What Does Matthew 19:7 Mean?
They said to him, Why then did Moses command to give a writing of divorce and to send her away?
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?THE KEY
The question mistakes a document that records separation for a command that separation must happen.
THE MEANING
The question holds a live confusion in view: a provision for release is read as an order to break the bond. The writing marks separation; the verb for putting her away means to release or dismiss her. The pressure is whether permission has become the purpose itself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A written release does not prove that ending the bond is the command or the purpose; the next verse names it as a concession under hard-hearted conditions.
THE ROOT
ἀποστασίου
apostasiou
GROWS FROM
ἵστημι
histēmi
Stand; set in place.
“writing of divorce” in this verse is apostasiou. The Greek word for the divorce document carries the sense of standing away. The English phrase can sound like a formal object, but its root points to the separation the document names. The question treats that record of separation as proof that separation itself was commanded.
ALSO GROWS
aphistēmi: Withdraw, depart; literally, stand away.
ἀφίστημι
This related verb makes the separation inside the document’s name audible.
apostasia: Departure, defection.
ἀποστασία
The same stand-away image can describe a turning away, not only a marital separation.
ἀπολῦσαι
apolysai
GROWS FROM
λύω
lyō
Loosen, release.
“send her away” in this verse is apolysai. The verb translated “put her away” is built from the language of release. The verse holds two related actions together: separation is marked in writing, then the woman is released from the bond. English “put away” can hide that the verb itself speaks of letting go.
ALSO GROWS
lysis: Loosening, release.
λύσις
It preserves the root’s image of something being loosened rather than merely moved elsewhere.
apolysis: Release, dismissal.
ἀπόλυσις
This related noun names the act of releasing or dismissing, bringing out the force of the verse’s verb.
THE PATTERN
A provision for release can recognize a rupture without declaring rupture the intended end.
He said to them, Because of the stiffness of your hearts, Moses allowed you to send away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.And if he does not do these three for her, she goes out free without silver.But if the one who does not trust puts space between, let him go. A brother or a sister is not enslaved in such cases, for God has called us to wholeness.THE THREAD
He said to them, Because of the stiffness of your hearts, Moses allowed you to send away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.The next verse answers the question directly: Moses permits release because of hard-heartedness, while the beginning names another pattern. That distinction reverses the assumption that a provision for separation is itself a command to separate.
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