“What did Moses command you?”
The full verse · Mark 10:3 · KJV
he and unto , did ?
Asked by
Jesus: the Son of God and promised Messiah, teaching the people in the coasts of Judaea beyond the Jordan (Mark 10:1)
The Scene
Beyond the Jordan, Pharisees have just asked Jesus, to test Him, "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?" (Mark 10:1-2).
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionJesus turned the question back to the Law the Pharisees themselves claimed to follow. Gill calls the reply "very prudently and wisely" given, and says Jesus "very pertinently asks them, what Moses had said about divorces," putting them to produce the law so that "the sense of it might be examined, and it be considered, upon what account it was given." Barnes notes (at Matthew 19) that Jesus appealed to the authority of Moses, which both rival parties accepted. By making them state the law out loud, Jesus set up the real issue: why that law was given.
The Response
What Scripture recordsThe Pharisees answered, "Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away" (Mark 10:4). Jesus replied, "For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept" (Mark 10:5). Then He took them further back than Moses, to creation: "from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female," and "they twain shall be one flesh" (Mark 10:6-8). He ended, "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Mark 10:9).
Historical Context
The world behind the wordsThe law they had in mind is Deuteronomy 24:1, which Gill cites: a man could "write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house." Notice the words. Jesus asked what Moses "command"ed; they answered that Moses "suffered," that is, allowed it (the ESV says "allowed").
Matthew records the exchange in a different order. There the Pharisees ask, "Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement?" and Jesus answers that Moses "suffered" it "because of the hardness of your hearts" (Matthew 19:7-8). Gill notes that in Matthew Jesus puts a different question to them, "Have ye not read...?" (Matthew 19:4), and says there is no doubt both of Jesus' questions were put.
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyJesus honored the Law of Moses. He did not brush it aside; He asked them to read it. But He also showed that not everything the Law allowed was what God desired. Some of it was given because of "the hardness of your heart" (Mark 10:5). To see God's true intent, Jesus went back to "the beginning of the creation" (Mark 10:6).
Matthew Henry sums up Jesus' point: the reason Moses allowed divorce was "such that they ought not to use the permission." Here Jesus shows that what the Law permitted because of hard hearts was not the same as what God intended "from the beginning of the creation" (Mark 10:5-6).
Look Closer
In Mark, Jesus asked what Moses "command"ed. How did the Pharisees describe Moses' law?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Lord, where am I treating what You have only permitted as if it were what You most desire for me?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- Jesus asked the Pharisees to say out loud what the Scripture said. When a hard question comes up, how do you go back to what Scripture actually says before deciding?
- Tell about a time you learned that something allowed was not the same as something best.
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
Jesus did not answer a test with an opinion. He sent His hearers back to the Word. When you face a hard question, start there too: "What did Moses command you?" can become "What does Scripture actually say?"
Then go one step further, as Jesus did. Ask not only what is permitted, but why, and what God intended from the beginning (Mark 10:5-6).
This does not mean every permission in Scripture is a grudging one. But it does mean you can ask God about the purpose behind His words, not only their limits.
Built from the biblical text and checked against trusted commentaries and lexicons. References & Sources
Keep questioning
“Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?”
“Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?”
“Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female”
“Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?”