“Some Pharisees
Came to test him.
They asked.
‘Is it lawful
For a man
To divorce
His wife?’”
Καὶ προσελθόντες Φαρισαῖοι ἐπηρώτων αὐτὸν εἰ ἔξεστιν ἀνδρὶ γυναῖκα ἀπολῦσαι, πειράζοντες αὐτόν
This questioning of the Pharisees about divorce can also be found in Matthew, chapter 19:3, with some minor changes. Once again, some Pharisees approached Jesus (Καὶ προσελθόντες Φαρισαῖοι). They wanted to interrogate, test, or question him (ἐπηρώτων αὐτὸν). The Pharisees were a political party, a social movement, and a religious school of thought that followed the Law of Moses, but with a number of oral traditions. They had they own expert explanations of Jewish law that sometimes appeared to be hypocritical or arrogant, with a form of Judaism that extended beyond the Temple. They were testing or tempting Jesus (πειράζοντες αὐτόν). They wanted to know if it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife (εἰ ἔξεστιν ἀνδρὶ γυναῖκα ἀπολῦσαι), since this was a disputed question among many Jewish rabbis.