Not only is lust the moral equivalent of adultery, but so is divorce. The connective de("and,"NASB) that begins verse 31 ties this section in very closely with the one that precedes (vv. 27-30). In Israel a man divorced his wife simply by giving her a written statement indicating that he divorced her (cf. Deut. 24:1-4). It was a domestic matter, not something that went through the courts, and it was quite common. In most cases a divorced woman would remarry another husband often for her own security. Jesus said that divorcing a woman virtually amounted to causing her to commit adultery since she would normally remarry. Likewise any man who married a divorced woman committed adultery with her because in God's eyes she was still married to her first husband. Jesus' explanation would have helped his hearers realize the ramifications of a decision that many of them viewed as insignificant.
". . . Jesus introduces the new and shocking idea that even properly divorced people who marry a second time may be thought of as committing adultery. The OT, allowing divorce, does not regard those who remarry as committing adultery. . . . Marriage was meant to establish a permanent relationship between a man and a woman, and divorce should therefore not be considered an option for the disciples of the kingdom."283
The exception clause in verse 32 seems to say that if the woman has committed fornication (Gr. porneia; any form of forbidden sexual sin) then her husband does not cause her to commit adultery when he divorces her. Evidently her fornication broke her marriage bond. Therefore remarriage to another man in this case does not break her marriage bond, and it does not constitute her an adulteress if she remarries. We could also add the exception clause in the last part of verse 32 since that seems to have been Jesus' intention. He probably did not repeat it because He did not want to stress the exceptional case but to focus on the seriousness of the husband's decision to divorce his wife.284Women did not have the right to divorce their husbands in ancient Israel.
