Matthew 19:1-8
Man's Hard Heart
1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 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’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.
Genesis 2:21-25
The Two Become One Flesh
21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib[h] he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man. ”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Deuteronomy 24:1-4
Moses Marriage Certificate
1 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, 2 and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, 3 and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, 4 then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
Malachi 2:16
God Hates Divorce
16 “I hate divorce, ” says the Lord God of Israel, “and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,” says the Lord Almighty.
So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.
The Pharisees were constantly testing Jesus' knowledge of Scripture...The Pharisees followed the Law of Moses as close as they could...Jesus was constantly putting the Bible into context of life, and how the Scripture helps us live and believe in His Father...Jesus explanation on divorce is not very clear (at least to me)...Jesus admits that divorce is allowed, then He qualifies His answer...He has not only the right to do this, because He knows the mind and heart of His Father, and He is the Bible itself...God, man, woman, marriage, and relationships were different before and after the Fall of Man...
Moses wrote about the certificate of divorce for man -and the husband could sign the certificate and just send his old wife away...Divorce is allowed, but not Holy, like God is...Moses said it, and wrote it so the Pharisees believe this was the way marriage could be in their time...What is interesting about these verses is that I get from Jesus (and this is only a guess) that He doesn't completely agree with what Moses wrote in the Bible...Jesus says we are allowed to divorce because Moses permitted you to divorce because mankind's hearts are hard...Jesus does not say I permit divorce...Malachi goes as far to say God hates divorce...Yet, He still allowed it...Jesus tells (or at least I think is telling us) us it is man's hard heart and the condition of our heart that makes people want to get divorce...There was no divorce from and in the beginning...When Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, and had we been able to stay in the Garden, there would be no divorce...In the beginning when a man would leave his house and his father and mother and he would be united with his wife, then they would become one...They were not to become three, four, or five -except with their children...God is Holy and He wants marriage and the vows to Him at the time of church or ceremony to be holy...Divorce did not happen in Paradise, in the Garden of Eden...God wanted and wants the tradition of marriage to be with one man and one woman like it was in the beginning...Man changes and God does not...
It seems that Moses wrote about divorce certificate, and it is much to do (if not all) about the condition of our heart after the Fall of Man, and our own Great Divorce from God, Himself...Our hearts changed after the fall...They sinned...We must watch our hearts, for out of them determine the course of our lives (Proverbs 4:23)...We know God hates divorce...But we also knows He allows divorce, because the heart of a man often is hard and changing...Jesus does not say it is a sin (to divorce), He just reminds us that divorce was not the way of God, man and wife, were together in the beginning...Jesus wants us to be holy like His Father, and for us to remember how marriage was in the beginning...