“Some Pharisees came to test Jesus. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” “Haven’t you read,” He replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and THE TWO WILL BECOME ONE FLESH‘? So, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, LET NO ONE SEPARATE.” “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But IT WAS NOT THIS WAY FROM THE BEGINNING. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for fornication, and marries another woman COMMITS ADULTERY.” (Matthew 19:3-9)
The topic of divorce during a rebuke to the Pharisees. He possibly did so because some Pharisees may have been sending their wives away whenever they found a more desirable woman or grew weary of their wives. That would mean they had found a loophole that allowed them to live with as many women as they wanted to and bypass the true meaning of marriage. This is inferred in the following passage from Luke’s gospel:
“Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Jesus. And He said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.’” ‘Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.'” (Luke 16:14-15, 18)
The Pharisees probably knew Jesus had taught this. The text says that some Pharisees came to Him testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” (v 3). We are not told the nature of the test. But the goal of the various tests given Jesus by the Jewish leaders was to set Him up in some way. In this case, it seems a plausible explanation that the goal was to alienate Jesus from the sect of Pharisees that held to a liberal view of marriage laws, that allowed them to “trade in” for a new model based on their own whim. Jesus said “IT WAS NOT THIS WAY FROM THE BEGINNING”
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham