Of Marriage and Divorce
Of Marriage, Adultery, and Divorce.
(The Gospel History, Section 117)
And it came to pass when Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee, and came into the borders of Judæa and beyond Jordan: and great multitudes come together unto him again, and followed him; and he healed them there; and as he was wont he taught them again.
And there came unto him Pharisees, tempting him, and asked him, saying, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said, Have ye not read that he which made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave to his wife; and the twain shall become one flesh? So that they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorcement and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses for your hardness of heart suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it hath not been so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and he that marrieth her when she is put away committeth adultery. The disciples say unto him, If the case of the man is so with his wife, it is not expedient to marry. But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, but they to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are eunuchs, which were made eunuchs by men: and there are eunuchs, which made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. And in the house the disciples asked him again of this matter. And he said unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife, and marry another, committeth adultery against her: and if she herself shall put away her husband, and marry another, she committeth adultery.
Of Marriage and Divorce
(The Saviour of the World, Vol VII Book I Poem XV)
He that is perfect bethought Him of a state
Where men and women, still immaculate,
Might dwell together, heart and mind and flesh
Held close, compacted in the golden mesh
Of sweet life shared in common: further blest
By children who their parents’ love confessed:
O happy state, where every joy is doubled,
And each divided grief doth leave the pair untroubled!
But wilful man who increases not his bliss
Soon surfeits of the good connubial kiss:
‘She hath a temper—note her wilful mood!
What skill hath she in dressing to man’s good?
How bear her kinsfolk always to the fore?
Nay, this neglected house I’ll stand no more!’
So the man frets, his own dispute fulfilling
By many instances of wrongs heaped up, unwilling!
Straight goes he to the priests; ‘Pray, set me free!
The woman I so joyful wedded, she,
A thorn in my flesh, the misery of my days!’
Convinced, the priests: the suitor duly pays;
The man goes forth to wed another wife;
But what is that hath vanished from his life?
What sweetness breathed e’en through connubial strife?
No more doth Purity their days pervading
Make sanctuary for the pair, despite all foes invading.
“Behold, I make all new,” saith Christ, the Lord,
And straightway He to primal law restores,
“A man should cleave to his wife through every cause
Of controversy; wrath, domestic flaws:
In nothing saving a dishonoured bed
May he forswear the woman he hath wed!”
A blessed law, whereby man on probation
Let Peace at last emerge through year-long provocation!
These things spake Jesus as He journeyed up
Towards Jerusalem for the feast; and as He went
The people thronged about Him; heard His words
And brought their sick for instant healing. Sore,
And angered watched the Pharisees and priests:
“This Man sways all before Him! What of us?
Now, every beggar will divorce his bride
For any cause or muse; ’tis liberty
Seen to the folk as sweet stuff to a child;
Let’s test Him on the point; if He forbid,
Behold His following disperse as mist,
Vapours of night before the rising sun!”
St. Matthew xix. 1-12;
St. Mark x. 1-12
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Commentary by J. R. Dummelow
Mt 19:1, 2. End of the Galilean ministry. The Peræan ministry begins (Mk 10:1 Lk 9:51; cp. Lk 17:11). The time was now late summer of 28 a.d. The Passion was less than six months distant. Jesus finally left Galilee, and entered upon what is generally called the ‘Peræan ministry,’ the scene of which was partly Peræa beyond Jordan, a district extending, roughly, from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, and partly Jerusalem and Judæa. To this period must be assigned a visit to Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles (September), Jn 7:2; another at the Feast of Dedication (December), Jn 10:23; also the mission of the Seventy, and many of the incidents in the great section peculiar to St. Luke’s Gospel (9:51–19:28).
Mt 19:1. Into the coasts (RV ‘borders’) of Judæa beyond Jordan] i.e. into the southern part of Peræa, opposite to Judæa.
Mt 19:3–9. The question of divorce (Mk 10:2; see on 5:32). The Pharisees probably intended to entrap Jesus into some contradiction of the Law of Moses, which might form the basis of a charge before the Sanhedrin. Some, however, think that, as Peræa was in the territory of Herod Antipas, they wished to inveigle Him into speaking against that monarch’s divorce of the daughter of Aretas: see on 14:3. St. Matthew’s narrative is fuller and perhaps more original than St. Mark’s. > Mk 10:1–2. St. Mark represents our Lord as prohibiting divorce absolutely, without mentioning any exception.
Mt 19:3. For every cause] In St. Mark the question simply is, ‘Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?’ Jesus was asked to decide the point debated between the school of Hillel, who allowed divorce for every cause, and that of Shammai, who allowed it only for adultery. Rabbi Akiba (a Hillelite) said, ‘If a man sees a woman handsomer than his own wife, he may put her away, because it is said, “If she find not favour in his eyes.”’ The school of Hillel said, ‘If the wife cook her husband’s food ill, by over-salting or over-roasting it, she is to be put away.’ On the other hand, Rabbi Jochanan (a Shammaite) said, ‘The putting away of a wife is odious.’ Both schools agreed that a divorced wife could not be taken back.
Both schools objected to (though perhaps they did not forbid) the divorce of a first wife, with regard to which the dictum of Rabbi Eliezer, ‘For the divorcing of a first wife, even the altar itself sheds tears,’ was generally approved.
Mt 19:4. Male and female] i.e. one for one.
Mt 19:5. And said] Our Lord regards the words alluded to (see Gn 2:24) as spoken by divine inspiration. His wife] Ancient and modern interpreters find in the singular a prohibition of polygamy. The rabbis allowed three or four wives. ‘It is lawful’ (they said) ‘to have many wives together, even as many as you will, but our wise men have decreed that no man have above four wives.’
Mt 19:6. What therefore God hath joined together] Our Lord takes up higher ground than either school. He goes behind the Law of Moses, which was in many cases a concession to Jewish infirmities and prejudices, to God’s original intention at the creation of the human race, and declares this to be more venerable than the written Law, which the Jewish schools idolised. See further on 5:31, 32.
Mt 19:7. A writing of divorcement] see Dt 24:1. Jewish divorces were always from the bond of marriage, so that both parties could marry again, unless the husband specially restrained the wife’s liberty in that respect. Divorces were thus worded: ‘I N. have put away, dismissed, and expelled thee N., who heretofore wast my wife. But now I have dismissed thee, so that thou art free, and in thy own power, to marry whosoever shall please thee; and let no man hinder thee. And let this be to thee a bill of rejection from me according to the Law of Moses and Israel.
‘Reuben, the son of Jacob, witness.
‘Eliezer, the son of Gilead, witness’ (from J. Lightfoot).
Mt 19:8. Because of the hardness of your hearts] The rabbis regarded the liberty of divorce as a special privilege conferred by God upon the chosen people. Rabbi Chananiah said, ‘God has not subscribed His name to divorces, except among Israelites, as if He said, I have conceded to the Israelites the right of dismissing their wives; but to the Gentiles I have not conceded it.’ Jesus retorts that it is not the privilege, but the infamy and reproach of Israel, that Moses found it necessary to tolerate divorce. Moses allowed it only for the ‘hardness of your hearts,’ i.e. your unwillingness to accept God’s will in the matter of marriage, or, as others explain it, for your brutality towards your wives, which would lead you to maltreat them, unless you had the privilege of divorcing them.
Mt 19:9. > Mt 5:32. Shall marry her that is divorced] i.e. for adultery; or, ‘shall marry a divorced woman.’ The exact text of this v. is very uncertain. Whosoever] Some ancient authorities read, ‘Whosoever shall put away his wife, except for fornication, maketh her an adulteress,’ omitting the rest of the verse.
Mt 19:10–12. Conversation (‘in the house,’ Mk) on marriage and celibacy (Mk 10:10–12). The words of Jesus with regard to celibacy must be neither exaggerated nor minimised. They recognise and honour, along with marriage, the vocation of celibacy, when it is embraced for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake. The qualification is important. The Essenes of our Lord’s time were celibates because they regarded marriage as unholy. The Christian hermits of later times adopted celibacy simply as a means towards attaining their own individual perfection. Many adopt it now because they will not face the responsibilities and anxieties of married life. The celibacy which Christ approves is that which is adopted for the sake of doing good to others in active works of religion and mercy, as in the case of the great sisterhoods and missionary brotherhoods. Any attempt to enforce celibacy upon whole classes of persons, as, for instance, upon the clergy in general, is forbidden by Christ (‘He that is able to receive it, let him receive it’), and is also inexpedient.
Mt 19:10. If the case of the man] ‘They mean that, if the tie of marriage is so strict that there is no separation except for adultery, it is inexpedient to marry. For how can a husband bear all the other faults of an abandoned woman?’ (Euthymius). 11. This saying] viz. ‘that it is not expedient to marry.’ The disciples had spoken of a worldly and prudential celibacy. This, Jesus warns them, is unnatural and perilous. The only celibacy which is safe and acceptable to God is that which is embraced for religious reasons in consequence of a divine call (‘to whom it is given,’ viz. ‘by God’). 12. For the kingdom of heaven’s sake] i.e. who have embraced celibacy not merely for their own personal sanctification, but in order to undertake work for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom on earth.