Thread: Marriage and Divorce - An examination of Matthew 19 and Deut. 24.
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Marriage and Divorce - An examination of Matthew 19 and Deut. 24.
Posted : 21 Jul, 2012 01:25 PM
Dear Readers,
I am starting this thread to deal with some false teaching that has been proliferated on other threads concerning this issue of "Marriage and Divorce" as it relates to Matt 19 and Deut. 24. This is not intended to be an all encompassing treatise concerning the topic or the passages. It is merely an essay consisting mostly of direct exegesis of the passages and a summary analogy for ease of comprehension. I may or may not add additional thoughts at a later time. As always, I welcome your comments and feedback.
ADMONITION: Do not be fooled by cunning words and vain imaginations. Do not follow a fool who tries blindly to justify disobedience to the laws of Yahweh.
Let's examine the text of Matthew 19 together and see what's really there.
Vs. 3a The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him
NOTICE: The Pharisees were trying to trip him up with this question. This set
the backdrop for the exchange that follows.
Vs 3b Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
NOTICE: The pharisees were seeking justification for putting away their wives
for whatever reason they wanted. They wanted sanction for their disobedience.
Vs 4-6 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which
made them at the beginning made them male and female And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
NOTICE: He refers here to the written command that they already possessed on the matter that clearly shows that once two people are joined together, they are no longer two but one. The command in plain terms - don't let any man try to separate what God has joined together. They already knew this because it had been written and handed down to them.
Vs 7. They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of
divorcement, and to put her away? *this is a reference to Deut.24*
NOTICE: Here comes the "gotcha" question from the Pharisees referred to in
Verse 3. Now they are attempting to pit Moses (and a subsequent civil law) against God Himself (and his eternal law). This question clearly illustrates that they understood what Jesus had just told them because it says clearly, "if what you said is true Jesus, then why did Moses tell us otherwise?" They knew better but they were seeking justification. They were saying if God commanded that no man should try to separate what God joined together, then why did Moses command us to give a writing of divorcement?
Vs.8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
NOTICE: This was NOT the command that God issued from the beginning
pertaining to marriage. Jesus reiterates this again. So, then why does Moses say
this? The answer is right there in the text: because of the hardness of your
hearts. In other words, these men were unregenerate, unrepentant, law breakers to begin with. They hated their wives and were already divorcing (putting them
out from their houses) for any reason. More importantly, they hated the
instructions (VS 4-6 above) that had already been written. TO HATE GOD'S LAW
IS TO HATE GOD HIMSELF. There is one last point from this verse that needs to be noted. Jesus says Moses suffered it (i.e. he painfully permitted it),in response to why this law was written. He does not agree with the Pharisees language that Moses "commanded it". Additional rules were necessary because of their sin. Moses was not commanding men to divorce their wives when they were unhappy.
Vs 9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for
fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth
her which is put away doth commit adultery.
NOTICE: This is in complete harmony with Jesus teaching from Matt 5:31-32.
Jesus has already dealt with divorce- this was not supposed to be from the
beginning. Now, he expounds upon the law even further. Anybody who divorces
his wife and marries another multiplies his sins because he is now also committing adultery. He offers only one exception to this: fornication. Notice he does not command divorce for fornication but merely permits it as within the law of Yahweh.
This is also in complete harmony with Jer. 3: 6-8 "The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also."
NOTICE: Yahweh first gave Israel a chance at reconciliation after she had played the harlot. She would not return. Why then did he finally issue a "bill of divorcement" against her? For her adultery.
Lets stop here and look at an analogy to better understand what we have just
covered up to this point.
Lets suppose that God commands that the Jews should not engage in fornication. However, the Jews decide to disobey and start having sex whenever and with whomever they please. So Moses, seeing the situation and realizing that the people are not believers and are intent on being disobedient, painfully passes a law to this effect: "All fornicators must wear condoms." Remember, Moses was dealing with the civil law of Israeli society. There may be many practical reasons that Moses had for this law such as to avoid unwanted pregnancies, stop the spread of disease in society, discourage those who couldn't afford the condoms and so on. We can not know for sure what all of the practical issues are in such a case but only that it was necessary because fornication was rampant at the time.
Now let's apply the Pharisees conclusion to our analogy. They go to Jesus and
question, "Is it lawful for us to fornicate". Jesus says, "NO, you know the
written command against fornication". Then comes the "gotcha question". "So,
why did Moses command us to use condoms when we fornicate, then?"
Pretty foolish isn't it? Such is the mind of the unregenerate, hardhearted,
Marriage and Divorce - An examination of Matthew 19 and Deut. 24.
Posted : 21 Jul, 2012 09:23 PM
Bob, I fundamentally agree with you up to where you start explaining verse 8. �Your example from Jeremiah is on target.
At the time in Matthew, the Pharisees had stretched the guidance that Moses gave in Deut 24 to allow men to divorce their wives for any reason.�They used the guidance in Deut 24 to divorce their wives in order to marry someone else (similar to what Herod and Herodias did).
Jesus re-emphasized the grounds acceptable for divorce followed by marriage to someone else. �The only grounds for divorce followed by remarriage to someone else is if fornication (any form of it as described on another thread) was committed.
If they opted to divorce their wives for other grounds, they would be committing adultery if they married someone else.
I agree that divorce does not have to occur; �however, it is permissible as Jesus stated. �
Jesus statement, "Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for�fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth�her which is put away doth commit adultery." is a compound sentence which was addressing divorce followed by marriage to another.
If one divorces for a reason other than fornication and never remarries, no adultery occurs.
Marriage and Divorce - An examination of Matthew 19 and Deut. 24.
Posted : 21 Jul, 2012 10:00 PM
Teach,
I purposely chose not to spend additional time in this article on the idea of remarriage other than the mention from the text itself. However I am in agreement with what you said here that "If one divorces for a reason other than fornication and never remarries, no adultery occurs. "
Marriage and Divorce - An examination of Matthew 19 and Deut. 24.
Posted : 22 Jul, 2012 08:43 PM
Bob,
The main reason I pointed out the remarriage aspect was many people forget about the exception and imply that anyone who remarries after a divorce is guilty of adultery.
