Matthew 19.1 Shammai or Hillel?

<p>The Pharisees come to Jesus to &quot;test (<em>peirazo</em> Gk.) him&quot; This greek word is the same word that Jesus uses to respond to Satan in chapter 4, &quot;You shall not tempt (<em>ekpeirazo</em> Gk. (put to the test)) the Lord your God.&quot; So in this verse, Matthew is showing us the malice or hardness of the hearts of the Pharisees. They ask about divorce and Jesus answer is so shocking that the disciples exclaim, &quot;if such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry!&quot; We first look to the OT references made by Jesus and the Pharisees and then look to a modern Catholic commentary (1953). We end with the commentary of St. John Chrysostom and St. Jerome to begin to unpack all of this.</p>