19:1–6 When Jesus finished his discourse (as recorded in chap. 18), he left Galilee for the last time and went to the area of Judea that lay east of the Jordan. Great crowds followed him there and he healed them.

Some Pharisees came to him to test him (note the same use of peirazō in Matt. 22:18, 35) by asking him if the law allowed a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason. The Pharisees permitted divorce but differed on the appropriate terms. Deuteronomy 24:1 speaks of a man divorcing his wife “because he finds something indecent about her.” The school of Shammai held this to be immorality on the part of the wife. The school of Hillel interpreted it to be anything at all that proved to be displeasing to the husband. Rabbi Akiba (early second century) went so far as to say that …