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Matthew

About this book
Chapter 19

1 Now when Jesus finished these sayings, he left Galilee and went to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan River. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 3 Then some Pharisees came to him in order to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful to divorce a wife for any cause?”⁠ 4 He answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with 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 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?” 8 Jesus said to them, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hard hearts, but from the beginning it was not this way. 9 Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another commits adultery.”⁠ 10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the case of a husband with a wife, it is better not to marry!” 11 He said to them, “Not everyone can accept this statement, except those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are some eunuchs who were that way from birth, and some who were made eunuchs by others, and some who became eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept this should accept it.” 13 Then little children were brought to him for him to lay his hands on them and pray. But the disciples scolded those who brought them. 14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 And he placed his hands on them and went on his way. 16 Now someone came up to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?” 17 He said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 “Which ones?” he asked. Jesus replied, “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”⁠ 22 But when the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he was very rich. 23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven!⁠ 24 Again I say, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God.”⁠ 25 The disciples were greatly astonished when they heard this and said, “Then who can be saved?” 26 Jesus looked at them and replied, “This is impossible for mere humans, but for God all things are possible.” 27 Then Peter said to him, “Look, we have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” 28 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth: In the age when all things are renewed, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.⁠ 29 And whoever has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.⁠ 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Texts in conversation

Compare Matthew 19:3 and Gittin 90a

New Testament · Rabbinic

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Summary

In Matthew, Pharisees ask Jesus if divorce is allowed for any cause, stating Bet Hillel’s view found in tractate Gittin. Jesus restricts divorce to sexual unfaithfulness, following the ruling established by Bet Shammai, appealing to creation.

Passages

Matthew 19:3

New Testament
2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 3 Then some Pharisees came to him in order to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful to divorce a wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with 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 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?” 8 Jesus said to them, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hard hearts, but from the beginning it was not this way. 9 Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another commits adultery.” 10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the case of a husband with a wife, it is better not to marry!”
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

Gittin 90a

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
And the halakha is that she is permitted to both of them. MISHNA: Beit Shammai say: A man may not divorce his wife unless he finds out about her having engaged in a matter of forbidden sexual intercourse [devar erva], i.e., she committed adultery or is suspected of doing so, as it is stated: “Because he has found some unseemly matter [ervat davar] in her, and he writes her a scroll of severance” (Deuteronomy 24:1). And Beit Hillel say: He may divorce her even due to a minor issue, e.g., because she burned or over-salted his dish, as it is stated: “Because he has found some unseemly matter in her,” meaning that he found any type of shortcoming in her. Rabbi Akiva says: He may divorce her even if he found another woman who is better looking than her and wishes to marry her, as it is stated in that verse: “And it comes to pass, if she finds no favor in his eyes” (Deuteronomy 24:1). GEMARA: It is taught in a baraita that Beit Hillel said to Beit Shammai: But isn’t the word “matter” already stated in the verse, indicating that any disadvantageous matter is a legitimate reason for divorce? Beit Shammai said to them: But isn’t the word “unseemly [ervat]” already stated?
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Gittin

References

"... The standard citation is the Mishnah, Gittin 9:10: 'The House of Hillel says [that he may divorce his wife] even if she has merely spoiled his food.... Rabbi Akiva says, [he may divorce her] even if he finds another woman more beautiful than she is.' Therefore, conclude the scholars, Jesus's injunctions against divorce protect the rights of women by curtailing Jewish patriarchal privilege. There was, however, no general rule in the first century concerning the grounds on which one could obtain a divorce. The statements in the Mishnah are prescriptive rather than descriptive: they propose what, in the rabbis' ideal world, people should or could do rather than describing what people did do. In the case of divorce, the argument in Gittin 9 concerns what some rabbis found to be legally possible, not necessarily what they considered to be desirable or even socially sanctioned. Further, this particular Mishnaic citation is just as truncated and therefore just as skewed as the one used to show how 'Jews' regarded Samaritan women as impure. The Mishnaic passage actually begins with a citation from the school of Shammai, the rival to the Hillelite branch, which unequivocally states, 'A man should not divorce his wife unless he has found her guilty of some unseemly conduct.' This version of the Law derives from Deuteronomy 24:1 ..."
Amy-Jill Levine, The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 2006), 141–142.

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Matthew 19:3 and Gittin 90a

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