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Author: Stephen Weller
714 words, 4 minutes read time

Moses Allowed Divorce! Why?

Scripture: Matthew 19:8; Mark 10:3-5

In the previous lesson, we followed Jesus, who traveled south from Galilee to the region of Perea. In this lesson, Pharisees come to him and ask him a question about divorce.

^{Mt 19:3} “And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?”’

Instead of learning from Jesus, the Pharisees were determined to find a way to get him to say something they could use against him. They were trying to get him to incriminate himself through misinterpreting the law. At this time, they came to him with a question about divorcing one’s wife.

The context of their question is found in Deuteronomy 24:1 – 4, where a husband was allowed to divorce his wife for such things as finding some indecency in her, or if he hates her for some reason. There seemed to be various interpretations of those verses by various Pharisaical groups. Surely Jesus knew of these debates and so the Pharisees were trying to get Jesus to take a position that would in some way violate the law. If Jesus would allow divorce what would it be the reason?

^{Mk 10:3} “He answered them, “What did Moses command you?”’

Jesus does not commit himself yet, but instead asks them a question about what Moses commanded them. He is asking them for their opinion on what Moses said. They protect themselves with a general but true statement.

^{Mk 10:4} “They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.”’

That is what Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 24:1 – 4. For apparently any reason a certificate of divorce could be written. The only restriction given in those verses was about remarriage. A man could not marry again a woman who had been his wife and then became the wife of another and then was again divorced.

^{Mk 10:5} “And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment, ^{Mt 19:8} allowing you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.”

With the formalities out of the way, Jesus now starts to teach. He gives a reason why Moses wrote those verses in Deuteronomy; it was because of their hardness of heart, a condition that has existed since sin entered the human race. In Mark 16:14, Jesus rebukes his disciples for their unbelief and hardness of heart. In Mark 3:5, Jesus “looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.” In Mark 6:52, his disciples “did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” In Hebrews 3:8, is a warning to us to be careful not to harden our hearts.

A harden heart is one that stops feeling kind or friendly towards someone. It is one that resists change and is often associated with a lack of faith. It was because their hearts had turned away from God, they became hard and seeing this Moses allowed them to have their way by being able to divorce and continue in their sin.

In the beginning it was God’s intent, when he created man and woman, that marriage of one man to one woman would not end by divorce but was to last a lifetime. In Malachi 2:16 a very strong statement about divorce was given: “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So, guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.” Divorce is violent by the hurtful affect it has on those involved. It is like speaking harsh words that tear down and do not build up. Wounds are created which leave scars of remembrance that are hard to remove.

Conclusion

Because of hardness of heart, Moses allowed divorce, but Jesus makes it clear that it should not be that way and was not God’s intent in the beginning. Jesus will have more to say on this in the next lesson.