In Matt 19, Jesus is not saying he disapproves of Moses’s legislation in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. He is telling the Pharisees that their interpretation of that passage in Deuteronomy is wrong.
Jesus rebutted both the Hillelite and the Shammaite interpretations of that Deuteronomic passage. Both schools (Hillel and Shammaite) said that Deut 24 verse one gave grounds for divorce. The only difference between the two schools was how they interpreted the Hebrew phrase “erwat dabar” in verse one.
Jesus told them that verse one does NOT legislate grounds for divorce, rather verse one is part of the pre-law narrative of verses one to three, and the legislation -- the Law -- is in verse 4.
Jesus took them back to Genesis 2 to show that their interpretation of Deuteronomy was wrong. In the beginning, God made the first man and woman to be married, be kin, be family, with all the obligations and responsibilities that entails. But the self-serving male religious leaders claimed that Deut 24:1 was legislation (a Law) that allowed a man to divorce his wife. Verse one was not a Law. Verse 4 is the law, but the Pharisees (Shammaite and Hillelite) had intentionally and selfishly twisted verse one to claim it was a Law that enabled husbands to divorce their wives. They had excised verse one from its context and used it as a pretext to divorce their wives.
Jesus told them that the Deuteronomic Law was given because of MEN’s hardness of heart. The hardness of heart Moses was restraining was the propensity of Israelite men to divorce then remarry their ex-wives after the woman they dumped had had a second marriage which had terminated. For a man to do that was akin to the Muslim practice whereby a husband prostitutes his wife out for money but it’s “legal” because divorces her for a night and then remarries her after the other guy has married her, used her for sex, and then divorced her. In other words, Moses was making a Law against “legalised wife swapping”.
I argue this in more depth in my book “Not Under Bondage: Biblical Divorce for Abuse, Adultery and Desertion”.
In Matt 19, Jesus is not saying he disapproves of Moses’s legislation in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. He is telling the Pharisees that their interpretation of that passage in Deuteronomy is wrong.
Jesus rebutted both the Hillelite and the Shammaite interpretations of that Deuteronomic passage. Both schools (Hillel and Shammaite) said that Deut 24 verse one gave grounds for divorce. The only difference between the two schools was how they interpreted the Hebrew phrase “erwat dabar” in verse one.
Jesus told them that verse one does NOT legislate grounds for divorce, rather verse one is part of the pre-law narrative of verses one to three, and the legislation -- the Law -- is in verse 4.
Jesus took them back to Genesis 2 to show that their interpretation of Deuteronomy was wrong. In the beginning, God made the first man and woman to be married, be kin, be family, with all the obligations and responsibilities that entails. But the self-serving male religious leaders claimed that Deut 24:1 was legislation (a Law) that allowed a man to divorce his wife. Verse one was not a Law. Verse 4 is the law, but the Pharisees (Shammaite and Hillelite) had intentionally and selfishly twisted verse one to claim it was a Law that enabled husbands to divorce their wives. They had excised verse one from its context and used it as a pretext to divorce their wives.
Jesus told them that the Deuteronomic Law was given because of MEN’s hardness of heart. The hardness of heart Moses was restraining was the propensity of Israelite men to divorce then remarry their ex-wives after the woman they dumped had had a second marriage which had terminated. For a man to do that was akin to the Muslim practice whereby a husband prostitutes his wife out for money but it’s “legal” because divorces her for a night and then remarries her after the other guy has married her, used her for sex, and then divorced her. In other words, Moses was making a Law against “legalised wife swapping”.
I argue this in more depth in my book “Not Under Bondage: Biblical Divorce for Abuse, Adultery and Desertion”.
I would appreciate a reply from you, Matt.