Matthew 19:8

Jesus explained that the concession in the Mosaic Law was just that, a concession. It did not reflect the will of God in creation but the hardness of the human heart. Divorce was not a part of God’s creation ordinance any more than sin was. However, He permitted divorce, as He permitted sin.

"Moses regulated, but thereby conceded, the practice of divorce; both were with a view to (pros) the nation’s (hymon) hardness of heart: since they persist in falling short of the ideal of Eden, let it at least be within limits." [Note: M’Neile, p. 273.]

The divorce option that God granted the Israelites testifies to man’s sinfulness. Therefore one should always view divorce as evidence of sin, specifically hardness of heart. He or she should never view it as simply a morally neutral option that God granted, the correctness or incorrectness of which depended on the definition of the indecency. The Pharisees’ fundamental attitude toward the issue was wrong. They were looking for grounds for divorce. Jesus was stressing the inviolability of the marriage relationship.

Notice in passing that Jesus never associated Himself with the sin in the discussion. He consistently spoke of the peoples’ sin as their sin or your sin, never as our sin (cf. Matthew 6:14-15). This is a fine point that reveals Jesus’ awareness that He was sinless.

What was the indecency for which Moses permitted divorce? It was not adultery since the penalty for that was death, not divorce (Deuteronomy 22:22). However, it is debatable whether the Israelites enforced the death penalty for adultery. [Note: See Henry McKeating, "Sanctions Against Adultery in Ancient Israelite Society," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 11 (1979):57-72.] It could not be suspicion of adultery either since there was a specified procedure for handling those cases (Numbers 5:5-31). Probably it was any gross immoral behavior short of adultery, namely, fornication, which includes all types of prohibited sexual behavior. Even though divorce was widespread and easy to obtain in the ancient Near East, and in Israel, the Israelites took marriage somewhat more seriously than their pagan neighbors did.