Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts - It is dangerous to tolerate the least evil, though prudence itself may require it: because toleration, in this case, raises itself insensibly into permission, and permission soon sets up for command. Moses perceived that if divorce were not permitted, in many cases, the women would be exposed to great hardships through the cruelty of their husbands: for so the word , is understood in this place by some learned men.
From the beginning it was not so - The Jews named the books of the law from the first word in each. Genesis they always term Bereshith , , which is the first word in it, and signifies, In the beginning. It is probable that our Lord speaks in this way here, In Bereshith it was not so, intimating that the account given in Genesis is widely different. There was no divorce between Eve and Adam; nor did he or his family practice polygamy. But our Lord, by the beginning, may mean the original intention or design.
Other Adam Clarke entries containing Matthew 19:8:
Deuteronomy 21:15
Matthew 19:9
Mark 10:2
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