John Gill Commentary Mark 10

And he arose from thence
From Galilee, and particularly from Capernaum:

and comes into the coasts of Judea ;
into those places, which bordered on that part of the land of Israel, called Judea, as distinct from Galilee:

by ,
or rather "to"

the further side of Jordan ;
which he crossed at the bridge of Chammath: the particular place he came to was Bethabara; see (John 10:40) (1:28) : where John formerly preached, and baptized:

and the people resorted unto him again ;
great multitudes followed him out of Galilee, and more doubtless flocked to him from the adjacent parts, when they heard of his coming again to them.

And, as he was wont, he taught them again :
it had been his custom before, and so it was wherever he went, to preach the word of God, and teach men what was profitable to them, and useful for the good of their immortal souls; and so he did now, and here: and not only so, but healed many of them of their bodily disorders, as Matthew relates, (Matthew 19:2) .

And the: Pharisees came unto him
As they every where did; not to be instructed by him, but to ensnare him;

and asked him, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife ?
that is, as Matthew adds, "for every cause", (See Gill on Matthew 19:3): for a divorce might be lawfully made for a cause, or reason, namely, adultery, but not for any, or every cause; which is the sense of this question of the Pharisees; and, which they put, not for information, but

tempting him ;
Trying to entangle him by opposing the authority of Moses, should he deny the lawfulness of divorces, or by objecting his former doctrine, (Matthew 5:32) , and so expose him as an inconsistent preacher, should he allow them to be lawful for every reason. This clause is placed in the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions before the question.

And he answered and said to them
Very prudently and wisely,

what did Moses command you ?
According to Matthew, he put another question to them; see (Matthew 19:4); no doubt but both were put, and this after they had urged the authority and law of Moses.

And therefore he very pertinently asks them what Moses had said about divorces, what law he had left, and puts them upon producing and repeating it, that the sense of it might be examined and considered, upon what account it was given.

And they said

By way of reply,

Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away

Moses did not command them to divorce their wives, only suffered them to do so: and gave orders that if they could not bear that they should live with them, but would divorce them, that they should give them a bill, which should certify, they were so divorced, and then send them out of their houses, free to marry other men; this law, or permission, is in (Deuteronomy 24:1) , of the form of a bill of divorcement, (See Gill on Matthew 5:31).

And Jesus answered and said to them
With respect to this command, or sufferance of Moses, which they urged:

for the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept
it was, not because it was right in its own nature, or according to the original will of God; but, because the Jews were such cruel, and hard-hearted men, that if this had not been permitted, some of them, that had wives not so agreeable to them, would have used them in a very inhuman manner, if not murdered them; and therefore to prevent further and greater mischief, Moses indulged them with such a precept; (See Gill on Matthew 19:8).