[B-Greek] One man one woman

Ann Nyland nyland at tsn.cc
Thu Dec 8 19:06:22 EST 2005


Regard the research of Craig Keener on this. Further, in the 1st century, 
polygamy was still practiced among Palestinian Jews, although was not 
supposed to occur in Graeco-Roman society. Legal Jewish marriages allowed 
for polygamy. For example, P.Yadin 10 (Palestine, 126 AD) is a marriage 
contract between Judah and his second wife Babatha. That is to say, Judah 
had another wife, and upon his marriage to Babatha, was married to two women 
at once. P.Yadin 10 is an Aramaic contract. Judah chose a Greek marriage 
contract for his daughter's marriage two years later (P.Yadin 18) but for 
his polygamous marriage, had to choose an Aramaic contract. See Cambriodge 
scholar David Instone-Brewer's research - his field is the NT divorce 
passages and Jewish marriage.
Yancy, for caution on Spicq, regard Australian N.T. lexicographer G.H.R. 
Horsley's words, New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity 5. 68-69.
In general, it's not wise to state that any particular lexicon should be 
regarded for the documentary sources relating to the NT, as there is no up 
to date lexicon - the project to replace Moulton and Milligan has been going 
on in my own town for some 16 years but is currently unfunded. The 
documentary sources are coming up constantly - a couple of hundred a year 
have been found at Ephesos alone over the last 20 years.
Further, it's also unwise to support a translation of one NT passage on the 
grounds of spurious translation of another NT passage.
In Matt 19, the Rabbis asked Jesus about his interpretation of Deuteronomy 
24:1. The "Any Matter" is a technical term from Jewish divorce law, a form 
of divorce introduced by the Rabbi Hillel. The other type of divorce, 
divorce on the ground of "General Sexual Immorality", was available to both 
men and women, both of whom were able to divorce the partner on the specific 
grounds based on Exodus 21:10-11. This traditional type of divorce was 
becoming rarer by the start of the first century, being replaced by the "Any 
Matter" divorce, which was for men only, and popular as no grounds had to be 
shown and there was no court case. For an "Any Matter" divorce, the man 
simply had to write out a certificate of divorce and give it to his wife. By 
Jesus' time, the "Any Matter" was the more popular form of divorce, but the 
rabbis were still arguing about the legalities of it. The disciples of 
Shammai were particularly opposed to it. For the "Any Matter" divorce see 
Josephus, AJ 4.253, "He who desires to be divorced from his wife who is 
living with him on the grounds of 'Any Matter'.must certify in writing."; 
Philo, Special Laws 3.30, ".if a woman is parting from her husband on the 
grounds of 'Any Matter'"; see also the Rabbinic Commentary Sifrev 
Deuteronomy 269. For modern scholarship, see the afore mentioned 
Instone-Brewer, Divorce and Remarriage in the Church, (Cumbria: Paternoster 
Press, 2003).

Jesus' answer to the Pharisees' question, "Is it legal for a person to 
divorce his wife on the grounds of 'Any Matter'?" appears in verse 9: 
"Whoever divorces from his wife, unless it's on the grounds of 'General 
Sexual Immorality', and marries someone else, commits adultery". Thus Jesus 
declares the divorce on the grounds of "Any Matter" invalid. Instone-Brewer 
goes into great detail in his papers. In Matt 19:6, Instone-Brewer suggests 
that here Jesus is stressing the single and the "two" to stress monogamy, as 
Jewish polygamy was so widespread at the time.

The phrase refers to monogamy rather than being a directive against a 
divored person holding office. Further, it refers to both men and women.

Ann Nyland




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