Matthew 19
Matthew 19:1
It happened when Yeshua had finished these words, he departed from Galilee, and came into the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan.
Matthew 19:2
Great multitudes followed him, and he healed them there.
Matthew 19:3
Pharisees came to him, testing him, and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”
Notice the words “any reason.” This hearkens to a first century debate between the Sages,
“The House of Shammai say, “A man should divorce his wife only because he has found grounds for it in unchastity,” since it is said, Because he has found in her indecency in anything (Dt. 24:1). And the House of Hillel say, “Even if she spoiled his dish, since it is said, Because he has found in her indecency in anything.” R. Aqiba says, “Even if he found someone else prettier than she,” since it is said, And it shall be if she find no favor in his eyes (Dt. 24:1).
Mishnah, Gittin 9:10, The Misnah: A New Translation by Jacob Neusner, Yale University Press, pg. 487. [17]
According to R’ Akiba, a man may divorce his wife is she find someone more beautiful than she, as he emphasized the words” favor in his eyes.”
“if she find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her”
Deuteronomy 24:1, Akiba’s Emphasis
Hillel interpreted that he may divorce his wife even if she burned his food, as he emphasized the words “thing,”
“if she find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her”
Deuteronomy 24:1, Hillel’s Emphasis
The school of Shammai interpreted that he may divorces his wife only if she committed sexual immorality, as he emphasized the word ervat, unseemly,
“if she find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her”
Deuteronomy 24:1, Shammai’s Emphasis
Yanki Tauber comments,
“All three opinions derive from the same verse in the Torah –Deuteronomy 24:1–in the section dealing with the laws of divorce, depending on how a key phrase in that verse is interpreted.) The halachah (final legal ruling) follows the opinion of the sages of Hillel. But pious behavior (midat chassidut), which holds itself to a standard “beyond the letter of the law,” is to accept the stricter criteria put forth by the disciples of Shammai.”
Yanki Tauber, When to Get Divorced, Chabad.org
Matthew 19:4
He answered, Haven’t you read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female,
Matthew 19:5
and said, For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall join to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?
The Torah says,
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife and they shall be one flesh.”
Genesis 2:24
Matthew 19:6
So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, do not let man tear apart.
Ecclesiastes says,
“If a man prevails against one who is alone, two shall withstand him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
Ecclesiastes 4:12
The Midrash says,
“…neither man without woman nor woman without man, nor both of them without the Shechinah.”
Genesis Rabbah 8:9, Soncino Press Edition
R’ Kahn says,
“The description of the creation of man and woman is theologically breathtaking. The image of God which man possesses is the totality of the two together. “Male and female He created them.” Each independently is lacking spiritually. Said Rabbi Abba: “The first man consisted of male and female, for it says: Let us make man in our image after our likeness, which indicates that male and female were originally created as one and separated afterwards.” (Zohar Sh’mot 55a) The goal for man is to search and find the missing part of himself, in order to re-create himself in the image of God. This is the theological significance of the biblical description of man and woman being one, suffering separation, and becoming merged anew. It is a search for self as much as it is a search for a partner. This idyllic description precludes others, leaving just the two, together as one.”
R. Ari Kahn, M’oray HaAish: To Be As One, Aish.com,
Matthew 19:7
They asked him, “Why then did Moshe command us to give her a bill of divorce, and divorce her?”
The Torah makes a provision for divorce,
“When a man takes a wife, and marries her, then it shall be, if she find no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. When she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s [wife]. If the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorce, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife; her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife. . .”
Deuteronomy 24:1-4
The Mishnah says,
“He who threw a writ of divorce to his wife, and she was in her own house or in her own courtyard, lo, this one is divorced.”
Mishnah, Gittin 8:1, The Mishnah: A New Translation by Jacob Neusner, Yale University Press, pg.481
However, the Talmud says,
“R. Eleazar said: If a man divorces his first wife, even the altar sheds tears.”
Gittin 90b, Soncino Press Edition
Matthew 19:8
He said to them, Moshe, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so.
It was a permission, but not a commandment.
Matthew 19:9
I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.
Yeshua clarifies the halakha, interpreting עֶרְוַת דָּבָר in Deut. 24:1 as πορνειας, sexual immorality, rendered by Delitzsch as דְּבַר זְנוּת. In Luke 16:18, Yeshua’s statement that, “Everyone who divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery,” may be specifically refuting the position later championed by R. Akiva, although he post-dated Yeshua, his position on Deut. 24 was possibly in currency among the Sages. The Greek και (“and”) translates the Hebrew letter vav, meaning not only “and”, but also “in order to” as it does in Exodus 7:16, and Tosefta, Sotah 5:10. For further discussion see Brad H. Young’s Jesus the Jewish Theologian, Divorce and Adultery in Light of the Words of Jesus, pg. 111-117. According to John Gill,
“Christ does not infringe, or revoke the original grant, or permission of divorce; only frees it from the false interpretations, and ill use, the Pharisees made of it; and restores the ancient sense of it, in which only it was to be understood: for a divorce was allowable in no case, except for the cause of fornication, which must not be taken strictly for what is called fornication, but as including adultery, incest, or any unlawful copulation; and is opposed to the sense and practices of the Pharisees, who were on the side of Hillel: who permitted divorce, upon the most foolish and frivolous pretences whatsoever, when Shammai and his followers insisted on it, that a man ought only to put away his wife for uncleanness, in which they agreed with Christ.”
John Gill, Commentary on Matthew 19
Matthew 19:10
His disciples said to him, If this is the case of the man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.
Matthew 19:11
But he said to them, Not all men can receive this saying, but those to whom it is given.
Matthew 19:12
For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mothers womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heavens sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.
Matthew 19:13
Then little children were brought to him, that he should lay his hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them.
Matthew 19:14
But Yeshua said, Allow the little children, and don’t forbid them to come to me; for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to ones like these.
Matthew 19:15
He laid his hands on them, and departed from there.
Matthew 19:16
Behold, one came to him and said, Good Rabbi, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
Matthew 19:17
He said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.
Matthew 19:18
He said to him, Which ones? Yeshua said, You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not offer false testimony.
Matthew 19:19
Honor your father and mother. And, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 19:20
The young man said to him, All these things I have observed from my youth. What do I still lack?
Matthew 19:21
Yeshua said to him, If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.
Matthew 19:22
But when the young man heard the saying, he went away sad, for he was one who had great possessions.
Matthew 19:23
Yeshua said to his disciples, Most certainly I say to you, a rich man will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven with difficulty.
Matthew 19:24
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.
Matthew 19:25
When the disciples heard it, they were exceedingly astonished, saying, Who then can be saved?
Matthew 19:26
Looking at them, Yeshua said, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
Matthew 19:27
Then Peter answered, Behold, we have left everything, and followed you. What then will we have?
Matthew 19:28
Yeshua said to them, Most certainly I tell you that you who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on the throne of his glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Matthew 19:29
Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my names sake, will receive one hundred times, and will inherit eternal life.
