2   And there came unto him Pharisees, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? trying him.
      3   And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you?
      4   And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away.
      5   But Jesus said unto them, For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.
      6   But from the beginning of the creation, Male and female made he them.
      7   For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife;
      8   and the two shall become one flesh: so that they are no more two, but one flesh.
      9   What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
      13.   And they were bringing unto him little children, that he should touch them: and the disciples rebuked them.
      14   But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me; forbid them not: for to such belongeth the kingdom of God.
      15   Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein.
      16   And he took them in his arms, and blessed them, laying his hands upon them.

Questions and Brief Comments.

Verse 2. What question did the Pharisees put to Jesus? What was their motive in asking Him this?

Verses 3, 4. What question did He ask them in return? What their their [124] answer? Where did Moses say that? Deut. 24:1-3.

Verse 5. Was that the real will of God or a concession to their "hardness of heart"? (See Matt. 19:8).

Verses 6-8. What proof did the Lord Jesus give that God did not originally intend that? When God instituted wedlock did He speak of more than two? What shows that in the wedded state every man was to have his one, own wife? What do these two become?

Verse 9. How does God so join them together? (By this decree He made). Has man any right to put asunder what God has joined together?

Verse 13. Who was bringing the little children? (The mothers or parents. Luke 18:15). For what? Can you think of a reason for the disciples' rebuking them?

Verse 14. Did the Lord Jesus think like his disciples about this? What did He say? What did He say "belonged" to such as they were?

Verse 15. If any one would enter into the kingdom, how must he receive it? What special trait of he child's nature did the Lord have in mind? See Matt. 18:3, 4.

Verse 16. What did Jesus do when the children came to Him? Can children still be brought to Jesus? How? Will they be blessed by Him?

NOTES AND TEACHING-POINTS.

"JESUS AND THE HOME."

      The aim of the lesson is plain: to set forth the Lord Jesus' attitude toward the home: (1) His teaching concerning marriage, which is the basis of the home, as it is the foundation and cornerstone of human society; and (2) His teaching concerning children.

THE SANCTITY OF WEDLOCK.

      "Let marriage be had in honor among all." (Heb. 13:14). It is the one thing that has come down to us from the garden of Eden unchanged, of all earthly bonds that unite human beings the most ancient, most intimate, most sacred; most ancient because it antedates every other institution among men; most intimate because "the two shall be one flesh"; most sacred because God Himself is its Author. "What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder." The disregard of the marriage-bond, as it is witnessed in our country today is the sure precursor of national calamity and judgment, and in itself the token of the wrath of God revealed from heaven. "Fornicators and adulterers God will judge." He pays no attention to the pretense covered up under the term "legal divorce," nor to man's approval of the vile and abominable immorality of "compassionate" marriages. The tampering with the primal institution of wedlock will bring swift results in condemnation to the individual and disaster to the nation.

MOSES' PERMISSION.

      "Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement. . . . But Jesus said unto them, For your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment." "But from the beginning it hath not been so." (Matt. 19:8). That marked not a step in man's gradual rise, to nobler conceptions, as some imagine, but a [125] let-down from an earlier, purer standard. The concession was not Moses' own, but God's through Moses; for God alone, not Moses, had the right to modify His law for a time. The concession was granted because of the hardness of their hearts. Man's alienation from God's mind and way and his moral frailty had become such, that the strict requirement of the marriage law would have resulted in even greater evils. So God tolerated polygamy to some extent, and a restricted divorce law. Thus God, though only provisionally, in adaptation to man's low estate, was obliged to give them some "statutes that were not good and ordinances wherein they should not live." (Ezek. 20:25). But the Light that came into the world in the coming of Christ, demanded a return to the original standard of God. The only scriptural ground for divorce today is the marital unfaithfulness of the other party, by which the marriage vow is broken. (Matt. 5:32; 19:9).

QUESTIONS FOR CLASS USE.

1. With what question did the Pharisees come?
2. For what purpose did they ask this?
3. How did Jesus answer?
4. What did they say Moses suffered them to do?
5. Why did Moses write them this commandment?
6. Had it always been so?
7. Did God ordain that a man should cleave to his wife?
8. Whom should he forsake in order to do so?
9. What shall the two become?
10. Shall they be reckoned as two after that?
11. Who does so join them together?
12. What must man beware of doing?
13. Who was being brought to Jesus? For what?
14. What attitude did the disciples take regarding the children?
15. Was Jesus pleased with their attitude?
16. What did He say to them?
17. What did He say belonged to the children?
18. How must a man receive the Kingdom?
19. What special virtue is foremost in a child? (Matt. 18:4).
20. How did the Lord manifest His tender interest and love in little children? Do you think He still holds the same feeling for them?
21. What is the title of the lesson?
22. What has the printed lesson to do with the subject?
23. What has the Golden Text to do with it??

Source: Fourth Lord's Day Lesson of April. Lesson 4. April 22, 1928. Jesus and the Home (Mark 10:2-9, 13-16).