And the Pharisees came to him, and testing him they asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife without any reason?”
The Pharisees, who were known for their strict and outwardly law-keeping stance, come to Jesus not to seek the truth, but to put Him to the test. Their question concerns whether divorce is permissible, a matter that was discussed in the Law of Moses and had become a cause of many interpretations in that period. They framed the question in such a way as to trap Jesus in a contradiction: if Jesus said, “It is permissible,” they would condemn Him as careless or lenient toward the law, but if He said, “It is forbidden,” they could accuse Him of contradicting Moses. Jesus’ answer shows that biblical truths are not subject to manipulation.