Title: Divorce and Family (Matthew 05:31-32)
Contents
Jesus, who dealt with the problem of life and the sin that arises in the process of being born, now deals with the problem of sin that arises in the home, where that life is grown. If life is the most important to an individual, the family is the most important to society. This is because the family is the most basic unit of society. When the family is broken, society is bound to shake. Just as Jesus respected and cherished the value of life, it makes me think that he also very much respected and valued the value of the family.
Verse 31 has the background of Deuteronomy 24:1: “If a man finds that there is something shameful about him, after he has taken a wife and brings her, and he is not pleased with her, he writes a certificate of divorce and gives it into his hand, and gives her out of his house. I will send it out.” Jesus' words seemed to be the words of Deuteronomy, and Jesus seemed to ignore the words of Deuteronomy. However, if we examine carefully, we can see that in reality, the original intention and purpose of the verse was revealed, thereby fulfilling the law.
If you look closely at the Deuteronomy Law, it is by no means a teaching that you can get a divorce at any time as long as you write a divorce certificate. Moses did not command that a divorce be unconditional if he found something disgraceful. Even if you find something shameful, if you are still happy with the woman, you can forgive and stay with her. However, in this case, he finds something shameful and does not take pleasure in the woman. Already stubbornly determined to abandon the woman, the situation is irreversible. Even in such a situation, Moses commanded that at least a “divorce certificate” should be written and sent.
Moses' Divorce Divorce was first given to protect women. Before this law, husbands could expel their wives simply because they “disliked” them. The expelled woman was mistaken for committing adultery and was easily stoned to death. Even if not, it was difficult for women who were abandoned in a male-dominated society to survive. However, according to the Mosaic Law, in order to divorce, the reason must be recorded in the divorce certificate. The reason for being abandoned because of the certificate of divorce was not adultery, but the honor of the women and their lives could be protected.
Moses’ ‘Divorce Certificate’ also served to dismiss a divorce for trivial or unreasonable reasons. By having them go through a cumbersome official divorce process, they greatly restricted the possibility of abandoning their wife lightly according to their mood in a moment. To sum up, Moses was saying to the stubborn people who had already decided to divorce, 'Yes, then, at least you should write a divorce certificate'. So, in Matthew 19:8, Jesus said, “Moses allowed you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts, but it was not so.”
So what does it actually mean? See verse 32. “I tell you, if anyone divorces his wife without the ground of fornication, she commits adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” , you premised that if you write only the deed, then the divorce is not justified. That law was a special law that stipulated at least what should be followed by limiting to stubborn people who had already made up their minds to divorce and would not break that decision. Jesus now revealed the original meaning that the special law could not reveal, and the original principle that the law was aimed at.
At the time of Jesus, people deviated from this principle. Because it was based on false interpretations of Deuteronomy. The Jews thought that the phrase could be divorced at any time by simply writing a 'divorce certificate'. However, in order to legally divorce, I was interested in defining the ‘shameful thing’ that is the basis for divorce. This event has given rise to many interpretations for a long time, and in Jesus' day the two were opposed. The school following Rabbi Shamai interpreted it as a legal flaw found in his wife. The Hillel school, on the other hand, saw it as meaning any fault found in a wife. In any case, it was not adultery because the Old Testament law punished adultery with death. The Jews had their own choice among these interpretations. Sometimes it was considered shameful for a woman to burn rice, so it was used as a reason for divorce.
The fact that divorce was fairly light at that time can also be found in the conversation between Jesus and his disciples in Matthew 19:9-10. When Jesus said, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, except because of immorality, commits adultery." From this conversation, we can infer that in those days it was common for married people to abandon their wives. In that fallen age, Jesus established the great principle of the law: “They are no longer two, but one flesh; therefore, what God has joined together, no man can separate” (Matthew 19:6).
Man cannot share what God has joined together. Of course, Jesus' words refer to fornication as a ground for divorce. However, if this verse is interpreted as ‘fornication can lead to divorce,’ the original intention is distorted. It is no different from the interpretation that ‘you can get a divorce if you give me a divorce certificate’. Jesus did not say this to provide information on how to legally divorce. Just before Jesus said these words, "Everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Before that word, everyone was condemned to be an adulterer. If you start to take it literally, everyone has grounds for divorce because everyone has committed adultery. In this way, there are many errors in legalism that misses the intention of the Word and pursues it literally. Cleverly avoiding the law, he pursues crimes and rationalizes his desires. Therefore, it is necessary not to be bound by the text alone, but to understand and obey the Lord's original heart.
The Old Testament law was at least a word about how to live for those who have broken their relationship with God. The Sermon on the Mount presented the original intention and intended meaning of the law to the disciples who had restored their relationship with God. Because the New Testament disciples are people under the rule of God, the Old Testament law and Jesus' requirements are different from the starting point. The divorce certificate in Moses' day was also given to those who had broken relationships with God. But originally, divorce was not allowed. Therefore, we who are now in reconciliation with God will have to restore the “original purpose” that transcends the literal meaning of the law.
Even in our day, divorce is a frequent occurrence. There were 139,365 divorces in Korea over the past year. That's more than 10,000 divorces a month. In Daegu, an average of 500 divorces occurred every month. There are probably many people who live a life that is nothing but a divorce in terms of the divorce that was reported. Under these circumstances, there is a high tendency to think that divorce is not an absolute prohibition. I am very interested in figuring out what kind of situation is good for divorce. Of course, such efforts are required. Because of that effort, those who divorce on the grounds of fornication learn that it is just and should not be viewed with condemnation. You will also learn that it is necessary to respect and protect the human rights of those who have already been divorced, even if they oppose divorce itself. You may also think about how you can at least help those who are already firmly determined to divorce. But all this effort should not let the principles go awry. A sin is a sin no matter how unavoidable it may be. For the sinner, we must show forgiveness, mercy and love, but for the sin we must say it is a sin.
Jesus did not discriminate whether the doctrine of Shamai or Hillel's doctrine, which was popular at the time, was true. It may be because the theories have focused their attention on defining the conditions for divorce. Jesus' interest was not in teaching what legal divorce was. He said it to mean that we should not break the marriage relationship that God has given us and keep it well. Therefore, the way we obey today's Word is not to stay at the level of not getting divorced except for fornication, but to cherish the value of our family and make our home into a family like God's people, not 'everywhere'.
According to the child rearing theory, the most important foundation for children to grow up mentally and healthy is a smooth marriage. Those dealing with juvenile crime say that broken families are the most common juvenile crimes. Most divorces are accompanied by anger and insult and contempt for the other person. It is also accompanied by a lust of the heart for someone other than the spouse. If you look at this, divorce itself can be the sins of murder and adultery that Jesus already condemned. It is a great sorrow to neglect that crimes, which are already a major social problem, are taking place at home. Creating a home like the people of God is a task that all family members must strive for. Not only parents but also children should pray together so that parents can live in harmony with each other like God's people.