Matthew 19:3-12
Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality1, and marries another, commits adultery.” ESV
There were two competing interpretations of Deuteronomy 24:1 in Jesus’ day.
“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house...” ESV
Hillel taught that divorce was allowed for virtually any reason. This was the popular view held by the Pharisees and many others. Shammai taught that divorce was allowed only for adultery.
The word translated “indecency” in many of our English translations should be translated “nakedness” (as it is in the YLT and LSV2).
This word had two primary definitions:
1. Exposure of parts of the body that should be covered3
2. Sex, usually unlawful (incest, prostitution, adultery)4
Jesus first confronted the desire to justify divorce by stating God’s intent for people to stay married for life (Gen. 2:24). Moses did permit divorce under at least some circumstance. Why? Because of the hardness of people’s hearts. That is, God had to regulate divorce in the Law because some people rebel against his intent for marital fidelity.
Ultimately, Jesus confirmed that Shammai’s interpretation was correct. Moses permitted divorce only for adultery. Jesus also introduced this as God’s law for marriage under the new covenant.
These notes are not intended to fully exhaust the debate concerning grounds for divorce. This provides only a brief overview of the historical background of the Pharisees’ question and Jesus’ answer.
Footnotes:
1 The Greek word porneia is defined by Thayer and Vine as illicit sexual intercourse. Both also note that it can also be used
metaphorically of idolatry. 1 Cor. 6:12-20 further demonstrates that this word refers to an unlawful sexual act. It includes adultery, homosexuality, incest, and other sexual
acts between people who are not lawfully married to each other. Older translations render it “fornication”.
2 Young's Literal Translation (1899) and the Literal Standard Version (2020) emphasize literalness in translation more than most others. In Deuteronomy 24:1, they properly translated the Hebrew word ervah where other translations obscured the meaning with vague words. In the 54 occurrences of ervah in the Old Testament, almost all refer to sexual immorality. While the NET renders the word as “something indecent”, its footnotes explain that it means “nakedness,” and by extension, “shame, sexual impropriety, sexual organs, indecency”.
3 Texts in which ervah refers to unlawful sex include Lev. 18:6-19; 20:11, 17-21; Eze. 22:10. It is also used to metaphorically describe spiritual infidelity (idolatry) as prostitution in the prophets.
4 Texts in which ervah refers to unlawful exposure of flesh include Exo. 20:26; 28:42; Isa 20:4; Hos. 2:9. It is also used to metaphorically describe shame as uncovering the nakedness.
~ SR
Citation
Ruhmann, Scott. “Quick Notes: Matthew 19:9.” 27th Street Church of Christ. Access date: . http://www.churchofbend.com/qn/mat19-9.htm