Matt 19:8-9 Amplified

[Memphis Dwight]

Often when reading commentary found on the internet of Marriage & Divorce, we find parroted phrases. So it behooves us to reexamine each and every set of words to insure that our view lines up squarely with the mind of God.

The roots of feminism have their beginning points in wrong understandings of the bible. One instance is in the divorce sayings where it is often said that Moses permitted divorce because men back then were so hard hearted. But this is not so.

First the verse from the bible.
Matt 19:8-9
He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except [it be] for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

Now what does the phrase hardness of hearts mean? From everything I've learned, it means that Moses suffered divorce because of the hardness of heart that was being caused by remaining in the marriage (to this rebellious woman), but from the beginning marriage was not supposed to make a man dead inside.

 

[Memphis Dwight]

Often is repeated that when Christ used the phrase "hardness of heart" that what He meant was that due to the hardness of those men's hearts they were divorcing for trivial reasons.
I don't agree with this assertion at all.

However, there is a more cogent view. Though this view is not parroted by the commentators in huge numbers, it should be remembered that often the herd is wrong.

But others have said what I am about to put forth. To name a few: Milton, Udney Hay Jacob, Bucer. There are more but I am keeping this informal.

Now first let it be recognized that there is nothing in the passages of Mark 10 or Matthew 19 to demand that above interpretation be given preeminence. The reader may peruse it a thousand times yet he will see that the only proof exists in the imaginary realm.

When it was said that Moses made this allowance for the hardness of hearts, it is to be understood that the original purpose in the law of divorcement was to alleviate the condition (the hardness of heart) that would arise should a man find himself attached to one whom did not joyfully conform to his guidance. But these Israelites were divorcing for Any Cause and supposing that it was good. An Any Cause divorce was the same as a no-fault divorce today in which neither party is culpable of wrong doing. Christ condemned this type of divorce because a biblical divorce was one in which the man had to find what was called uncleanness in his wife. And this uncleanness had to be something germane to the aspects of marriage.
For example, obedience is a key component. 1 Peter 3:1-3 characterizes obedience as chastity and Judges 19:1-2 shows disobedience as playing the whore. So fornication is not limited to sexual infidelity.

What would be an example of a reason for divorce that would be wrong?

If a woman had bad hair.
If a woman had crooked teeth.
If she became crippled.
None of these constitute a breach of the marital arrangement.