Mark 10:2
in Mark 10Some Pharisees came to test Him. “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” they inquired.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And there came unto him Pharisees, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? trying him.
KJV
And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him.
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This verse in Mark 10
Commentary
11 notes on this verseIs it lawful for a man to put away his wife? This was a good question, if it had been well put, and with a humble desire to know the mind of God in this matter; but they proposed it, tempting him, seeking an occasion against him, and an opportunity to expose him, which side soever he should take of the question.
This site's exposition
Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife
on Mark 10:2-4
Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife, tempting him states the trap plainly, since the rabbinic schools of that generation were themselves divided over how broadly Deuteronomy's own provision allowed divorce, and any answer risked offending one school or making an enemy in Herod's own court where John the Baptist had died for the same question. What did Moses command you turns their test back into a text, and their answer, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away, cites the very concession the debate hung on. The bench notes Jesus has not yet given his own reading of that concession, only established that what Moses permitted is not the same as what God intended, the distinction the next verses will press.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
In us it is not only the spirit which ought to be sanctified, but also our behaviour, manner of life, and our body. What does the apostle Paul mean when he says that the wife is sanctified by the husband and the husband by the wife? And what is the meaning of the Lord's words to those who asked concerning divorce whether it is lawful to put away one's wife as Moses commanded? "Because of the hardness of your hearts," he says, "Moses wrote this; but have you not read that God said to the first man, You two shall be one flesh? Therefore he who divorces his wife except for fornication makes her an adulteress." But "after the resurrection," he says, "they neither marry nor are given in marriage."
Of those who came to Jesus and interrogated him, some put questions to him simply to trick him. If our glorious Savior was tested in this way, should any of his disciples called to teach be annoyed when questioned by some who probe, not from the desire to know, but from the intent to trip up?
The Medieval Church3 voices
And see how they, out of their malice, tempt the Lord, not tolerating that the people should believe in Him, but constantly approaching Him with the intention of putting Him in difficulty and cornering Him with their questions. They pose to Him a question that …
They come to Him indeed, and do not quit Him, lest the multitudes should believe on Him; and by continually coming to Him, they thought to bring Him into difficulty, and to confuse Him by their questions. For they proposed to Him a question, which had on either side a precipice, so that whether He said that it was lawful for a man to put away his wife, or that it was not lawful, they might accuse Him, and contradict what He said, out of the doctrines of Moses. Christ, therefore, being Very Wisdom, in answering their question, avoids their snares.
(ubi sup.) Mark the difference of temper in the multitude and in the Pharisees. The former meet together, in order to be taught, and that their sick may be healed, as Matthew relates; the latter come to Him, to try to deceive their Saviour by tempting Him. Wherefore there follows, And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting Him. (Matt. 19:2)
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And the: Pharisees came unto him,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
The opening verse of this passage shows us the patient perseverance of our Lord Jesus Christ as a teacher . We are told that "Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them." Wherever our Lord went, He was always about His Father's business, preaching, teaching, and laboring to do good to souls. He threw away no opportunity. In the whole history of His earthly ministry, we never read of an idle day. Of Him it may be truly said, that He "sowed beside all waters," and that "in the morning He sowed his seed, and in the evening withheld not His hand." (Isaiah 32:20. Eccles. 11:6.) And yet our Lord knew the hearts of all men. He knew perfectly well that the great proportion of His hearers were hardened and unbelieving. He knew, as He spoke, that most of His words fell to the ground uncared for and unheeded, and that so far as concerned the salvation of souls, most of His labor was in vain. He knew all this, and yet He labored on. Let us see in this fact a standing pattern to all who try to do good to others, whatever their office may be. Let it be remembered by every minister and every missionary — by every schoolmaster and every Sunday-school teacher — by every district visitor and every lay agent — by every head of a house who has family prayers — and by every caretaker who has the charge of children. Let all such remember Christ's example, and resolve to do likewise. We are not to give up teaching, because we see no good done. We are not to relax our exertions, because we see no fruit of our toil. We are to work on steadily, keeping before us the great principle, that duty is ours, and results are God's. There must be ploughmen and sowers as well as reapers and binders of sheaves.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)
proposed
The opening verse of this passage shows us the patient perseverance of our Lord Jesus Christ as a teacher . We are told that "Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them." Wherever our Lord went, He was always about His Father's business, preaching, teaching, and laboring to do good to souls. He threw away no opportunity. In the whole history of His earthly ministry, we never read of an idle day.
Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? - See this question about divorce largely explained on Mat 19:3-12 (note).
How the passage was read
On Mark 10:2-12On Mark 10:2-12
The divorce question, translated for Rome
The test question “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?” lands in Perea, Herod Antipas's territory, where John the Baptist had just died for saying Antipas's marriage to Herodias was unlawful. Behind the question stands the recorded dispute of the Pharisaic schools over Deuteronomy 24:1: the house of Shammai allowing divorce only for unchastity, the house of Hillel for far less (“even if she spoiled his dish,” Mishnah Gittin 9:10). This site's Matthew 19 note walks that dispute; Jesus answers from creation, behind Moses.
Mark alone adds: “and if a woman shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery” (10:12). Under Jewish law of the period, the get (bill of divorce) ran from husband to wife; a wife initiating divorce was Roman law's provision, and famously what Herodias had done to her first husband. Mark, writing for Roman readers, translates the ruling into their legal world, one more instance of the New Testament doing for its first readers what this layer does for the modern one.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
The words behind it
12 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| καὶ | kai | And | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| προσελθόντες | proselthontes | having come to [him] | G4334 → | 86 times |
| Φαρισαῖοι | pharisaioi | Pharisees | G5330 → | 97 times |
| ἐπηρώτων | eperoton | were questioning | G1905 → | 56 times |
| αὐτὸν | auton | Him | G846 → | 5565 times |
| εἰ | ei | if | G1487 → | 508 times |
| ἔξεστιν | exestin | it is lawful | G1832 → | 31 times |
| ἀνδρὶ | andri | for a husband | G435 → | 216 times |
| γυναῖκα | gunaika | a wife | G1135 → | 211 times |
| ἀπολῦσαι | apolusai | to divorce | G630 → | 63 times |
| πειράζοντες | peirazontes | testing | G3985 → | 37 times |
| αὐτόν. | auton | Him. | G846 → | 5565 times |
καὶAnd
kaiG2532 →9120 times
προσελθόντεςhaving come to [him]
proselthontesG4334 →86 times
ΦαρισαῖοιPharisees
pharisaioiG5330 →97 times
ἐπηρώτωνwere questioning
eperotonG1905 →56 times
αὐτὸνHim
autonG846 →5565 times
εἰif
eiG1487 →508 times
ἔξεστινit is lawful
exestinG1832 →31 times
ἀνδρὶfor a husband
andriG435 →216 times
γυναῖκαa wife
gunaikaG1135 →211 times
ἀπολῦσαιto divorce
apolusaiG630 →63 times
πειράζοντεςtesting
peirazontesG3985 →37 times
αὐτόν.Him.
autonG846 →5565 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
John 8:6They said this to test Him, in order to have a basis for accusing Him. But Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with His finger.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:13
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of…
- Luke 10:25
One day an expert in the law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
- Ecclesiastes 3:7
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
- Jeremiah 17:13
Through
Matthew 23:13Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.
it leads to
- Luke 11:52
Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
- Matthew 23:29
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.
- Matthew 23:23
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced…
- Matthew 23:27
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.
- Zechariah 11:17
Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered and his right eye utterly blinded!”
- Luke 11:52
Where this verse is studied
About Mark
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Bede, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 3; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 14.16; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Mark and Theophylact of Ohrid, Catena Aurea by Aquinas.