because of the hardnesse of your hearts] The usuall note of this people, so often taxed for it, Exodus 33:3. and Exodus 34:9. Deuteronomy 9:6. and Deuteronomy 31:27. Isaiah 48:4. Ezekiel 2:4. and Ezekiel 3:7. Acts 7:41. Lest when once they did displease you, ye should use them cruelly, Moses permitted you to put them away. suffered you to put away your wives] They say, Moses commanded, v 7. he saith, Moses suffered it: to wit, by a politicall, not by a morall law. Or, Moses winked at it, but gave no law so to do: for Moses words, Deuteronomy 24:1-2. may be read thus, And he hath written her a bill of divorcement, and given it, &c. and sent, &c. and she hath departed, and gone and been another mans wife. So that he bids them not to put her away, but forbids to take her again, after she hath been married to another. See the sum of that law, Jeremiah 3:1. from the beginning] From the first originall and institution of this ordinance.