Come Be My Follower - Jehovah's Witnesses Official Media Web Site

104
“COMEBEMYFOLLOWER”
God’s Word? No, this precept was something that the religious
leaders taught of their own originality. They watered
down God’s perfect Law with human thinking. Jesus
fearlessly defended God’s Word against the harmful
effects of human traditions.—Mark 7:9-13.
15 The religious leaders also attacked God’s Law by making
it seem unduly strict, even harsh. When Jesus’ disciples
plucked a few heads of grain while passing through
a field, some Pharisees claimed that they were violating
the Sabbath. Jesus used a Scriptural example to defend
God’s Word against this unbalanced view. He cited
the only reference in the Scriptures that deals with using
the temple showbread outside the sanctuary—when David
and his hungry men ate it. Jesus showed those Pharisees
that they had missed the point of Jehovah’s mercy
and compassion.—Mark 2:23-27.
16 Religious leaders also devised legalistic loopholes to
weaken the force of God’s Law. For instance, the Law allowed
a man to divorce his wife if he found “something
indecent” on her part, evidently some serious problem
that brought shame on the household. (Deuteronomy
24:1) However, by Jesus’ day, the religious leaders used
that concession as an excuse to allow a man to divorce
his wife on all manner of grounds—even for burning
his supper! Jesus showed that they had badly misrepresented
Moses’ inspired words. He then restored Jehovah’s
original standard for marriage, that of monogamy, leav-
The first-century historian Josephus, himself a divorced Pharisee,
later suggested that divorce was allowable “for any cause whatsoever
(and many such causes happen among men).”
15. How did Jesus defend God’s Law against attempts to make it seem
unduly strict, even harsh?
16. What had the religious leaders done to Moses’ command regarding
divorce, and how did Jesus respond?