The liberation of England from the Roman Empire under Henry the 8th and establishment of the Anglican Church.
Then Bloody Mary's return to Catholocism....which caused the Calvinists to run and hide in Geneva Switzerland.
They later pumped English translated Bibles into England.
That's TWO wars right there. People dying by armed conflict.
Why would you think that is a war over the interpretation of Matthew 19? Henry VIII and the subsequent political instability following his reign came to mind. But his argument was based on a verse in Leviticus 20 about marrying a brother's widow. Matthew 19 wasn't even an issue. Both sides had people who were able to read, after all, and didn't have to deal with fuzzy theological arguments from post-modernists.
The translation of the Aramaic and Hebrew from Greek follows the oldest Septuagint. Where we read in English "Divorce" the Aramaic/Hebrew separates and has a clear distinction between "put-away" vx "Divorced".
I suspect you have been reading some rather unscholarly apologetics in favor of divorce, but do not remember the details of the argument.
I have come across this unscholarly line of reasoning on a 'Divorce Hope' website. The author of the site said he did not know Greek or Hebrew. Mathew 19 does have two words, one for 'send away' or 'put away' which is used to translate a similar word in Deuteronomy 24. The author of that website tried to argue that Matthew 19 was addressing men sending their wives away without
The word can be used to refer to regular sending away in other contexts. But in the context of marriage, translating it with our word 'divorce' is not unreasonable.
Take a look at Matthew 1
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
Notice the use of apolusai, a form of apolusw in verse 19 there, translated 'put...away.' He was going to 'send' her away before they came together, so consider that.
Greek and Hebrew concepts do not translate directly into English. In our culture and legal system, there can be a premarital separation before divorce. In Deuteronomy 24, the man gives the wife a certificate and sends her out.
Do you think Joseph was wanting to physically send Mary out of a house she did not live in without a legal certificate of divorce? Or was he thinking of legally divorcing her by giving her a certificate?
Let us consider Matthew 19,
7 They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”
8 He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”
(NKJV)
'Whosoever divorces his wife' here certainly includes the one who does so WITH the certificate, in line with the actual conversation going on in the passage and Christ's own reference to Moses.
We live in a Westernized society where there exists no true distinction between the two states. (Although they could use the term "separated" which is somewhat similar...but not really) and the Jews also practiced polygamy. A man having more than one wife was not illegal or immoral. In some instances required by Law.
How does this address the topic or build up to your argument later in your post?
The whole episode of John 8 was because the Test for an unfaithful wife was never performed.
How is that relevant? If a wife were tested by a jealous husband taking his wife to a priest, she would put herself under a curse that would apply if she were guilty. But they would not execute her without two or three witnesses to the act, if they were following the law. So how is that relevant to this issue?
She was "caught in the act" was their claim. Now where she likely was a "put away" wife (acted single just so she could survive as another man's wife)...the Law was never fulfilled of testing her.
Where is the evidence that she was an agunah, an abandoned wife? If she were, sleeping around would still have been adultery. But there is no evidence that she was an abandoned wife... which isn't really relevant. Jesus told her to go and sin no more.
Putting away a wife was much much cheaper than divorce. Divorce was controlled completely by a ketubah (pre-nuptual agreement) which included a healthy sum of money for the ex wife to receive from her ex husband. However a put-away wife had zero legal recourse. She could NOT access the Courts for assistance. (Women were considered more property than people).
You can read the Talmud to find references to women bringing cases. This page mentions widows bringing a case for a Lavrite marriage.
https://www.sefaria.org/Ketubot.64a.7?lang=bi
It is easy to prove stuff from history when you just make up the history. I have presented evidence that a Jewish woman had legal recourse and could bring a court case. Can you prove that no woman could bring a court case?
Maybe putting away a wife was cheaper than divorce. But if a man were put out of the synagogue for not giving his wife a 'get' and were ostracized from the community, that might cost him more, even financially, than the divorce. In terms of social and religious costs, it might be very expensive. If he lost the ability to engage in some aspects of trade, that could hurt him, too.
The thing is, what information we have of Judaism of that time indicates that kicking a wife out without providing her was condemned by religious authorities. Now, the Talmud was written much later, but covers legal decision going back before the first century. And, also, the Pharisees were not in charge of the whole religion back then, as came to be the case some time after the temple was destroyed. But it is likely that the Talmud reflects some of the general thinking of the judges of Israel, or at least an influential group.
But this is likely a case of evidence from history versus made up speculation about history.
And it is actually irrelevant to interpreting Matthew 19, which is not about putting away wives without certificates. The issue is putting away wives. Jesus said that Moses because of the hardness of their hearts allowed them to put away their wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And what kind of putting away did Moses actually allow? With a certificate or without a certificate? With a certificate... and that is the topic of discussions.
If the Talmud is an indication... and it reports some of their legal decisions...putting away without a certificate was not permitted.
And it makes no sense to conclude that Jesus would be implying that it is not adultery if you marry a second spouse without legally divorcing the first in the case she was a cheater.
When Putting-away a wife it cost the men nothing.
Marrying a strongly suspected of being a "put away" wife was a literal gold mine of sleazy opportunities. You could marry her and Divorce her without a ketubah at will. You could practically trade her for money or favors because of the lack of ketubah or worry about anyone saying anything. Because if she told about her true "put-away" status she would immediately get stoned to death.
That was the huge tawdry mess Jesus was addressing in Matthew 19. Women were being traded like cattle instead of being treated like equals....and all this by the religious elite leadership in a Caste based society.[/QUOTE]