What God Joined Together - Family Radio

none good [in addition to or other than] one, that is, God.” Likewise, in Mark
8:14 we read: “Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they
in the ship with them more than one loaf.” The phrase “more than” is also “ei
me.” Here, too, we could translate: “neither had they in the ship with them [in
addition to or other than] one loaf.”
Many other examples could be given, but these two should suffice to show
that in Matthew 19:9, Jesus is simply covering all other possible causes for
divorce “except,” “other than,” or “in addition to” fornication. He has already
eliminated the cause of fornication in verse 8.
Jesus has twice answered the question posed by the Pharisees in verse 3
concerning divorce for every cause. He has first answered it in verses 4-6 by
saying there is not to be divorce for any reason. Then in verses 7 and 8, He
specifically teaches that fornication cannot be a cause for divorce. In verse 9
He applies this teaching to all other causes for divorce, except the cause of
fornication, which He had just covered in verse 8.
The removal of fornication as a cause for divorce so shocked the disciples
that they said to Jesus in verse 10: “His disciples say unto him, If the case of
the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.” They apparently could not
envision a marriage wherein a husband had lost all right to divorce his wife. The
disciples were astounded and dismayed that there could no longer be divorce.
Their reaction to the statements Jesus made in Matthew 19:4-9 underscores
the fact that Jesus had rescinded the command of Deuteronomy 24:1-4.
The earthly application of the other ceremonial laws came to an end when
Jesus came, and the application of the ceremonial law of a man divorcing his
fornicating wife also ended with His coming. In fact, not only did the physical
application of this law end, but the spiritual application ended as well.
The last half of Matthew 19:9, “and shall marry another, committeth
adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery,” is
almost an exact duplication of Luke 16:18. We saw in Luke 16:18, Matthew
5:32, and Mark 10:11-12, that God indicated that a man was not to marry
another wife after divorce, and anyone who married the divorced wife
committed adultery. Clearly the law stands today that as long as the divorced
spouse lives, there is not to be remarriage after divorce.
The Bible records that when Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus, thought Mary
had committed fornication because she was with child, he, being a just man,
sought how to put her away (Matthew 1:19). The fact that the Bible says he was
a “just” man underscores the fact that God was absolutely holy and righteous
when He divorced national Israel as a corporate body. God divorced them as
a corporate body, not as individuals. God could not divorce them as individuals
within the nation because He was not married to them on that level. The law of
God as the husband was married to them as individuals and in that relationship
there could be no divorce. No matter how adulterous any man became, he
remained under the law of God, even as the wife remains under the dominion
of her husband.
God used national Israel to display various types and figures which were
shadows of the spiritual reality that was to be fulfilled in Christ. Their
22 What God hath joined together...