And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the region of Judea beyond Jordan;
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
se18. He said unto Him, &c. As thyself; Syriac, as thy soul. I have expounded these commandments in Deuteronomy 5:6. Christ in this place only propounded the precepts of the second table having reference to our neighbour, because in them are included the precepts of the first table concerning God. For the love of God produces love of our neighbour. For we love him for the sake of God. Wherefore the love of our neighbour flows from love of God. Again it is more difficult to love our neighbour than to love God. For who is there who does not love God, especially among religious people, such as this youth was?
The young man saith, &c. From my youth; Syriac and Arabic, from my childhood—meaning, from a child I have been brought up in God"s law, and been prevented by His grace. I have carefully kept all God"s commandments. What lack I yet? i.e, of goodness: that I may become perfected therein, and have eternal life? Not in any fashion, as all have it who keep the commandments, but surely a...
se9. But I say, &c. Christ used those words upon two occasions1. Publicly in this place to the Jews and the Pharisees. When He here promulgated His new law, by which He revoked the power of giving a bill of divorce, and brought back marriage to its primeval institution and indissolubility2. Shortly afterwards He repeated the words in private to his disciples. ( Mark 10:10-12.)
I say, i.e, I enact, and as the Lawgiver of the New Law, I ordain, and bring back marriage to its original rectitude and steadfastness. And I declare that whosoever shall put away his wife and shall marry another shall be accounted, and shall be in fact an adulterer.
Except for fornication. That Isaiah , except on account of adultery. For what in those who are free is fornication, in the married is adultery. And this dissolves marriage quoad thorum, though not quoad vinculum. For the adulterer does not keep the faith which he gave to his spouse. Whence he may be put away by his spouse, according to the saying, ...
se7. They say, &c. The Pharisees object to Christ, Why hath Moses commanded? In order to make their objection the stronger, they use the word command, whereas Moses, as Christ observes in the following verse, only permitted the bill of divorce. It was only that sort of command which is conditional, not absolute. Moses had commanded that if the Jews would put away their wives, they could only do so by giving a writing of divorcement. I have fully entered into every thing connected with this bill of divorce on Deuteronomy 4:1. We must here supply from S. Mark 10:3-4, that when the Pharisees asked Christ whether it were lawful to put away a wife, He first answered and said unto them, "what did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away." Thus Christ as Matthew here has it in the fourth verse unfolds the original institution of marriage by God, and its indissolubility. Then the Pharisees rejoined, Why then did Moses command to giv...
And it came to pass, &c. This is the same history as that related by S. Mark ( Mark 10:1), by S. Luke ( Luke 9:51), and, as it would seem, by S. John (vii1). So Jansen, Francis Lucas, and others. Maldonatus, however, denies this with respect to S. John: but his arguments will be refuted by the exposition of the context. It is plain from John that these events took place about the Feast of Tabernacles, which was celebrated in September. Christ went up to that feast, that He might gradually prepare Himself for death. He was crucified in the following March. Luke adds, that Christ journeyed through Samaria. Hence it follows, that Christ—leaving the direct route from Samaria to Jerusalem—proceeded to the Jordan; and having crossed it, passed through Peræa and entered the borders of Judea from the east, and arrived at Jerusalem about the middle of the Feast of Tabernacles, as John has ( John 7:14). This explains the expression, beyond Jordan, in the text. Beyond, or across Jordan, must be c...
se8. Moses suffered. He alters commanded into suffered, or permitted. Moses suffered you to put away your wives, when you hated them, lest if you could not divorce them, you should kill them. For so great was the hardness and carnality of your hearts that ye would rather put them to death than be without the pleasure of a new and desired marriage.
From the beginning. When man"s nature had become corrupted by sin, man changed and corrupted this institution of God, and gave occasion for divorce and polygamy.
He had often before left Judea because of the people’s hostility. Now he returned there at last, as the time of his Passion was near. But he did not go up to Jerusalem yet, but to the borders of Judea. The Gospel of Matthew, Homily
Having constantly left Judæa on account of the envy of those men, now He frequents it from this time forth, because the passion was to be near at hand; He goes not up, however, unto Jerusalem for a while, but into the coasts of Judæa.
