Mark 10:1-12, “Trying To Trick Jesus, The Pharisees
Ask Him If It Is Lawful For A Man To Divorce His Wife”
By
Jim Bomkamp
1.
In our last study, we looked at verses
30-50 of chapter 9 of Mark.
1.1.
We saw that as
Jesus was going around
1.2.
Jesus’ disciples
asked Him if they did the right thing in stopping a man who was casting out
demons in Jesus’ name, and Jesus told them that they should not have hindered
the man.
1.3.
Finally, Jesus
sternly warned His disciples that no one should cause one of the littlest ones
to stumble in their faith.
1.4.
Jesus finished up
by telling the disciples that they are to cut out the offending part of their
body.
2.
In our study
today, we are going to look at verses 1 – 12 of chapter 10 of Mark.
2.1.
In our study
today, we see that Jesus has now completed His Galilean ministry. With His disciples He now begins to head down
to
2.2.
This map that I
found on the internet at the address sent at the bottom right hand shows the
location of Perea in the
2.3.
We will see that
some Pharisees now will put Jesus to the test again, trying to get Him to say
something to incriminate Himself that they can use to get Him killed or
imprisoned. They will ask Jesus if it is
lawful for a man to divorce his wife. We
will look at Jesus answer and see how that He uses His answer to elevate
marriage and the family to the status that it should be before the Lord.
2.4.
We have to look
at Jesus’ answer to the divorce question here and observe that He did not give
what for the people at that time would be the “politically correct”
answer. One friend of mine once
remarked, “Jesus wasn’t politically correct, He was just correct.” Jesus was not a man who was concerned about
being pleasing people, and being liked by men, He wanted to be pleasing to His
Father in heaven alone.
2.4.1.
We Christians
should follow Jesus’ steps and be people who are not men pleasers but do all
that we do not in order to be liked by men, but rather be pleasing to our
Father in heaven.
2.5.
Marriage is an
institution created by God for mankind, and we in the church need to always
recognize that point. Marriage was
created by God out of love to meet our needs as people (it was God who observed
of Adam that it was not good for man to be alone, and then He brought Eve to
Adam), and, we need to follow the guidelines of His word regarding marriage.
3.
VS 10:1-9 - “1
Getting up, He went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the
Jordan; crowds gathered around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once
more began to teach them. 2 Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began
to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife. 3 And He answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” 4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her
away.” 5 But Jesus said to them, “Because
of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. 6 “But from the beginning of creation, God
made them male and female. 7 “For
this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, 8 and the two
shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 “What therefore God has joined together,
let no man separate.”” – Jesus takes His disciples to the Transjordan area
and when the crowds again gather around Him He begins to teach them as was His
custom, and then some Pharisees come up to Him and put Him to the testing
asking Him if it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife, Jesus answers and
affirms marriage in the highest terms in God’s sight
3.1.
The Pharisees
were always looking for any advantage which they could gain over Jesus, and
this was especially more the case as time went on and Jesus became more widely
accepted and popular. These Pharisees
were desperate to find some reason to have Jesus put to death or at least
incarcerated out of public sight.
3.2.
In Jesus’ day,
divorce was very common. Men would and
could divorce their wives for any reason.
If a man didn’t like his wife’s cooking, for instance, he could
immediately divorce her for this.
Likewise, any unpleasantness that a man found in his wife could be used
as an acceptable cause legally for him to divorce her.
3.3.
Adultery was
punishable by death under the Law of Moses, and so because of how prevalent
divorce was in
3.4.
When Jesus first
returns their question with the question about what Moses says, the Pharisees
reply that Moses “permitted” that a man could divorce his wife,
indicating that God had given liberty to men to divorce their wives. This Greek word translated ‘permitted’
has the following entry in Strong’s Enhanced Lexicon:
2010 ἐπιτρέπω, συγχωρέω [epitrepo /ep·ee·trep·o/] v. From 1909 and the base of 5157; GK 2205 and
5181; 19 occurrences; AV translates as “suffer” 10 times, “permit” four times,
“give leave” twice, “give liberty” once, “give license” once, and “let” once. 1 to turn to, transfer, commit, instruct. 2 to permit, allow, give leave.
3.5.
The Bible
Exposition Commentary says the following about how this divorce certificate
protected women from abuse: “The law
protected the wife by restraining the husband from impulsively divorcing her
and abusing her like an unwanted piece of furniture, instead of treating her
like a human being. Without a bill of divorcement, a woman could easily become
a social outcast and be treated like a harlot. No man would want to marry her,
and she would be left defenseless and destitute. By giving this commandment to
3.6.
Divorce had
devastated
3.7.
Here, we see that
the Pharisees ask Jesus a trick question to put Him to the test and see if they
can find a reason to accuse Him to one group or another. They ask Him if it is ‘lawful’ for a
man to ‘divorce’ his wife, and depending upon Jesus’ answer here are
some of the potential ways they could accuse Him:
3.7.1. Being now in the territory under the control of Herod
Antipas, the man who had John the Baptist beheaded for confronting him of his
adultery, if Jesus made a strong statement about divorce being sinful, they
could accuse Jesus to Herod Antipas and possibly have Jesus arrested and
murdered as John was murdered.
3.7.2. If Jesus made some statement about the law of Moses
not being authoritative, and thus its pronouncements about marriage and divorce
not binding, the Pharisees could have Jesus arrested for blaspheming Moses and
the law.
3.7.3. If Jesus stated that divorce was not lawful, then the
Pharisees could accuse Him of blaspheming the Law because it taught that
divorce was permitted in Deuteronomy 24:1-4, “1 When a man takes a wife
and marries her, and it happens that 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 from his house, 2 and she leaves his house and goes and becomes
another man’s wife, 3 and if the latter husband
turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in
her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took
her to be his wife, 4 then her former husband who
sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has
been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God gives you as an
inheritance.”
3.7.4. At Jesus’ time, there were two rabbis who held
differing views on divorce, and the populace were divided in following these
teachers. The Bible Knowledge Commentary
states the following about another way in which the Pharisees considered
trapping Jesus with this question: “The
strict view of Rabbi Shammai allowed divorce only if a wife were guilty of
immorality; the lenient view of Rabbi Hillel allowed a husband to divorce his
wife for almost any reason (cf. Mishnah Gittin 9. 10). Perhaps Jesus
would take sides in this dispute and thereby split the ranks of His followers.”
3.7.5. The multitudes for the most part believed in the
sanctity of marriage and many saw the horrible consequences of divorce upon
demand that was practiced by the Pharisees and those who followed their
example. If Jesus said something that
undermined the sanctity of marriage or the family, or encouraged divorce, the
Pharisees thought they could incite the multitudes against Him and have Him
stoned.
3.8.
Because Jesus’
answer to this question has a huge impact on our lives as believers due to the
fact that today divorce is rampant both in all of the world as well the church,
we ought to consider the consequences of divorce today.
3.9.
The enemy of our
souls knows that in any people group he can destroy the work of God if he
brings down families, because the family unit is the centerpiece of society and
the church. If you can break down
families you can overthrow a nation and hinder the building of the church and
progress of the gospel. Our country has
lots of problems, however the biggest problem we have as a nation is not crime,
drugs, terrorism, etc., rather it is divorce.
Divorce and the breakdown of the family we have experienced since the
1960s has been the greatest catalyst for all of our other problems we face.
3.10.
I went out on the
internet yesterday and looked up the latest statistics on divorce as well as
the effect of divorce on those who grow up in broken homes. At this website, http://www.divorcestatistics.org/,
for instance, I found these statistics:
3.10.1. It is stated that approximately 50% of all marriages
in
|
Marriage |
Divorce statistics (in percent) |
|
First Marriage |
45% to 50% marriages end in divorce |
|
Second Marriage |
60% to 67% marriages end in divorce |
|
Third Marriage |
60% to 67% marriages end in divorce |
3.10.2. Likewise, childless couples in
|
Divorcing Couples |
Divorce Rate Statistics (in percent) |
|
Couples With Children |
40% |
|
Couples Without Children |
66% |
3.11. This website gave these further statistics about
divorce in
3.11.1.Children of divorce are twice as likely to drop out of
school as those from intact homes, three times as apt to have a baby out of
wedlock, five-fold more likely to be in poverty and 12 times more apt to be
incarcerated. Judith Wallerstein followed 100 children of divorce for 25 years
after parental divorce. Only 60 of the 100, now aged 27-43, had ever married
vs. 84 percent of those from intact families. And 25 of the 60 had already
divorced, leaving only a third who built lasting marriages.
3.11.2.Forty years ago, 90 percent of children were reared to
maturity by their married, natural parents. Today, that figure is 68 percent.
More than one in four children are living in a sole-parent family or
step/blended family from which one natural parent is absent, nearly always the
natural father. The proportion of children born to unmarried mothers has
increased six-fold since the 1960s. Rates of child abuse are eight to 10 times
higher in step/blended and sole-parent families than in natural, two-parent
families. Divorce has increased four-fold since 1960. About 46 percent of
marriages will end in divorce, and about 50,000 children are affected by
divorce each year. Cohabitation has increased rapidly, but cohabiting
relationships are even more unstable than marriage. Cohabitation does not lead
to stronger marriages. Six percent of children live with cohabiting parents.
Forty years ago, 10 young male adults out of every 100,000 of the population
killed themselves. Today, it is 40 out of every 100,000. Suicide is associated
with loss of family bonds, social isolation, drugs and unemployment. "The
damage done by the decline of marriage" The Age (AUSTRALIA), By BARRY
MALEY Saturday 8 December 2001.
3.11.3.The sons of single parents are more prone to commit
suicide as adults than others, and daughters are more likely to have abortions
and more children. The risk of suicide doubled if sons were raised by single
parents. When compared with people who grew up in a traditional family with
both parents, children of single parents are hospitalized more often due to
injuries and poisonings. The sons of single parents also commit more crimes.
Licentiate in Medicine Anu Sauvola studied some 11,000 young people, two
thousand of whom came from families with one parent or guardian. The lives of
the children are followed from before birth to 32 years of age. The study
revealed that the family background of childhood is connected to problems in
adulthood, such as physical illnesses, premature death and crime.
3.11.4.A new study conducted by the National Marriage Project
at
"*
Among married men, 63% grew up in two-parent homes vs. 37% in
non-traditional families.
* 54% from traditional homes say they'd ''be ready to marry tomorrow if the
right person came along'' vs. 43% of men from single-parent or step-parent
families.
* 22% of singles are ''not the marrying kind.'' These are more likely to be
from non-traditional families (59%) vs. 41% from homes with two biological
parents."
The findings suggest that the experience of growing up with both
parents is an important factor influencing young men's desires for, and
confidence in, marriage," said David Popenoe, a
3.11.5. Concerning Religion, children of divorce (whose
parents divorced while they were children) are 62% more likely than children of
non-divorced parents to no longer identify with the faith of their parents when
they grow up.:
·
Catholics were
1.7 times more likely to switch to a moderate Protestant denomination, 2.6
times more likely to switch to a conservative Protestant denomination, and 2.2
times as likely to apostatize.
·
For moderate
protestants, parental divorce doubles the likelihood of
switching from that faith to Catholicism. The authors interpret this as a seeking
of a stronger religious community. This group is 2.2 times more likely to
reject religion altogether than children of intact families with similar
faiths.
·
For conservative
Protestants, the increased risk is about 1.5 for changing to a more moderate
denomination, and 2.7 times for rejecting the faith altogether.
3.12.
This website gave
the following statistics about divorced homes producing criminals, http://www.divorcereform.org/crime.html#anchor590488:
A
survey of 108 rapists undertaken by Raymond A. Knight and Robert A. Prentky
revealed that 60 percent came from female-headed homes,. 70 percent of those
describable as 'violent' came from female-headed homes. 80 percent of those motivated
by 'displaced anger' came from female-headed (single-parent) homes.
Of
the juvenile criminals who are a threat to the public, three-fourths came from
broken homes.
"A
study of Stanford University's Center for the Study of Youth Development in 1985
indicated that children in single-parent families headed by a mother have
higher arrest rates, more disciplinary problems in school, and a greater
tendency to smoke and run away from home than do their peers who live with both
natural parents - no matter what their income, race, or ethnicity."
3.13.
The Bible
Knowledge Commentary states the attitudes of the Jews towards divorce from
Deuteronomy chapter 24:
They
summarized Deuteronomy 24:1-4, the basis for their divorce practices. They
believed that Moses permitted a husband to divorce his wife if he
protected her from the charge of adultery by writing out a certificate of
divorce in the presence of witnesses, signing it, and giving it to her (cf.
Mishnah Gittin 1. 1-3; 7. 2). In ancient
3.14.
The Bible
Exposition Commentary states the following about how the Law of Moses did not
provide for a legal divorce for the cause of adultery: “The Law of Moses did not give adultery as
grounds for divorce; for, in Israel, the adulterer and adulteress were stoned
to death (Deut. 22:22; Lev. 20:10; also see John 8:1–11).”
3.15.
In answering
these Pharisees’ question, Jesus first explains to them that this decree in
Deuteronomy chapter 24 was given to them by Moses not as God’s ideal for their
lives, but: ‘Because of your
hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.’ God would
rather the Israelites had not divorced, but because one way or another they
would divorce, Moses provided a way for the women to at least be protected to
some degree by the requirement of a certificate of divorce in order to have a
legal divorce from their husbands. Jesus
proves this assertion by what He says next.
3.16.
Jesus points the Pharisees
to God’s intentions for marriage when He first created man, and we can
determine from Jesus’ answer to them that He was not one who always spoke
politically correct statements:
3.16.1. First of all, God made them ‘male and female’
that they might become married and be ‘one flesh’ with each other. Today in our country’s legislatures we have
had bills written and in some cases passed that make marriage a legal
institution between people of the same sex.
However, Jesus point is that marriage is only to be between a man and a
woman.
3.16.2. Jesus points out the importance of “leaving and
cleaving” to your spouse in marriage here:
‘For this reason a man shall leave his father
and mother, 8 and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer
two, but one flesh.’ I believe that one of the biggest and most
common mistakes that people make when they get married is not taking these two
steps:
3.16.2.1.LEAVING.
3.16.2.1.1.Couples need to move out and leave their own families
and homes, and set up their own home.
Mom and dad should never be allowed to disrupt their children’s
marriages and families, and a couple needs to draw lines to keep them from
being able to interfere.
3.16.2.1.2.Couples that continue living at home with mom and dad
encounter lots of interference, plus it keeps them from being able to establish
their own rules of conduct and values for their homes.
3.16.2.2.CLEAVING.
3.16.2.2.1.Couples need to recognize the fact of oneness in their
marriage and try to develop that oneness to be reality.
3.16.2.2.2.Everything that a spouse does they should consider
that they are doing it as one with their spouse, and not see any part of their
life as being separate.
3.16.2.2.3.Likewise a spouse should never belittle or undermine
their spouse publicly or before the kids because this violates the principle of
oneness.
3.16.3. Finally, Jesus says that if God has joined a married
couple together that no one should ever try to separate them: ‘What therefore God has joined together,
let no man separate.’
3.16.3.1.A divorce causes the oneness of the marriage bond to
be broken. I have often mentioned that
if people divorce, this is kind of like Siamese twins being separated. Though both may be able to survive a surgical
separation, they will both be damaged by that separation.
3.17.
The Bible
Knowledge Commentary states that Jesus said more later about this subject: “Later, when Jesus’ disciples questioned
Him privately about this subject in the house (cf. 7:17), He added,
Anyone who divorces (apolysē, “releases,” same word in 15:6, 9, 15)
his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her, his
first wife (cf. Ex. 20:14, 17). According to Mark 10:12, which is unique to
Mark, the same applies to a woman who divorces her husband and marries
another man. These words were significant for Mark’s Roman readers since
under Roman law a wife could initiate divorce. Though not allowed under Jewish
law such action was sometimes practiced in
3.18.
The Bible
Knowledge Commentary states the following about what Jesus meant by this
statement regarding divorce: ““Man”
(anthrōpos, probably meaning the husband) is to stop disrupting marriage
through divorce. Marriage is to be a monogamous, heterosexual, permanent
one-flesh relationship. Jesus indirectly confirmed John the Baptist’s
courageous pronouncement (cf. Mark 6:18), contradicting the Pharisees’ lax
views.”
4.
VS 10:10-12 - “10
In the house the disciples began questioning Him about this again. 11 And He said to them, “Whoever
divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her;
12 and if she
herself divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing
adultery.”” – Jesus explains privately to His disciples that anyone who divorces
his wife and marries another commits adultery against his wife, and if a woman
divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery
4.1.
In Jewish
culture, women almost never divorced men.
It was only men who divorced their wives. Women divorcing their husbands was more
common in
4.2.
There are some
acceptable reasons for divorce, each of which will allow you to be able to
remarry:
4.2.1. On another occasion, Jesus taught that there was an
acceptable reason for divorce, that being if your spouse commits
fornication: Matthew 5:32, “32 but I say to you
that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of
unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman
commits adultery.” Fornication means any sex that is
outside of monogamous marriage.
4.2.2. In the seventh chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul gives
another acceptable reason why a person may divorce their spouse, and this is
the situation where the unbelieving spouse abandons you: 1 Corinthians 7:13-16, “13 And a woman who has an
unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her
husband away. 14 For the unbelieving
husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified
through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now
they are holy. 15 Yet if the unbelieving
one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in
such cases, but God has called us to peace. 16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save
your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?”
4.2.3. According to
4.3.
There are times
when a separation of a couple is warranted, however I don’t recommend this
except for the situation where you or your children are in physical danger from
your spouse. There are too many
temptations for a couple living apart, and many a marriage would not have ended
had the couple just not separated in the first place.
4.4.
CONCLUSIONS:
4.4.1.
Follow Jesus’ lead and don’t be a man pleaser, but rather
do all you do to be pleasing to your Father in heaven.
4.4.2.
Remember that marriage was meant by God to be for life,
and therefore you must not take the commitment of marriage lightly.
4.4.3.
Remember the consequences of divorce as well as God’s intention that
the marriage bond is meant to be for life.