Mark 10:5

5 But Jesus responded, “He wrote this commandment only as a concession to your hard hearts.

Mark 10:5 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 10:5

And Jesus answered and said unto them
With respect to this command, or sufferance of Moses, which they urged:

for the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept;
it was, not because it was right in its own nature, or according to the original will of God; but, because the Jews were such cruel, and hard hearted men, that if this had not been permitted, some of them, that had wives not so agreeable to them, would have used them in a very inhuman manner, if not murdered them; and therefore to prevent further, and greater mischief, Moses indulged them with such a precept; (See Gill on Matthew 19:8).

Mark 10:5 In-Context

3 Jesus answered them with a question: “What did Moses say in the law about divorce?”

4 “Well, he permitted it,” they replied. “He said a man can give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away.”

5 But Jesus responded, “He wrote this commandment only as a concession to your hard hearts.

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

7 ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife,