Mark 10:4

4 They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away."

Mark 10:4 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 10:4

And they said
By way of reply,

Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away,
Moses did not command them to divorce their wives, only suffered them to do so: and gave orders that if they could not bear that they should live with them, but would divorce them, that they should give them a bill, which should certify, they were so divorced, and then send them out of their houses, free to marry other men; this law, or permission, is in ( Deuteronomy 24:1 ) , of the form of a bill of divorcement, (See Gill on Matthew 5:31).

Mark 10:4 In-Context

2 And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"
3 He answered them, "What did Moses command you?"
4 They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away."
5 But Jesus said to them, "For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.
6 But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.'
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.