His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with wife, it is not good to marry.
10. If the case of the man be so with his wife ]If these are the conditions of marriage.
it is not good to marry ]Nothing could prove more clearly the revolution in thought brought to pass by Christ than this. Even the disciples feel that such a principle would make the yoke of marriage unbearable.
Source: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
His disciples say … – The disciples were full of Jewish notions. They thought that the privilege of divorcing a wife when there was a quarrelsome disposition, or anything else that rendered the marriage unhappy, was a great privilege; and that in such cases to be always bound to live with a wife was a great calamity. They said, therefore, that if such was the case – such the condition on which people married – it was better not to marry.
Source: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
see each other 10. If the case of the man], of a husband, so I think the word should be translated here. The Codex Bezae, Armenian, and most of the Itala, have, which, perhaps, more properly signifies a husband, though both words are used in this sense.
Our word husband comes from the Anglo-Saxon, hus and band: the bond of the house, anciently spelled housebond, – so in my old MS. Bible. It is a lamentable case when the husband, instead of being the bond and union of the family, scatters and ruins it by dissipation, riot, and excess.
It is not good to marry.]That is, if a man has not the liberty to put away his wife when she is displeasing to him. God had said, Ge 2:18, It is not good for man to be alone, ie unmarried. The disciples seem to say, that if the husband has not the power to divorce his wife when she is displeasing to him, it is not good for him to marry. Here was a flat contradiction to the decision of the Creator. There are difficulties and trials in all states; but let marriage and celibacy be weighed fairly, and I am persuaded the former will be found to have fewer than the latter. However, before we enter into an engagement which nothing but death can dissolve, we had need to act cautiously, carefully consulting the will and word of God. Where an unbridled passion, or a base love of money, lead the way, marriage is sure to be miserable.
Source: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This is a very strange saying, and discovers to us both the imperfect state of Christs disciples, and also the tyranny of a sinful practice grown up into a custom. The Jews had assumed a liberty of turning their wives out of doors upon every light and trivial offense or dislike; the disciples think, if this licentiousness may not be allowed it is not good to marry. So a holy institution of God, ordained for the propagation of mankind, for the restraint of extravagant lust, and for the solace and comfort of mans life, should be despised, rather than those unquiet lusts and corruptions mortified, the mortification of which would have made those irregular separations both needless and undesirable. Surely they should rather have said, If the case of a man be so with his wife, then both husbands and wives had need to learn to deny themselves, to comply each with another, to silence their brutal and boisterous passions, that, being the same flesh, they might also have one and the same spirit, and not be like a diseased piece of flesh, where humors so quarrel that one piece need be cut off to preserve the other. But the best of men have their infirmities; and, as the Hebrews said, Spiritus Dei non semper tangit corda prophetarum, The Spirit of God was not always upon the hearts of the prophets; so it is as true, Spiritius Dei non semper et ubique tangit corda fidelium, All that the saints say is not gospel. Their flesh hath its turn to speak, as well as the Spirit in them. A sinful liberty granted, indulged, or connived at, by the laws, or by the rulers of a church or place where we live, for a long time, is not easily restrained, and even good men may for a time be carried away with the error of it, so as they cannot discern it, be convinced of it, or be brought clear of it to a conformity to the will of God.
Source: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry that is, “In this view of marriage, surely it must prove a snare other than a blessing, and had better be avoided altogether. ”
Source: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
His disciples say unto him,…. Being surprised at this account of things, it being quite contrary to what they had been taught, and very different from the general practice and usage of their nation:
if the case of a man be so with his wife; if they are so closely joined together in marriage; if they are, as it were, one flesh, or one body, that a man’s wife is himself: that the bond between them is so inviolable, that it is not to be dissolved, but in case of adultery; that if a separation be made by a bill of divorce, in any other case, and either party marry again, they are guilty of adultery; if a man cannot part with his wife de ella lawfully, provided she be chaste, and is faithful to his de ella bed de ella, let her be de ella what she will otherwise, though ever so disagreeable in her person de ella, and troublesome in her behaviour; though she may be passionate, and a brawler; though she may be drunken, luxurious, and extravagant, and mind not the affairs of her family de ella, yet if she is not an adulteress, ella must not be put away:
it is not good to marry; it would be more expedient and advisable for a man to live always a single life, than to run the risk of marrying a woman, that may prove very disagreeable and uncomfortable; to whom he must be bound all the days of his or her life de ella, and, in such a case, not to be able to relieve and extricate himself. This they said under the prejudice of a national law and custom, which greatly prevailed, and under the influence of a carnal heart.
Source: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The disciples say unto him ( ). “Christ’s doctrine on marriage not only separated Him from Pharisaic opinions of all shades, but was too high even for the Twelve” (Bruce).
The case ( ). The word may refer to the use in verse 3 “for every cause.” It may have a vague idea here = , condition. But the point clearly is that “it is not expedient to marry” ( ) if such a strict view is held. If the bond is so tight a man had best not commit matrimony. It is a bit unusual to have and contrasted rather than and .
Source: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The case . Not the relation of the man to his wife of him, nor the circumstances, the state of the case. Aijtia refers to cause (ver. 3), and the meaning is, if the matter stands thus with reference to the cause which the man must have for putting away his wife from him.
Source: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
10. His disciples say to him. As if it were a hard condition for husbands to be so bound to their wives, that, so long as they remain chaste, they are compelled to endure every thing rather than leave them, the disciples, roused by this answer of Christ, reply, that it is better to want wives than to submit to a knot of this kind. (603) But why do they not, on the other hand, consider how hard is the bondage of wives, (604) but because, devoted to themselves and their own convenience, they are driven by the feeling of the flesh to disregard others, and to think only of what is advantageous for themselves? Meanwhile, it is a display of base ingratitude that, from the dread or dislike of a single inconvenience, they reject a wonderful gift of God. It is better, according to them, to avoid marriage than to bind one’s self by the bond of living always together. (605) But if God has ordained marriage for the general advantage of mankind, though it may be attended by some things that are disagreeable, it is not on that account to be despised. Let us therefore learn not to be delicate and saucy, but to use with reverence the gifts of God, even if there be something in them that does not please us. Above all, let us guard against this wickedness in reference to holy marriage; for, in consequence of its being attended by many annoyances, Satan has always endeavored to make it an object of hatred and detestation, in order to withdraw men from it. And Jerome has given too manifest a proof of a malicious and wicked disposition, in not only loading with calumnies that sacred and divinely appointed condition of life, but in collecting as many terms of reproach ( λοιδορίας) as he could from profane authors, in order to take away its respectability. But let us collect that whatever annoyances belong to marriage are accidental, for they arise out of the depravity of man. Let us remember that, since our nature was corrupted, marriage began to be a medicine, and therefore we need not wonder if it has a bitter taste mixed with its sweetness. But we must see how our Lord confutes this folly.
(603) “Que de se mettre en une telle necessite et suiection;” — “than to place one’s self under such restraint and subjection.”
(604) “The servitude that femmes ont a porter;” — “the bondage of which wives have to endure.”
(605) “De vivre tousiours avec une femme;” — “of living always with one wife.”
Source: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) If the case of the man.The words seem to indicate that the laxer view of the school of Hillel was the more popular one even with those who, like the disciples, had been roused to some efforts after a righteousness higher than that of the scribes or Pharisees. They looked forward to the possible discomforts of marriage under the conditions which their Master had set before them, and drew the conclusion that they outweighed its advantages. Why entangle themselves in a union which they were no longer able to dissolve, when they got tired of it, by the short and easy method of a bill of divorcement? It is instructive to remember that one of the greatest of English writers has taken the same line of thought in dealing with the question. Milton’s Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, and the treatises that followed it, are but an elaborate and eloquent expression of the words of the disciples, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.
Source: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. Not good to marry The apostles’ opinion seems to have been on the side of Hillel. It was probably in accordance with the doctrine, or at least ordinary practice of that wicked age. The apostles therefore speak under the influence of their usual impressions. So indissoluble a union with one woman they thought to be in any way intolerable. Better no marriage at all. And yet how fully experience shows that the age of strict marriage is the age of every quiet and healthful virtue. Such an institute stays at once a thousand irregularities of life. When the law of marriage banishes beforehand all thought of separation and transgression, the whole train of lower feelings become tranquilized and dismissed, and the room is made for thoughts of other than sexual matters.
Source: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘The disciples say to…