Section 122
Conflict with Pharisaic teaching on divorce
Perea
| Matthew 19:1-12 | Mark 10:1-12 |
|---|---|
| 1When Jesus had finished saying these things, he departed from Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan. 2Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 3Then the Pharisees came up to Jesus and tested him by asking him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?” | 1Jesus then rose from there and went to the region of Judea, traveling through the region beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered around him again. And again he taught them, as he was accustomed to do. 2Then some Pharisees came up to Jesus and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” 4They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” [*] 5But Jesus answered them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. |
| 4He answered them, “Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ [*] 5and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? [*] 6So then, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate.” 7They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” [*] 8He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. | 6But from the beginning of creation, God ‘made them male and female.’ [*] 7‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8and the two will become one flesh.’ So then, they are no longer two, but one flesh. [*] 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no man separate.” 10In the house Jesus' disciples asked him again about the same matter. |
| 9I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for fornication, and marries another, commits adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” 10His disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11But Jesus said to them, “Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom it is given. 12For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever is able to accept this should accept it.” | 11So he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. 12And if a woman divorces her husband and gets married to another, she commits adultery.” |
Notes
Perea
Perea was the term used by the historian Flavius Josephus, and others, for a section of the territory east of The Jordan River, opposite Judea and Samaria. Although the word Perea is not found in the Scriptures, the area was mentioned frequently in the Gospels as the “land beyond the Jordan”. John the Baptist baptized in Perea, and was also martyred there at Herod’s fortress of Machaerus. Jesus Christ often visited Perea during His ministry, and had many followers from there, which at the time had a large Jewish population.
Jesus spent most of his final 3 months before Passion Week traveling around Perea, teaching in its towns and villages. Jesus had been in Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22-39), and the Jews tried to stone him again. He escaped their grasp and went back across the Jordan into Perea for the final months before his crucifixion. During these months he taught his disciples about the cost of following him and he tried to prepare them for his coming death.
Today, most of Perea is in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
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Footnotes
Matthew 19,4 | Mark 10,6
Genesis 1:27; 5:2
Matthew 19,5 | Mark 10,8
Genesis 2:24
Matthew 19,7
Deuteronomy 24:1-4
Mark 10,4
Deuteronomy 24:1-4