:1, Isa 1:1 Verse 8. He saith unto them, etc. Jesus admits that this was allowed; but still he contends that this was not the original design of marriage. It was only a temporary expedient, growing out of a peculiar state of things, and not designed to be perpetual. It was on account of the hardness of their hearts. Moses found the custom in use. He found a hard-hearted and rebellious people. In this state of things he did not deem it prudent to forbid a practice so universal: but it might be regulated; and, instead of suffering the husband to divorce his wife in a passion, he required him, in order that he might take time to consider the matter, and thus make it probable that divorces would be less frequent, to give her a writing; to sit down deliberately, to look at the matter, and probably also to bring the case before some scribe or learned man, to write a divorce in the legal form. Thus doing, there might be an opportunity for the matter to be reconciled, and the man to be persuaded not to divorce his wife. This, says our Saviour, was a permission growing out of a particular state of things, and designed to remedy a prevailing evil. But at first it was not so. God intended that marriage should be between one man and one woman, and that they were only to be separated by appointment of him who had formed the union.

Hardness of your hearts. He speaks here of his hearers as a part of the nation. The hardness of you Jews; as when we say, we fought with England, and gained our independence; that is, we the American people, though it was done by our fathers, lie does not mean to say, therefore, that this was done on account of the people that he addressed, but of the national hardness of heart--the cruelty of the Jewish people as a people.

(e) "Why did Moses" De 24:1, Isa 1:1 Verse 9. And I say unto you. Emphasis should be laid here on the word I. This was the opinion of Jesus--this he proclaimed to be the law of his kingdom--this the command of God ever afterwards. Indulgence had been given by. the laws of Moses; but that indulgence was to cease, and the marriage relation to be brought back to its original intention. Only one offence was to make divorce lawful. This is the law of God. And by the same law, all marriages which take place after divorce, where adultery is not the cause of divorce, are adulterous. Legislatures have no Sight to say that men may put away their wives for any other cause; and where they do, and where there is marriage afterwards, by the law of God such marriages are adulterous.

(f) "???" Mt 5:32, Lk 16:18 Verse 10. His disciples say, etc. The disciples were full of Jewish notions. They thought that the privilege of divorcing a wife when there was a quarrelsome disposition, or anything else that rendered the marriage unhappy, was a great privilege; and that in such cases to be always bound to live with a wife was a great calamity. They said, therefore, that if such was the case in such the condition on which men married--it was better not to marry.

(g) "to marry" Provo 19:13, 31:9,19