Year 3 Day 138

Friday, January 22

Read Matthew 19

Think About It:

1. The Pharisees asked Jesus if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason. This was an attempt to trick Jesus. Of course, He knew that.

Divorce was a controversial topic in Jesus’ day, with two main schools of thought, centered around two of its most famous proponents. The first was the school of Rabbi Shammai (a more strict and unpopular view) and second was the school of Rabbi Hillel (a more lax and popular view).

1. Among the Jews of that day, marriage was a sacred duty. If a man was unmarried after the age of 20 – except to concentrate on the study of the law – he was guilty of breaking God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply.” According to Barclay, they said that by not having children he killed his own descendants, and had lessened the glory of God on earth.
2. In theory, the Jews of that day had a high ideal of marriage. Yet they had a low view of women. “The Jews had very low views of women…A wife was bought, regarded as property, used as a household drudge, and dismissed at pleasure (Bruce).” THIS IS WRONG IN ANY GENERATION AND WAS NOT THE PLAN OF GOD!

iii. Their low view of women meant that their high ideal of marriage was constantly compromised, and those compromises were made into law, as with the thinking of Rabbi Hillel. Under the thinking of Hillel, “a man could divorce his wife if she spoiled his dinner, if she spun, or went with unbound hair, or spoke to men in the streets, if she spoke disrespectfully of his parents in his presence, or if she was a brawling woman whose voice could be heard in the next house. Rabbi Akiba even went the length of saying…that a man could divorce his wife if he found a woman whom he liked better and considered more beautiful (Barclay).”

Each school of thought understood that the Mosaic law gave permission for divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1: When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house. Though each side knew and believed Deuteronomy 24:1; the question was, “What constitutes uncleanness?”

1. The school of Rabbi Shammai understood that uncleannessmeant sexual immorality, and said this was the only valid reason for divorce. The school of Rabbi Hillel understood uncleanness to mean any sort of indiscretion; even to the point where for some rabbis, burning a husband’s breakfast was considered valid grounds for divorce.
2. Barclay says that the Rabbis had many sayings about bad marriages and the bad wife. They said that the man with a bad wife would never face hell, because he has paid for his sins on earth. They said that the man who is ruled by his wife has a life that is not life. They said that a bad wife is like leprosy to her husband, and the only way he could be cured is by divorce. They even said, “If a man has a bad wife, it is a religious duty to divorce her.”

Testing Him: So, in their question, the Pharisees tried to get Jesus to side with one teaching or the other. If He agreed with the lax school of Rabbi Hillel, it was clear that Jesus did not take the Law of Moses seriously. If He agreed with the strict school of Rabbi Shammai, then Jesus might become unpopular with the multitude, who generally liked access to an easy divorce. The religious leaders had reason to believe they had caught Jesus on the horns of a dilemma.

Jesus responds with the purpose of marriage in creation and what God the Father intended it to be. He also gives the root cause of a breakdown in marriage. What is it? This topic is still very controversial in the church. Discuss with someone what God intended marriage to look like before the fall.

2. In verse 24, Jesus tells the rich young ruler, “…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” Riches are a problem because they tend to make us reliant on our own riches, rather than on God. Sometimes riches are sought at the expense of seeking God. If you had to make the decision the rich young ruler had to make, what would you choose? Think about it before you answer.
3. Fun: Look up a picture of the Eye of the Needle gate in Jerusalem. Nothing is impossible with God!

 

Family Time:

1. Even rich people can enter the Kingdom of God. They must come in faith to Christ, not in reliance of self or riches. On what are you counting for salvation?