Mark 10 5

Mark 10:5 kjv

And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

Mark 10:5 nkjv

And Jesus answered and said to them, "Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.

Mark 10:5 niv

"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied.

Mark 10:5 esv

And Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.

Mark 10:5 nlt

But Jesus responded, "He wrote this commandment only as a concession to your hard hearts.

Mark 10 verses

Mark 10 5 Meaning

In Mark 10:5, Jesus directly confronts the Pharisees' understanding of divorce. He explains that Moses' allowance for a certificate of divorce (Deut 24:1-4) was not an endorsement of divorce as God's original will, but rather a concession made "because of the hardness of your heart." This highlights human stubbornness and resistance to God's perfect design for marriage, leading Moses to provide a legal framework that mitigated harsher realities in a fallen world.

Mark 10 5 Context

Mark 10:5 occurs within a larger discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees concerning the lawfulness of divorce (Mark 10:2-12). The Pharisees test Jesus by asking if it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife, a highly debated topic among rabbinic schools. Jesus initially refers them back to the Mosaic Law (Deut 24:1-4). When pressed why Moses "allowed" it, Jesus provides the profound explanation in verse 5, clarifying that Moses' provision was not an ideal but a concession. This conversation ultimately leads Jesus to re-establish the permanent, God-ordained nature of marriage as intended "from the beginning" (Mark 10:6-9), overriding human legal allowances made due to sin.

Mark 10 5 Word analysis

• And Jesus answered and said unto them: Standard narrative transition, indicating Jesus' direct response to the Pharisees' query.
• For: (Greek: pros, πρός) Signifies the reason or cause. Jesus is explaining why Moses wrote this precept.
• the hardness: (Greek: sklērokardian, σκληροκαρδίαν) Literally "stiff-heartedness" or "hard-heartedness." This is a significant theological term.
  • This is not merely a lack of emotion, but a deep spiritual state of obstinacy, resistance, and unresponsiveness to God's will and truth. It implies a stubborn unwillingness to yield or obey.
  • It echoes Old Testament concepts of Israel being a "stiff-necked" people (e.g., Ex 32:9; Deut 9:6), characterized by rebellion against God.
• of your heart: (Greek: kardia, καρδία) In biblical understanding, the "heart" represents the very core of a person – the seat of intellect, will, emotions, and moral decision-making, not just feelings.
  • "Your" points directly to the Jewish people and, implicitly, to fallen humanity's sinful condition that necessitates such concessions.
• he wrote: Refers to Moses, emphasizing that the divorce precept originated through him as a part of the Mosaic Law. It was a written legal provision.
• you: Refers to the Israelites, the people to whom Moses delivered the law.
• this precept: (Greek: entolēn, ἐντολήν) Means a commandment, instruction, or ordinance. Jesus here defines the divorce allowance as a precept or concession, not an ideal command reflective of God's original will for marriage.
  • It highlights that this provision was a regulatory measure to manage the negative consequences of sinful human behavior, rather than promoting divorce itself.

Word-groups by words-group analysis:

• "For the hardness of your heart": This phrase is the absolute core of Jesus' argument. It reveals the underlying spiritual reality behind the Mosaic divorce law. The law was given not because God changed His mind about marriage, but because humanity's sinfulness and resistance made a perfect ideal impractical or even harmful without regulation. The hardness of heart manifested in abuse, abandonment, and mistreatment within marriage.
• "he wrote you this precept": This shows divine condescension. God, through Moses, provided a legal framework to govern situations born out of sin. It wasn't God's primary commandment for ideal marriage but a divinely permitted (not commanded) ordinance to regulate an already broken situation, aiming to protect the vulnerable (especially women) and provide order in a fallen society. It distinguished regulated divorce from summary repudiation.

Mark 10 5 Bonus section

The concept of "hardness of heart" as a spiritual malady is deeply rooted in the Old Testament, where it frequently explains Israel's rebellion and failure to obey God (e.g., their wanderings in the wilderness). Jesus' use of sklērokardia here connects marital breakdown directly to this foundational spiritual problem, rather than merely a legal loophole or social practice. It underscores that God's allowances in a sinful world often reflect His patience and mercy in mitigating human wickedness, not His endorsement of the wickedness itself. This passage thus serves as a powerful reminder that while God condescends to human frailty, His ultimate will and original design remain the true standard.

Mark 10 5 Commentary

Mark 10:5 offers a crucial interpretive key to understanding God's relationship with humanity in a fallen world. Jesus explicitly states that Moses' allowance for divorce was a concession born out of human fallenness—specifically, "the hardness of your heart." This means the Mosaic precept on divorce was not a reflection of God's ultimate desire or blueprint for marriage (which is permanent, "one flesh" union as established in Genesis), but a necessary adaptation to a sinful reality.

The "hardness of heart" is not a trivial flaw; it signifies spiritual obstinacy, an unwillingness to submit to God's perfect will, and a deep-seated resistance to divine truth and order. In the context of marriage, this hardening manifests as unfaithfulness, cruelty, abandonment, and a failure to uphold covenant vows. The Mosaic law, therefore, regulated divorce not to endorse it, but to manage its inevitability and mitigate its destructive potential within Israelite society, offering some protection, especially to the woman being divorced.

Jesus, however, elevates the discussion beyond mere legal interpretations to the very heart of God's original creation design. By highlighting the "hardness of heart," He critiques the Pharisees' reliance on mere permission while ignoring the spiritual defect that necessitated it. His teaching calls for a standard higher than the Mosaic concession, pointing towards the original covenant purity of marriage, accessible in principle within the Kingdom of God, where hearts can be transformed by God's Spirit.