Mark 10:4

4 They said, "Moses permitted us to write divorce papers and send her away."^[a]

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 Some Pharisees approached Him to test Him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce [his] wife?"

3 He replied to them, "What did Moses command you?"

4 They said, "Moses permitted us to write divorce papers and send her away."

5 But Jesus told them, "He wrote this commandment for you because of the hardness of your hearts.

6 But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female.

Footnotes

• [a] Dt 24:1,3