Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 19:10

"The disciples say unto him, If the case of the man is so with his wife, it is not expedient to marry." — Matthew 19:10 (ASV)

If the case of the man — These words seem to indicate that the more lenient view of the school of Hillel was the popular one, even among those who, like the disciples, had been stirred to pursue a righteousness higher than that of the scribes or Pharisees. They anticipated the possible discomforts of marriage under the conditions their Master had set before them and concluded that these outweighed the advantages. Why should they entangle themselves in a union they could no longer dissolve by the short and easy method of a bill of divorcement when they grew tired of it?

It is instructive to remember that one of the greatest English writers, John Milton, took the same line of thought when addressing this question. His Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, and the treatises that followed it, are simply an elaborate and eloquent expression of the disciples' words, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.