ACC ~ Matthew 19 v7

THE COMMAND OF MOSES

ORIGEN: Now, keeping in mind what we said above in regard to the passage from Isaiah about the bill of divorce, we will say that the mother of the people separated herself from Christ, her husband, [1] without having received the bill of divorce.

Afterward, however, when an unseemly thing was found in her, she did not find favor in his sight, and the bill of divorce was written out for her. When the new covenant called those of the Gentiles to the house of him who had cast away his former wife, it virtually gave the bill of divorce to her who formerly separated from her husband—the law and the Word. Therefore, he also having separated from her, married, so to speak, another, having given into the hands of the former wife the bill of divorce. So they can no longer do what was ordered to them under the law because of the certificate of divorce. And a sign that she has received the bill of divorce is that Jerusalem was destroyed along with what they called the sanctuary of the things in it which were believed to be holy, the altar of burnt offerings and all the rites contained in it. And a further sign of the bill of divorce is this, that they cannot keep their feasts, even though the letter of the law specifically commanded them [to be celebrated] in the place that the Lord God appointed for keeping feasts. At present the whole synagogue cannot stone those who have committed such and such sins; and thousands of other instructions are proof of the certificate of divorce. Add to this the fact that “there is no longer any prophet” and that they say, “We do not see any signs.” [2] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 14.19. [3]

[1] Extending to divorce the allegorical interpretation of marriage, Origen sees the Jewish people as the repudiated wife; the divorce decree is indicated by the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Romans, which signified that the Jewish religion, since it had denied Christ, had by now completed its mission.

[2] Ps 74:9 (73:9 LXX).

[3] GCS 40:329-30; ANF 9:507-8.

THE MOTIVE OF JESUS’ DETRACTORS

CHRYSOSTOM: They ought not to have brought this up to him but rather he to them. Nevertheless he does not take advantage of them, nor does he say, “I am not now bound by this,” but he explained this, too. In fact, if he had been alien from the old law, he would not have argued on Moses’ side, nor would he have argued from the original events in the beginning; nor would he have striven to show that his views agreed with the old ones. In fact, Moses gave many other commandments, about foods to eat, about the sabbath. Why do they not challenge Jesus with Moses anywhere else, as they do here? The motive of his detractors was that they wanted the crowd of husbands to be stirred up against him. For divorce was viewed as a matter of considerable indifference among the Jews. Yet when so many things had been said on the mount, they remembered this commandment only now. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 62.2. [1]

[1] PG 58:598; NPNF 1 10:382-83.