PART SECOND FROM THE OUT OF GALILEE TO THE Mark 10:1 to 16:20 SECTION ONE EVENTS IN PEREA Mark 10:1-52 1. ABOUT DIVORCE Mark 10:1-12 (Matthew 19:1-12) 1 And he arose from thence, and cometh into the borders of Judaea and beyond the Jordan:--This is the final departure of Jesus from Galilee. He returned thither no more until after his resurrection from the dead, when he suddenly appeared to his disciples there on two occasions. (Matthew 28:16-17; John 21:1.) He had labored in Galilee about twenty-two months. and multitudes come together unto him again; and, as he was wont, he taught them again.--Some came for one cause and some for another--and, as usual, he taught them and healed the afflicted. 2 And there came unto him Pharisees, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?--Matthew (Matthew 19:3) adds, "For every cause?" That is, every cause satisfactory to her husband. They had found fault with him for violating the law (Mark 2:24);and transgressing the tradition of the elders (Mark 7:5);had referred his power to Beelzebub (Mark 3:22);and had demanded a sign from heaven (Mark 8:11; Matthew 12:38). But now they seek to entangle him in existing controversies, which, they thought, would be impossible to answer without displeasing one or another of the Jewish parties. trying him.--the Pharisees asked the question, not for information, but with wrong motives, "trying him." If he answered in the affirmative, they would accuse him with moral laxity; if in the negative, with disregarding the authority of Moses. Probably they wished to call forth a condemnation of Herod Antipas in his adulterous relationship with his brother's wife, and thus insure to Jesus an end similar to that of John the Baptist. 3 And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?--He does not discuss their distinctions, but appeals to their own law. The wisdom of Christ is seen in his reply. In it he sanctions the law of Moses. (Luke 10:26.) 4 And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.--This reply of the Pharisees is found in Deuteronomy 24:1-3. 5 But Jesus said unto them, For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.--He did not command to give a writing of divorcement, and then to put her away: he only suffered them to do so, and suffered it on account of the hardness of their hearts, though it had not been so from the beginning. The Mosaic law was not intended as a code of perpetual obligation, but was preparatory to something better and higher, when the people were able to bear it. (Galatians 3:19-25.) 6 But from the beginning of the creation, Male and female made he them.--God made Adam and Eve. They were designed one for the other. Thus God shows that man and woman should live together in the marriage state, and that polygamy be excluded. Jesus excluded polygamy in the Christian law. 7 For this cause--Because Eve was taken out of Adam, and was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. (Genesis 2:21-24.) shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife;--Shall be joined unto and adhere. The relation between husband and wife is stronger than that between parent and child. 8 and the two shall become one flesh:--They shall be united in the flesh--one being the part of the other. Jesus quotes the language of Adam, showing the strong and close relation of husband and wife. (Genesis 2:24.) so that they are no more two, but one flesh.--Having a oneness in all their interests and relations pertaining to this life. 9 What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.--Man is here used in the broad sense--including all men. Let no human authority, civil or otherwise, in any way annul the ordinance of God. That relation between husband and wife authorized by God, and to which all other relations, even that of parent and child, must yield, can he severed only by God himself. The marriage relation, however, ceases at the death of either partner for the reason the unity is based on one flesh. (Verse 7.) The union in the flesh is for this world. (Mark 12:25; Romans 7:2.) This is the law of Christ. There was never a time when there was greater need for the discussion of this subject than there is in this "evil and adulterous generation." Christ's law of marriage has been set aside by the civil authorities of many countries by granting divorces for almost any cause. By many, the marriage vow and relationship are no longer held sacred, and husband and wife separate on an impulse to cohabit with someone else. All Christians should earnestly teach against this widespreading evil. God is the author of the marriage; he joins husband and wife, and no civil court can divorce them. Man cannot put asunder what God has joined together. Godmade ties cannot be broken by human laws. He who marries a woman that has been divorced for some other cause than fornication commits adultery because he is thus joined to another man's wife; she commits adultery because she is living with another than her husband. (Matthew 19:1-8; Romans 7:1-3; 1 Corinthians 7:10-16; 1 Corinthians 7:19.) Fornicators and adulterers cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10.) 10 And in the house the disciples asked him again of this matter.--They did not fully understand the teaching of Jesus on marriage and divorce, so they asked him again of this matter. "Again" refers to the question asked by the Pharisees in verse 2. 11 And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his wife,--"Saving for the cause of fornication." (Matthew 19:9.) and marry another, committeth adultery against her :--Should husband and wife separate for some other cause than fornication, neither is at liberty to marry another. In some cases when a separation occurs in the absence of fornication, one party waits for the other party to marry another, thinking when he or she does, that this frees the other party and that that party is at liberty to marry again. But this is net true, for the adultery occurred after the second marriage, and therefore, was not the cause of the separation. For one party to be free to marry again after a separation, the adultery must have been committed before the separation and be the grounds of the separation. In this case, the innocent party is, in my judgment, at liberty to marry again. 12 and if she herself shall put away her husband, and marry another, she committeth adultery.--That which is implied in other passages is here directly stated--that this law applies to both wife and husband. Christians should regard no one as really divorced except for the one cause--fornication.