Mark 10:5

And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-12 Wherever Jesus was, the people flocked after him in crowds, and he taught them. Preaching was Christ's constant practice. He here shows that the reason why Moses' law allowed divorce, was such that they ought not to use the permission; it was only for the hardness of their hearts. God himself joined man and wife together; he has fitted them to be comforts and helps for each other. The bond which God has tied, is not to be lightly untied. Let those who are for putting away their wives consider what would become of themselves, if God should deal with them in like manner.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this question about divorce explained in the notes at Matthew 19:1-12.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 10

Mr 10:1-12. Final Departure from Galilee—Divorce. ( = Mt 19:1-12; Lu 9:51).

See on [1471]Mt 19:1-12.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Mark 10:3"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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.

Geneva Study Bible

{1} And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this {b} precept.

(1) God never allowed those divorces which the law tolerated.

(b) See Mt 19:3-12. For Moses gave them no commandment to put away their wives, but rather made a good stipulation for the wives to protect them from the stubborn hardness of their husbands.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Mark 10:5 Both evangelists, while varying considerably in their reports, carefully preserve this important logion as to legislation conditioned by the sklerokardia.—ταύτην: at the end, with emphasis; this particular command in contradiction to the great original one.

Bengel's Gnomen

Mark 10:5. Ἔγραψεν, wrote) viz. Moses, the writer of the Pentateuch: ch. Mark 12:19.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - St. Matthew appears to give the more full account, of which St. Mark's is an abbreviation. If we suppose the scribes here to interpose their question, "Why then did Moses permit a bill of divorcement?" t he two narratives fit exactly. Our Lord here answers their question, For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. He permitted (not commanded) them to put away their wives, lest dislike might turn to hatred. From the beginning God joined them in one indissoluble bend; but man's nature having become corrupt through sin, that sin changed and corrupted the institution, and so was the occasion of bills of divorcement, and polygamy. The Law of Moses put some restraint upon the freedom with which men had till then put away their wives; for thenceforth, a divorce could not take place until some legal steps had been taken, and a regular instrument had been drawn up; and this delay might often be the means of preventing a divorce which might otherwise have been effected in a moment of passion. Thus this legislation was adapted to the imperfect moral condition of the people, who were as yet quite unprepared for a higher moral code. Mark 10:5