EXCERPT

Judaism is a religion that sanctifies people and views the relationship of marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman. In Judaism marriage is a freewill act by which a man and a woman form a covenant. When two people can no longer share in a loving relationship, Judaism sees nothing at all humiliating or reprehensible about terminating that relationship.

The legitimacy of divorce was an accepted fact in Jewish tradition from the earliest of times. The procedure for divorce was, in fact, established in the Torah (Deuteronomy 24:1). There are two basic issues that this text is dealing with: 1. If a man is to put away his wife, he must give her a bill of divorcement so that she may be free to marry another; 2. If, the divorced wife married another man and he either died or divorced he, she could never remarry the former husband, although she could marry another man.

It is of utmost importance that we understand the context in which Jesus statements are made in the 19th chapter of Matthew and interpret it accordingly. At this time in the Jewish economy there were two different schools of thought among the Pharisees relative to the Deuteronomy passage (24:1-4). The Pharisees of the Hillel School represented the more liberal thinking that contended it was lawful to put away the wife for basically any cause. The Pharisees of the School of Shammai were much more conservative and held to the stricter interpretation limiting the permission to put away the wife to the cause of sexual infidelity. The debate between these two schools had been raging for quite some time and had not yet been resolved.

In all three of the gospels Jesus is responding to the Pharisees and is not necessarily establishing a new law to regulate divorce. It is most interesting to note the manner in which the question was posed to Jesus: Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? (Emphasis mine) Lawful had the same precise meaning for the both the Pharisees and Jesus. When speaking of lawfulness they were always referring to that which was contained in the Mosaic Law. Because of the Pharisees very legalistic approach to life, they had asked the question concerning lawful on other occasions (see Matthew 12: 10-12; Mark 12: 14).

In responding to their inquiry Jesus very skillfully answers them by not referring to either side of the debate. He was careful to not get drawn into the debate over the meaning of the unseemly thing which was not the real issue regarding the marriage relationship. Just as He had done with Satan in the wilderness, Jesus immediately directs them to the Scripture (which they were supposed to be experts in) and Gods original constitution of the human race as male and female (this was prior to sin entering into the world of man). This unique creational relationship was established by God and was His ideal. Rather than begin with the Deuteronomy text (that deals with issues due to sin), Jesus goes immediately to the scriptures that recorded the origination of marriage. The marriage relationship He shows is rooted in this constitution of the man and the woman and the unique union of the two. The man was created from the earth while the woman was taken from man (herein lies the unparalleled oneness). It is understood that the purpose of this relationship was for procreation and the fulfillment of the pleasures of the man and the woman and the relationship was intended to be permanent.