Mat 19:3-13 | PNT | STEP | Pharisees also came . As usual, ready to oppose. Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause ? Hillel, the greatest of the Jewish Rabbis whom Jews have sought to compare with Christ, taught that almost any ground of displeasure on the part of a husband would justify divorce. He even specifies scorching the bread as sufficient cause. Josephus, the historian, says he "divorced his wife because he was not pleased with her manners".

Matthew 19:3-13

Pharisees also came. As usual, ready to oppose.

Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? Hillel, the greatest of the Jewish Rabbis whom Jews have sought to compare with Christ, taught that almost any ground of displeasure on the part of a husband would justify divorce. He even specifies scorching the bread as sufficient cause. Josephus, the historian, says he "divorced his wife because he was not pleased with her manners". Made [them] male and female. In the creation, God made man male and female and united the two by an indissoluble bond in the marriage of one man to one woman. For this cause. The bond of husband and wife is stronger than that between children and parents.

Be one flesh. Two lives joined into one. What therefore God hath joined together. If God hath so joined them that the twain are one, no human ordinance has the right to separate them. Why did Moses then command? See De 24:1-4. They insinuate that he contradicts Moses. Moses, for the hardness of your heart. Moses "suffered" some things that were not right on account of "the hardness of your heart", a low state of morals. A people cannot be lifted from moral depravity to a high standard at once. Hence the law permitted some things that were below the perfect standard of Christ.

From the beginning. In the beginning there was no divorce and no polygamy. The first polygamist was the race of Cain (Ge 4:19). I say unto you. We have here Christ's law of divorce in contrast with that of Moses.

Except [it be] for fornication. There is only one sufficient cause of divorce; that is, unfaithfulness to the marriage relation.

Committeth adultery. Because he is married still to his former wife, who is still his wife in spite of the divorce; so, too, if any man marries the divorced woman, he marries another man's wife. It is not good to marry. Such a rigid marriage law was too high for their loose Jewish ideas. It seemed to them as if it would be impossible to live up to so high an ideal. If a man could not get rid of his wife, if he tired of her, it were better not to marry. To whom it is given. Only those can receive and live up to this rule who are enlightened by Christianity. The less Christianity, the lower the ideal of marriage. This is the rule everywhere. There are some eunuchs. The classes are named who need not marry: (1) Those born physically incompetent; (2) those made eunuchs by mutilation, once a very common practice in the East, and (3) those who abstain from marriage to devote themselves, free from worldly cares, to Christ's work. Paul was an example (1Co 7:7,8). Then were there brought unto him little children. Compare Mr 10:13-16 Lu 18:15-17. It was the Jewish custom to bring children to the synagogue on their first birthday for the Rabbi to bless them. So these persons came to one whom they regarded the greatest of all Rabbis.

The disciples rebuked them. They thought it an interruption.