We are now in a position to reconstruct the debate that Jesus had with the Pharisees. This debate was recorded in an abbreviated form by Mark, and Matthew (probably writing later) reinserted some of the details that had been abbreviated out. Using Mark’s version as a basis and Matthew’s helpful additions and rearrangement as a guideline, we can produce the following version of the debate. Matthew’s additions are in square brackets. My additions are in curly brackets. Scripture citations are in italics.
And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife [for ‘any matter’] {Deut. 24:1, according to the Hillelite interpretation]?”
[He answered, “Have you not read that] from the beginning of creation, ‘He made them male and female’ {Gen. 1:27}, [and] ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’ {Gen. 2:24 LXX}? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
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Author: David Instone-Brewer
Keywords: Marriage, Divorce, Bill of divorcement, Certificate of divorce, Certificate of divorcement, Bill of divorce, School of Hillel, School of Shammai, Any cause, Every cause, Divorce for any cause, Divorce of every cause, Rabbinic debate, Commits adultery, Continues to commit adultery, Remarriage, Divorcement, Exception clause, Except for fornication, Except for adultery, Porneia, divorce and remarriage, divorce and marriage
Bible reference(s): Deuteronomy 24:1-3, Matthew 5:31-32, Matthew 12:39, Matthew 19:3-9, Mark 8:12, Mark 10:2, Mark 10:4, Mark 10:11-12, Luke 16:18, Romans 7:1-3
Source: Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002), pp. 175-177.
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