1 And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again; and again, as his custom was, he taught them.
After Jesus gives his teachings in Capernaum on what is worth giving up in this life in order to avoid Hell, he travels South ” to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan”, the inclusion of the water feature implies he is by the further southern body of water, connecting to the Jordan, meaning he is at the land with shores on the Dead Sea. Although a wide area, this could place him in the land of the Essenes, the second most populous group of First Century Jews after the Pharisees. This group had very different views on Temple Worship, Torah interpretation and funnily enough: Marriage. They resided at Qumran, on the shores of the Dead Sea.
Crowds gather round Jesus, again as we have noted before in these commentaries, this is really the peak of Jesus’ earthly ministry and has previously filled Synagogues and town squares so we should envision multiple hundreds. Mark tells us that “as his custom was, he taught them”. Many people especially in the modern day want to view Jesus as this ad-hoc random man that drops words of wisdom and enlightenment but this phrase implies an organised teaching method and routine. His methods might be strange and unlike the people of his day and ours but Jesus did have them.
2 And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
The Pharisees, the most influential group among the Jewish laity came to Jesus, likely from Jerusalem, “in order to test him”. Although Mark tells us they come essentially with ill intent, we should still acknowledge as Jesus did that at this time, they were the rightful teaching authorities of the Old Covenant people because they sat on the “seat of Moses”. Unfortunately for them, Jesus is God and vastly outranks any authority they might have.
The Pharisees and their Scribes, at large had “lawyer-talked” their Mosaic Covenant Laws into a system that benefited them. Things that were meant to be exceptions became rules and rules that were their to benefit others became a yoke that weighed unevenly on the common Jew. At this time especially there was heated debate on the topic of marriage between two major rabbinical schools of thought. Hillel vs Shammai. We need to take the pulse of this interpretive conflict in order to understand Jesus’ later correction.
The conflict hung upon the interpretation of Deuteronomy 24:1.
“If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, give it to her, and send her from his house.”
The school of Shammai interpreted “something indecent” very narrowly, limiting it to cases of sexual immorality or adultery. They believed that divorce was only permissible if the wife committed a serious moral transgression. The school of Hillel interpreted “something indecent” very broadly, allowing divorce for almost any reason that caused the husband displeasure. This could include trivial matters, such as burning a meal or even finding another woman more attractive.
3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?”
Jesus first hangs the answer upon Moses, the writer of the Law. He does this on purpose, as we noted, exceptions and allowances were made but they were not meant to become the norm. They do not understand Jesus’ authority as they just see him as a fellow Jew so he hearkens back to Moses, whom they do trust as an authority.
4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away.”
Now the Pharisees reference the passage we pointed out, the place of contention between the two Rabbinical schools, where interpretation of Deuteronomy becomes divisive. The Pharisees in their rabid legalism have turned an allowance out of God’s mercy, into a hard Law than even in itself was dependant on interpretation. Both Schools however do allow divorce but what enables it differs.
5 But Jesus said to them, “For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.
Jesus now points out to the Pharisees that this Law was an allowance, an act of mercy because of the “hardness of heart” that the Hebrew people had. Basically, they could not be taught without breaking their free will so God granted a mercy through Moses to them. God gave an inch, they took a mile.
6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’
7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,
8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.
9 What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”
This is where we circle back to the location, if you were to describe where the Essenes home base was at Qumran you would say “the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan“. Why do I bring this up? The Essenes were a very peculiar group among their fellow Second Temple Jews because of their views on Temple liturgy but another big quirk of theirs was marriage and celibacy.
They were the only group that practiced celibacy at large, and a form of monasticism. This comes from their view on marriage which was very strict, they lived like Monks because they believed the same thing as Jesus did. They believed that marriage was a lifelong, sacred bond, and divorce was seen as a violation of God’s law. This strict stance was rooted in their interpretation of Scripture, particularly the creation account in Genesis, where marriage is presented as an unbreakable union (“the two shall become one flesh,” Genesis 2:24). This is the same proof-text that Jesus uses. I’m not saying that Jesus was an Essene but it is fascinating to know that this teaching was not actually unique, there were some Jews who still abided by it. One of the scrolls found at the Dead Sea written by the Essenes was the Damascus Document which reads:
“They are caught in two traps: fornication, by taking two wives in their lives, while the foundation of creation is ‘Male and female He created them’ (Genesis 1:27). And those who entered the ark went in two by two into the ark (Genesis 7:9). And concerning the prince, it is written, ‘He shall not multiply wives for himself’ (Deuteronomy 17:17).
It is passages like this from Mark and its parallel records in the other Gospels that inform the Catholic Church’s unbroken position on marriage, whereas other groups like Protestants, Eastern Orthodox and their derivatives have basically locked themselves into the Jewish lawyer dichotomy of Hillel vs Shammai which our Lord outright corrects, appealing to an even greater authority (Himself). We understand marriage to be the earthly sign of the Covenant relationship between Christ and the Church, as Saint Paul says in Ephesians.
He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the church; however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
10 And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.
11 And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her;
12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
As is usual, his disciples who have been living within the religious-social dichotomy of the Pharisees are confused about Jesus’ teaching on marriage so when they get back to a place of privacy they ask him themselves the same question that the Pharisees asked but this time it is coming from a place of confusion. Jesus says it clearly, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
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