{1} The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to {b} put away his wife for every cause?

(1) The band of marriage ought not to be broken, unless it is because of fornication.

(b) To send her a bill of divorce; see Mt 1:19.

People's New Testament

19:3 Pharisees also came. As usual, ready to oppose.

Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? Hillel, the greatest of the Jewish Rabbis whom Jews have sought to compare with Christ, taught that almost any ground of displeasure on the part of a husband would justify divorce. He even specifies scorching the bread as sufficient cause. Josephus, the historian, says he divorced his wife because he was not pleased with her manners.

Wesley's Notes

19:3 The Pharisees came tempting him - Trying to make him contradict Moses. For every cause - That is, for any thing which he dislikes in her. This the scribes allowed.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?-Two rival schools (as we saw on [1327]Mt 5:31) were divided on this question-a delicate one, as De Wette pertinently remarks, in the dominions of Herod Antipas.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

19:3-12 The Pharisees were desirous of drawing something from Jesus which they might represent as contrary to the law of Moses. Cases about marriage have been numerous, and sometimes perplexed; made so, not by the law of God, but by the lusts and follies of men; and often people fix what they will do, before they ask for advice. Jesus replied by asking whether they had not read the account of the creation, and the first example of marriage; thus pointing out that every departure therefrom was wrong. That condition is best for us, and to be chosen and kept to accordingly, which is best for our souls, and tends most to prepare us for, and preserve us to, the kingdom of heaven. When the gospel is really embraced, it makes men kind relatives and faithful friends; it teaches them to bear the burdens, and to bear with the infirmities of those with whom they are connected, to consider their peace and happiness more than their own. As to ungodly persons, it is proper that they should be restrained by laws, from breaking the peace of society. And we learn that the married state should be entered upon with great seriousness and earnest prayer.