GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 10:6
Back to Basics
There was a land dispute between two farmers in the American West. Farmer A dammed a stream that Farmer B needed to irrigate his crops. The case went to court, and the lawyers began researching water rights. They searched all United States legal decisions. Then they examined the history of legal rulings, eventually tracing them back to the Corpus Juris Civilis, the sixth century codification of law commissioned by Justinian I. As I recall, Farmer A was compelled to release the water from his dam.
This story came to mind as I read Jesus’ discussion with the Pharisees about divorce. The Pharisees said that Moses prescribed a process by which a husband to divorce his wife, citing Deuteronomy 24:1-4. By the New Testament era, divorce required a document written by a skilled scribe. It was then approved by a court of three rabbis and lodged with the Sanhedrin. Nevertheless, the process of divorce remained exceedingly easy and entirely at the man’s discretion.
The exchange reads as if Jesus said, “Okay, if you want to base your argument on Moses, let’s look at Genesis 1:27: ‘But from the beginning of creation, he made them male and female.’” (Mark 10:6) Jesus took his interlocutors back to a more original pattern—that pattern that existed before some hardhearted men began mistreating their wives, which required the Jewish lawgiver, Moses, to provide some regulation to spousal relationships.
Therefore, when justifying behavior, it is best to look for the perfect, original pattern.
(Also of interest is that the word “male” (ἄρρην, arrēn) derives from a root meaning “to lift” or “strength,” while “female” (θῆλυς, thēlys) derives from a word meaning “breast,” more specifically, “the nursing breast.”)
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