Sermon on the Mount – Divorce in the Bible
In this session from Founded in Truth Fellowship, Matthew Vander Els guides the congregation through a challenging topic within the Sermon on the Mount: divorce. He begins by acknowledging the inherent difficulty in interpreting scripture, emphasizing that the Bible is not a simple checklist but a source of wisdom requiring critical thinking and an understanding of individual circumstances. The sermon aims to delve into the complexities surrounding divorce within biblical teachings, a subject that has profoundly impacted countless lives and continues to be a source of division and pain.
The speaker cautions against a superficial reading of the Bible, using the example of Malachi 2:16, often quoted as "God hates divorce." He points out that a literal translation of the Hebrew raises questions, such as God speaking in the third person and the unclear phrase "him who covers his garment with violence." By examining footnotes and modern translations like the CSB, a different interpretation emerges: "The man who hates and divorces his wife," says the Lord God of Israel, "does violence to the one he should protect." This revised understanding highlights that it is the act of a man hating and then divorcing his wife without just cause that is condemned, rather than divorce in all circumstances.
To gain a proper understanding, the speaker stresses the importance of context, urging listeners to read the surrounding verses and the broader narrative. In the case of Malachi, the preceding verses reveal God's displeasure with the men of Judah divorcing their wives for selfish reasons, lacking covenantal integrity. This misinterpretation of scripture has historically led to the condemnation of divorced individuals and the trapping of people in fractured or abusive marriages. The key takeaway here is that just because a verse is familiar does not guarantee it is being understood correctly.
Moving into the Torah, the speaker examines Exodus 21:10-11, a passage that outlines the minimum requirements a man must provide for his wife: food, clothing, and marital rights. These stipulations were particularly significant in a patriarchal society where women were often seen as property. The context of this verse involves a man taking a servant girl as a second wife, ensuring the first wife's rights were not diminished. This passage establishes a standard for marriage that prioritizes the dignity and well-being of the wife. Failure to consistently provide these necessities constituted a breaking of the covenant, effectively ending the marriage, granting the woman freedom without any financial repercussions. This suggests that the violation of these fundamental marital obligations could be seen as grounds for the marriage to be considered ended.
Deuteronomy 24:1-4 is the other primary passage in the Torah addressing divorce. However, this section does not detail the grounds for divorce but rather discusses the procedure of divorce (writing a certificate and sending the wife away) and the rules regarding remarriage. The text mentions "some indecency" (ervat davar) as a reason for divorce, but it does not specify what constitutes indecency.
This ambiguity surrounding "some indecency" became a major point of debate in the first century, particularly between the schools of Rabbi Shammai and Rabbi Hillel. Rabbi Shammai took a narrower view, interpreting indecency as some form of sexual infidelity. In contrast, Rabbi Hillel adopted a much broader "any cause" view, suggesting that a man could divorce his wife for virtually any reason if she displeased him. This led to extreme interpretations, such as divorce for burning toast or talking too loudly.
Against this backdrop of differing interpretations, Jesus addresses the issue of divorce in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:31-32) and later in Matthew 19:3-12. In Matthew 5, Jesus states, "anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery." This introduces an exception clause, "sexual immorality," which in Greek is "porneia." However, the meaning of porneia itself is not precisely defined, potentially encompassing various forms of sexual unfaithfulness or even broader breaches of the marital covenant.
In Matthew 19, the Pharisees question Jesus, seeking his opinion on divorce for any cause, intending to trap him in the ongoing debate between the Hillelite and Shammaite schools. Jesus, instead of directly addressing Deuteronomy 24, refers back to Genesis 1 and 2, highlighting God's original design for marriage as a lifelong union where two become one. He emphasizes the intention for humans to have a deep, loving connection and to rule and reign together as image bearers of God. Marriage, in its ideal form, reflects God's covenant nature and should be built on love, mercy, forgiveness, and peace.
When the Pharisees point to Moses' command regarding certificates of divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1), Jesus responds that Moses permitted divorce because of the hardness of their hearts, but this was not the original intention. He reiterates that divorce is permissible only in cases of sexual immorality (porneia), and remarriage after an unwarranted divorce constitutes adultery. The speaker emphasizes that the lack of a precise definition for porneia encourages careful consideration of the circumstances and the breaking of covenantal boundaries within the marriage. Porneia could potentially include neglect, abuse, or other fundamental violations of the marital oath outlined in Exodus 21.
The speaker concludes that Jesus is not providing a simple checklist for divorce but rather calling for a higher view of marriage as a sacred covenant. While not explicitly stating that divorce is never permissible outside of porneia, Jesus highlights the seriousness of breaking this covenant and the likelihood of a hardened heart being involved. The focus is on preserving dignity, well-being, and the original intent of marriage. Even Paul, in 1 Corinthians 7:15, acknowledges the permissibility of separation when an unbelieving partner leaves, emphasizing peace for the believer. Ultimately, marriage should be a relationship built on value, respect, faithfulness, and mutual upliftment. Seeking a reason for divorce should prompt introspection about one's own heart and the state of the marriage covenant.
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Application for Everyday Life
- Approach scripture with humility and a willingness to look beyond surface-level interpretations. Consider the historical, cultural, and literary context of biblical passages.
- Recognize that marriage is intended to be a lifelong covenant built on love, respect, and mutual care. Reflect on the vows made and the inherent value of the marital bond.
- Strive to uphold the fundamental obligations within a marriage: providing emotional support, physical care, and relational intimacy, drawing from the principles in Exodus 21.
- When facing marital difficulties, prioritize reconciliation and working through issues rather than immediately seeking a way out. Remember the sacred nature of the commitment.
- Understand that while scripture acknowledges grounds for divorce in specific circumstances (e.g., sexual immorality), these should be approached with seriousness and discernment. Avoid seeking justifications for divorce based on trivial reasons.
- If divorce is being considered, honestly assess the reasons and whether they represent a fundamental breaking of the covenant and a threat to well-being and dignity. Recognize the potential involvement of a hardened heart.
- In situations of abuse or severe neglect, prioritize safety and well-being. The principles of covenant love are violated when harm is inflicted.
- Remember that God's desire is for marriages to reflect His own covenantal nature, characterized by faithfulness, love, and mercy. Strive to embody these qualities in your relationships.
Read the transcript (6,532 words)
Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.
m Shabbat shalom, everybody. It's good to be back today as we continue our journey through the Sermon on the Mount. Yeah, it's a hard sermon. Has it been easy? It's been a little difficult going through the words of Yeshua, his manifesto of this invasive kingdom of God that is crashing into the hell-infested earth that mankind just loves to fertilize and and spread the fires of hell around, which is what we do. And we do it very well, very well. Peter talks about how the tongue itself, just the tongue, has the power of life and death. And when we speak things with contempt or bitterness or anger, we take the fires of hell and we use that we spread them around.
That's what it says. We spit the fires of hell. We ignite the fires of hell all around us. So appropriate that Yeshua says, no, I'm coming with something that's going to extinguish that. I'm coming with some heaven. And we're going to start turning the world back to the place where it is good. But today we're going to talk about divorce because that's always a fun topic. And it's a very divisive topic. It's a hard topic. It's a topic that's impacted billions of lives throughout history. And even within the bounds of Christian dogma and interpretation, it still has been leveraged against people within a marriage to hurt them.
Thank you, sir. But before we dive in, how many of you guys know the Bible is super easy to translate and interpret, right? I mean, it's so nice. It's just black and white. It's so easy. I'm so glad we have this easy-to-read checklist that we can just go out, and we don't have to use wisdom. We don't have to use critical thinking. We don't have to view individuals as individuals. We can just kind of label them, and whatever applies in the checklist applies to them, and it's just easy. That's not real life. Not every single conflict is the same. Not every single marriage-shattering occurrence is the same.
Not every single person is the same. Every moment of every day is unique. And so God has given us a word that doesn't simply have commandments in them. It has wisdom that we're supposed to meditate on so we can navigate things in life. One of those things is when we read the Bible, sometimes we have to ask the question, is there, could I be misreading this? For example, Matthew 2.16. Sorry, not Matthew 2.16. Malachi 2.16 in the NASV. It says this, and you've probably heard this verse before. Pretty black and white verse, right? How many of you guys have heard this verse before? It's pretty familiar, right?
God hates divorce. Therefore... If you get a divorce, I guess God hates you too. No one's laughing at that. No one's ever seen this verse leveraged and sharpened in order to, yeah, okay, I hate divorce. But we ignore the fact the verse makes no sense. Like it's so easy to read, right? And him who covers his garment with violence. What does that mean? My clothes in the ground in a pile and light it on fire. I don't know, throw a grenade at it. What does that mean? What does that mean? And then you look down. If you have a good study Bible, you'll have a footnote beside it. And you'll look down on the footnote, which is a pretty important thing if you have a study Bible, because the footnotes tell you if there are different opinions by different interpreters based on new information over the decades and new discoveries of manuscripts, if there's another way to translate it.
And the footnote says, let's see here. Hebrew it says, so in Hebrew it says, he hates, he hates. He hates divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel. Not I hate. Okay, well, we got more questions now. Why is God speaking in the third person? He hates divorce, says the Lord. He's God. He can do what he wants, I guess. It's not a satisfying way to interpret the Bible. And then you start realizing and you start looking at the verse in more modern translations that have taken into account what's being said here and how in the Hebrew it's confusing and it doesn't really make sense. And... Well, we have the NIV, but the CSB does a really good job as well.
And here's how most modern translations interpret it. I hate divorce? No, that's nowhere to be found. The man who hates and divorces his wife, says the Lord God of Israel, does violence to the one he should protect, says the Lord Almighty. So be on your guard and do not be unfaithful. That reads a little better. I mean, at least it makes sense. Because if the Hebrew is confusing in one verse, it's probably a good idea to read the chapter, read the proceeding, get the context, and maybe that will lead you to what the intention was for the biblical authors. And when we read the preceding verses, we don't see anything about God giving his opinion on divorce.
No, it's about how upset God is when the men of Judah divorced their wives without warrant because they wanted to, because there was a younger, prettier Canaanite woman over there. And God is calling out how Judah has no sense of covenantal integrity to God or each other. They throw God their middle finger just like they do their wives, essentially. That's what God is saying to them in the three verses that are preceding this one verse. And this is a verse we've all heard. And again, many taking it as dogma. It's been a verse that's been used to look down on people who have went through a divorce. Well, you know God hates that, right? or is leveraged to keep people even in a fractured or abusive marriage.
My wife or my husband is abusive, and yeah, I need to take the kids to be safe. But sorry, God hates divorce. Therefore, God's not gonna like you if you try to get out of a dangerous situation. And that's an exaggerated example, but it's one that happens far too common. Now, the verse doesn't say that God hates divorce. Verse doesn't say God loves divorce either, right? Right? Of course not. But again, the text does not say God hates divorce. It's two different things for it to say something and not say something. And the point being is if we can misinterpret this verse that has impacted millions of marriages and people over the past 2,000 years, maybe we should take a second look at maybe some other verses in the Bible as well to see if they make a little bit more sense, if we can dive into some context.
Everybody still with me? Fantastic. That's good. A man who hates his wife and divorces her, says the Lord, does violence. The CSB actually says that he covers his garment with injustice. That brings us to Exodus chapter 21, starting in verse 10. And this is one of the very few verses in the Torah that actually deals with divorce. But this is one we don't often read. And it's significant. It says this, So according to the Torah, three things the man is required to supply to his wife in order for the marriage to continue. Food, clothing, marital rights. These are the minimum requirements for and expectations placed on a man in the middle of the desert some 3,500 years ago.
And when we read these commandments or this section, we need to ask who's benefiting from this? Whose dignity is being protected? Of course, it's the woman's, it's the wife's. This was a time when patriarchy was the social hierarchy of power and privilege in the world, and men were the privileged class over women. Generally, they had more opportunity for business and more educated, and they could produce more agriculturally in general, strength and such. And women were many times simply seen as property. That's actually the context of the verse. The verse here is speaking about if a man takes on a slave girl or a servant girl as a second wife.
That's the context. These three things cannot be taken from the first. And this was unheard of in the Near East, among all the nations that Israel was surrounded by, because other nations bought and sold women as wives as well, but Israel No one, at least as far as I can tell, had stipulations of their rights to leave the marriage. That's a big deal. The Torah does. And if the husband consistently does not provide food, clothing, and marital rights, and that's not simply sex, it's the full scope of conjugal love, the intimacy that you have in the relationship. It's the security that you feel in a relationship, the embrace, the faithfulness, the love, the kindness, the promise, the respect, the love.
If a husband consistently does not provide such things, then the marriage becomes abusive in its environment. I mean, what else would it be? If the husband took an oath to provide all these things, what else could it be? You are misusing covenant love if these things are not part of it. And it's a mistreatment of another human being when you took an oath to provide them. Now, When we look at Exodus 21 and this marriage between a man and a servant, it kind of sets up a type of case law that sets the standard minimum for marriage, not just of a slave, right? Think about that. This is what the slave gets.
What are the stipulations for the slave and the wife in the marriage? How much more if there's just one woman in the marriage that was never bought like property and turned into a wife? How much more the attention to marriage? what the oath stands for. And when we look at the end of this verse, what ends the marriage in Exodus 21? What's the final, was it a divorce paper in Exodus 21? Was it a signature? Someone had to sign something, get notarized, go before a judge? No. No, according to Exodus 21, the judgment's already made. The judgment, if he does not provide her with these three things, she's free to go without any payment or money.
Like, she's free. She's Her leaving did not end the marriage, according to this verse. The marriage had already ended when the husband broke the oath to her. She's free to go. Harsh expectations for the man because he's the privileged spouse and therefore is responsible. We also have Deuteronomy 24, which is a section that speaks on divorce very briefly. And it actually doesn't talk about divorce in detail. It talks about what to do if you get married after a divorce. So even here, we don't have a lot on divorce. But what it says, Deuteronomy 24, Everybody say, some indecency. It's a very obvious, very specific phrase, right?
Right? If he's found some indecency in her and he writes a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and then sends her out of his house and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man's wife and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce, then puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, then her former husband who sent her away may not take her again to be his wife after she's been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. All right, that's... It's quite the, okay, again, not dealing with marriage or divorce, but remarriage and a stipulation in the boundaries around that. And these are the only two places where the Torah actually addresses the topic of divorce.
Like, that's it in the context of marriage and remarriage. Like, that's it. There are clear instructions about how to remove mold from your house in the Bible. Scrape that off, whatever. If it comes back, burn it all down. But there's very clear, tell you what to do, prescriptive. Here, it's okay, well, you can't write. Everybody good? Okay. It's not everybody's favorite topic, but I feel it's important. Verse one here. Verse one in Matthew 24, one. That one verse. If a man takes a wife and marries her and he finds some indecent thing about her, divorce her. This one verse says, as you can imagine, caused a lot of debate throughout history, but especially in the first century.
Because we want to know what it is, you know? Like, what is the indecent thing? What do we need to have in the recipe to get a divorce, right? I want to know specifically. Why do you want to know so bad? Like, what? You're just looking for something? Anything? Anything? Okay, I don't... You hear people talk about this, and that's like the type of attitude we have. We just want to know specifically what is it that I need to do to get out of my... Okay, you might be disappointed. One verse. It's been dissected. Assertions have been made. Interpretations just fueled all kinds of opinions. Some indecency.
He can divorce her. And so there were these two rabbis in the first century, prominent rabbis that started huge schools of thought on how to interpret and study the Torah... And they had significant followings. And this verse fueled a buzz in the culture and society revolving around the topic of divorce. Indecent thing. So what is an indecent thing? I mean, what's that? Adultery? Sounds pretty indecent, right? That'd be a good candidate for an indecent thing. Maybe sexually promiscuous? It's kind of in the bounds, yeah. Usually intimate stuff that did something wrong. Well, duh, but specifically, what is it?
Specifically, what is it? How do we translate this? It's related to intimacy. We know that, the word there. It's what it is. It's like, means a thing, and means something about indecency or intimacy. Huh. You know, it'd be real nice if there was one other place in the Bible where this phrase was used so that we could double check and see what the context of it is. Because Deuteronomy 24 doesn't tell us, right? Y'all want to see where that phrase shows up in another? It's going to make it clear, crystal clear of what he's talking about. It's actually in Deuteronomy 23, so it's the chapter before this.
And here's what it says. I think I have, what did it start from? Yeah, verse 13. As part of your equipment, have something to dig with when you relieve yourself. Dig a hole and cover up your excrement. For the Lord your God walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you. So your encampments must be holy forever. He must not see anything indecent among you, or he will turn away from you. Same phrase, Evrat Devar, no indecent thing, and that just helps a lot, doesn't it? So this phrase has something to do with latrines and toilets. What do I need to do to get a divorce again?
Man, see, if you're asking that question, it probably means you don't need tobe getting a divorce. You probably need to work on something. But this is confusing. And whenever something is confusing in the Bible, what do we love to do? We love to fight about it, right? Love to debate. You had one rabbi named Shammai, Rabbi Shammai. And he interpreted this verse in Deuteronomy 24 from the viewpoint of Exodus 21, which are the three things men have to give, husbands have to provide, right? Bare minimum. And he looked through that lens and said, okay, here we go. He said that this indecency is obviously related to some type of violation of fidelity in the marriage in regard to sexual encounters.
Still don't know specifically, but we can have a scope. So if someone sleeps around, it's an indecent thing. There we go. But you also had a school of a teaching, very famous rabbi known as Hillel, Rabbi Hillel. And Hillel took a much broader view of this verse and chose not to consider Exodus 21 at all. Instead, he's focusing on a thing of indecency. Just those two words, an indecent thing, or any indecent thing. He chose to interpret this verse as focusing on having no favor or being displeasing. Any cause view. In other words, if your wife displeases you in any way, shape, or form, you can divorce her.
Reset like a video game, right? It's easy, easy. Just completely ignore his Exodus 21. The any cause view. any cause. So, house of Shammai, sexual infidelity. Big debate. As opposed to Hillel, which he said, or the school of Hillel teaches, even if your wife burns your toast in the morning, you have your indecent thing. You got it. Write it out. Here you go. Reset. Didn't make a good breakfast. You can divorce her. I don't think she's pretty anymore. Rabbi Akiva said you should divorce her if she talks too loud. Or she gets annoying, which I know is not an occurrence in any marriage. On either side, that.
That's the thing that Deuteronomy talks about. Divorce grounds for divorce, according to the Torah. But this was a legitimate debate that was going on. And I really can't emphasize that enough. Everybody was talking about it. Everyone wanted to sway everyone else to their side. It was like election year. And... everybody's trying to fight and argue about which side of the politics they should be on, you know? And then we come to Matthew chapter 5 in the Sermon on the Mount, and Yeshua says this. He had just spoke on adultery, right? That was a fun one to visit. Adultery in the heart and then murder in the heart.
And here's what he says. He says, Alright, so Yeshua has made his stance known. Sexual immorality. Yeshua says there are boundaries on divorce because there are boundaries within a marriage because there are always boundaries around things that are holy. Always. And marriage is holy. Marriage is sacred. From the moment you speak those vows to another human being, your common relationship that you've had with them up until that point is extinguished and reborn as something continually sacred. There is a shift of holiness that takes place in your relationship. So whether you're sitting together watching the sunset over the ocean and just having that moment of connection, or whether you're sitting on the couch eating pizza and watching Hulu, you're partaking in the same sacred moment that is right now with the person that you swore that oath to.
And that's an amazing thing and a beautiful thing because it's all sacred moments. And Yeshua seems to be guarding what covenant love and loyalty looks like as a people of God. Black and white, right? Once again, except for sexual immorality. Okay, but can I ask the question that no one wants to ask? What does that mean? What does that mean? It's obvious, it's sexual immorality. It's not obvious. There are so many different avenues that we could, how do we know if we're doing it right if we don't know exactly what it means, right? 14 chapters later, Yeshua gets into a formal debate about this topic.
He's challenged in it. And he goes into a lot more detail. And so we enter Matthew chapter 19, and this is Yeshua's making his way down to Jerusalem where he is going to die in order to conquer sin, death, and evil, and be seated at the right hand of God ruling this new creation that has been birthed into the world. But before he does that, he's stopped by somePharisees. And in Matthew 19 verse 3, here's what takes place. Some Pharisees came to him to test him. Okay, so they have an agenda, right? Right? This is the thing. This is the debate. This is the big, big deal, right? Was she wearing a gold dress or a white dress, right?
What was that, a couple years ago? Everybody was fighting about that? No one? This is amazing. Okay. I'm sure we can find some other examples we like to fight about. But this is it. And for many of us growing up, we've read this, and we've read it as if Yeshua is giving his opinion about divorce. But that's not exactly what's happening in this verse. Yeshua here has not asked what his opinion on divorce is. He's asked... What's your opinion on divorce for any cause, if we're going to remain faithful to the text? What do you think about divorcing for any reason whatsoever? That's what it says. There's a debate between two parties of people on a very niche topic, and simply bringing it up draws a line in the sand.
We don't know anything about this, but I'm really trying to put you in the environment. And let's say someone wants to ask you a question about a topic, and you know as soon as you answer the question, there has been a line drawn and you have... shown your cards to everybody. Like depending on how you answer the question determines if you're with me or against me, right? This one question, this one topic, it's all that matters in the scope of God and man in the universe. And so they come up and they say, hey, what do you think about masks? or vaccines, or abortion, or trans people, or Gaza, or Russia, or preservatives, or immigrants, or healthcare, or student loans, or taxpayer-funded proxy wars, or the shape of the Earth.
What do you think of that? And you know good and well nothing productive or great is going to occur if you answer this question, because whoever is asking you this question is not wanting to have a discussion. They want to know if you're wearing the same jersey that they are. And if you're not, then they know who they're against. Because that's all we can do as simple-minded people, I guess, is black and white, you're either this or that. We'll strip you of all value as a human being, and we'll just put you in a box. And that way it's easy for me to figure out who I'm better than. This was the thing.
And we're all laughing about it, right? Because we know. We know deep down, like, we do this. Like my one single zealous stance which occupies like my bought and paid for hill to die on. We know deep down inside that there's not just one thing that's super important for everything and everybody. There's lots of things. Why? Because there's a lot of people around you. And the more I choose to only see the world and everyone in it through a single lens that I've defined myself by, the more I have done a disservice to humanity as someone who is called to be an ambassador of Christ and see people for who they really are, not see myself for who I want to be as God.
Because when your whole identity is wrapped up in winning, you're going to live a very hard and sad life. And it will be one that will always be outside the kingdom of God. Because those types of people don't have the capacity to cross the threshold of humility and empathy towards others. Because we're too busy trying to kill them in our hearts or maybe even physically, I don't know. But here we go. Here's the question. Should we vote for this old guy or that old guy, right? Divorce. House of Hillel said absolutely. Shammai said no. And here's what Yeshua says. He... He doesn't quote or reference Deuteronomy 24 or Exodus 21.
Like, those are the only two options, Yeshua. What are you going to do? How are you going to? He's going to skip them and go back to Genesis 1 and 2. Whoa, foul, foul ball. Like, he can't do that. Yeah, he's going back to the beginning, chapter 1. There's something. He goes back to the beginning, and he reclarifies this. The genuine connection that human beings are supposed to have with each other because they value and love one another and they understand the mission that God has for them to not only rule and reign over the earth, but to rule and reign together over the earth and be fruitful and multiply as image bearers of the character of God on earth.
Nowhere in Genesis 1 are any of the humans created told to rule over each other. It's not there. It's funny how that doesn't happen until after the fall as a consequence of it. But he opens his Bible to chapter 1, and he goes back to the fact that humans were meant to have the ability to verbally enact lifelong covenant vows with their partner. And when we choose to do this, the two are no longer seen as two, but one. A family is started in a sense. As image bearers, marriage was meant to be a seal of God's covenant nature, to become one to produce more. That's the design. Marriage is a reflection of God's nature.
And Yeshua is referring back to this as the foundation, as his formal response to such a ridiculous debate. Haven't you read your Bibles, he says to the Pharisees? Jab. Marriage is sacred. Marriage reflects God's covenant nature through his creation. Marriage was meant to be lifelong, rock-solid, weighty covenant. It was meant to be built on love, mercy, forgiveness, and peace. It was not meant to be broken and tossed around at every whim. And it's like as if to say, he's looking at him, he's like, you guys have missed it. You missed it completely. You have turned this sacred establishment, which has been here since the beginning, into something that only shows your wantings, your selfish agendas, your pursuits, your way, your power over others, your image, not God's.
And Yeshua forms his response by bringing the dignity back to what marriage is despite what we have done our best to devalue it as. And just like people, if you can strip away value, you can easily discard them. It's the same for marriage. Where's the value in your marriage? What value did you see in having put in the work in verbalizing those oaths and the vows to your spouse? How has the definition of value in your marriage changed since you were first married? Or have we forgotten? Have we forgotten what the value is of the oath we made with our covenant partner? The Pharisees, because they like to debate and they love to try to do the aha moments, like so many of us love to do on the social media, they respond back in verse 7.
They say, all right, Yeshua, good one, kind of going out of bounds to Genesis. It's fine. But why then, they asked, in verse 7 here, did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away? Jesus replied, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another woman commits adultery. So here he's repeating himself a little bit. Pharisees fight. Okay, but it's in the Torah. Why can't we do it if it's in the Torah? In the law of God, Yeshua, take that.
He says, Yeshua shows his cards and says, well, that's the thing. Like that part of the Torah does not reflect the perfect will of God. It reflects how much you stink. You're not capable. You're obviously not capable. So we put that in there to protect your spouse against your sucky heart. That's what he says. Bold thing to say. Love it. But that was not the plan from the beginning. In other words, Moses permitted divorce so that, again, your wife has an escape. Fine. As long as I know exactly what I need to do to get a divorce. If I want one, I now know it's sexual immorality. At least we have that.
Easy. In the Hebrew, in Deuteronomy 20, we didn't know what that word meant. But now we have it in the Greek. You know what the word is in Greek? Pornea. Everyone's like, ah, specific. It's not. It's not. It is where we get our word pornography. which is still difficult to define. There was a Supreme Court case about it in the 60s. Couldn't even define it. How do you, right? Because some people see nakedness as porn and some people see nakedness as a high form of art when it's convenient, I guess. Fair enough. You guys ever seen the old Roman statues? Yeah, we love the Roman statues. They don't have clothes on, right?
So Romans were so into the beauty of the human body, right? So no clothes on, women, men, everybody, statues everywhere. And then all of a sudden, around the 4th century, late 4th century, we start seeing, digging up statues that are fully clothed. There's no more naked people in the ground, statues. Just a very dramatic shift in archaeology when we're digging these things up. Oh, that's right. That's when Christianity took over the Roman Empire. Can't have no... Put clothes on them. All new statues. Put clothes on them. And you can actually see that transition take place when you see different statues.
It's kind of cool. I think it's neat, right? But it's hard to define porneia. Porneia could mean being unfaithful sexually with another person. It could mean an incestuous act of which is very specific, but Paul even spoke about that. That was an issue going on. Incest within the family. Maybe it's talking about that. But if at its core, porneia or evert debar represent the breaking of fidelity in a covenant oath, that sacred arena of marriage means that the boundaries are broken. And marriage boundaries are not just exterior boundaries. There are interior boundaries inside of a marriage as well. How many of you guys know that?
We always talk about a hedge of protection outside of our marriage. There should be boundaries within your marriage. Do you know why? Because you're not the same person. Because you're two different people with two different experiences growing up that have learned to deal with conflict certain ways. And let's face it, sometimes things annoy you that don't annoy other people. And those things should be respected inside of a marriage by your spouse, right? Does that make sense? Yeah, there's boundaries in and outside of marriage because it's holy, right? And whenever these boundaries are broken, this seems to be the overall point of what Yeshua is getting at here.
The words, however we define them, indicate a breaking of oath-binding boundaries within a marriage. And if that's the case, then maybe porneia could be neglect in a marriage. As Exodus 21 says, maybe porneia is an abusive spouse. It's something that is indecent for the covenant boundaries of marriage. Maybe it's an addiction that has turned into a dangerous situation. Maybe the bounds of holiness have been shattered in a marriage. But Yeshua says, just know, if you're going to go through with this, know that a hardened heart was involved somewhere. Know that a hardened heart was involved somewhere if you're going to go through with this.
It might not be yours, but somewhere, somewhere there's a hardened heart. And I think that's Yeshua's whole point, is he wants to bring back the sanctity of marriage as far as the value and the covenant status goes. We don't talk much about covenant love anymore. Our society has taught us to not treat relationships with integrity, not treat relationships with that level of loyalty. Our nation is known for not having those qualities internationally, especially when it goes in business, right? Yeshua wants to bring the focus back. I don't think Yeshua was saying anything about you can never get divorced no matter what's going on.
No, Yeshua, what's your opinion about divorce for any reason? Think you should do it? No, I don't think you should get divorced for any reason. I think you should only get divorced. Pornea. What's pornea? Doesn't tell us. Because he wants us to think hard and long about what is going on. What is an indecent thing in the marriage that I can throw at my husband or my wife? Why are you looking for it? What is the pornea? Why are you so intent? Maybe you should start looking at yourself or the circumstances. But this was not a detailed discourse. Paul even says in 1 Corinthians 7, he endorses divorce in certain situations.
But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases, the brother and sister is not enslaved. You're not bound to be good. God has called you to peace. Welcome to peace. Paul says a lot more about marriage, but it seems that Paul has an understanding of what Yeshua was saying. That marriage is worth fighting for. It's sacred. But a marriage does not look like a battlefield where there are daily wounds made and reopened with salt, where value and dignity is lost, and where one's identity as a human is not regarded. That doesn't sound like a marriage sanctioned by God at all. Because a marriage is made between two people that value, respect, and lift each other up.
We call this love. And there's a faithfulness to that union.
Because when you enter into that union, you're now on holy ground. And it's more holy than your feelings of being annoyed sometimes. And it's more holy than the petty fights that you get into that seem so bad when you're in them. And then after, you stick your tongue out or something and you find whatever. We all know it's holy. It's more holy than how you want things to be or control. It is two individuals who bless each other, lift each other up when their gifts show, and encourage each other when they don't so much, right? Enjoy together the time that you have and give priceless value to every present moment that you find yourself occupying alongside them.
That's what I believe Yeshua's response is here. Yeshua's not going to tell us the black and white line in the sand for divorce, right? Because if that's what you're looking for, you might be the one with the hard heart. Yeshua says you should know why you're getting a divorce. And it better be a reason that preserves dignity and well-being of others. It better be a good reason. Because from the beginning, God created humans to thrive together, to co-rule over creation as equals, and to multiply the images of God on earth so that God's peace, love, and his mercy would flood the world. That's the perfect ideal of marriage in the eyes of God.
And if not there, it should be a daily goal for us to participate in it and bring it near. Because just like the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, Yeshua is dealing with how to be in right relationships with other people. How do you not be a jerk? How do you actualize the kingdom of God crashing into earth? You do it by looking at things such as marriage in a much higher regard than simply being How do I get out of this so I can have something else I want? And so I don't know where you're at today, married or unmarried, but I hope that diving into the word at least gives you something to think about because that's what Yeshua calls us to do.
Think about it. Think about the implications. Think about if you're devaluing another human being or not. Think about if you're actually embodying the spirit of God within you. And if you're pursuing a divorce, know why you're doing it and understand it better be a good reason according to Yeshua. Because you're dealing with something holy. Dealing with something holy. Please stand as we conclude services today. And if you need prayer today for any reason, we have a prayer team on either side of the stage. I invite you. Take part in that. Have someone lift you up before the Father. And if you're going through something today that has nothing to do with marriage or divorce or relationships, please come up.
We'd love to pray for you. If there's something that you need Or you and your spouse would like to leave here today. We have this type of altar that's set up just for that reason during a time of worship and reflection. So I invite you. You can leave something here today, and you can walk out lighter. You can make a decision today, and I don't know what that would be, but maybe you do, to leave differently and start a new trajectory in life because that's the power of Yeshua, and that's the power of the Holy Spirit that we all believe and agree in. Amen? Alvina Malcano, our Father, our King, Father, we thank you for this opportunity to dive into your word once again and for you to rejuvenate the hearts of flesh that are constantly being turned to stone because of our own wills, that you would allow us to see how much greater marriage is, how much greater relationships are than we could have ever imagined, and that you would instill in us the worthiness to fight for it, but also the discernment to see when it's been shattered.
We thank you, Father, for your spirit of love and grace, your spirit of humility, and the power of the Ruach HaKadosh. In Yeshua's name we pray. Amen. Sing Shema with me. Shema Yisrael Adonai Baruch Shekev V'Vah Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Blessed is the name of his glorious kingdom for all eternity. And may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance toward you and give you his peace. In the name of our Sar Shalom, our Prince of Peace, Yeshua HaMashiach. Shabbat Shalom, family.
