'Any Cause' Divorce in Philo and Jesus' "Adulterous Generation"

'Any Cause' Divorce in Philo and Jesus' "Adulterous Generation"

A book "The Septuagint, Sexuality, and the New Testament: Case Studies on the Impact of the LXX in Philo and the NT" by William Loader quotes Philo on divorce on page 79:

Philo Leg. 30-31:

• If a woman after parting from her husband for any cause whatsoever marries another and then again becomes a widow, whether this second husband is alive or dead, she must not return to her first husband but ally herself with any other man rather than him, because she has broken with the rules that bound her in the past and cast them into oblivion when she chose new love-ties in preference to the old.

The author suggests that Philo meant "something shameful" when he said "for any cause whatsoever". The author seems to have missed the essence of the debate between the Hillel and Shammai Pharisees schools regarding divorce for 'any cause' vs. 'something shameful' or 'unseemly thing'.

In previous posts the 'any cause' (also any matter, any reason) divorce was mentioned by Josephus. It is significant that these two Jewish philosophers/historians only mention 'any cause' divorces. This lends credence to Instone-Brewer's observation that Hillel divorces were the predominant ones.

• In the matter of divorce the Shammaites must have been almost totally cut out of the legal process even before 70 C . E . because their position was so much stricter than the Hillelite one . Almost no one who was wanting a divorce would choose a Shammaite judge when he knew that a Hillelite judge would approve an " any matter " divorce without requiring any evidence . Shammaite judges would require evidence of neglect , unfaithfulness , or infertility . With a court made up of Hillelite judges one could ask for an " any matter " divorce and there would be no need to bring proof of any kind , and so there was no need to

COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL
David Instone-Brewer. Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context. (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002). Page 114.

Also from his book:

• Unlike a Shammaite court , the Hillelites did not require any evidence of grounds for divorce ,

COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL
David Instone-Brewer. Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context. (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002). Page 113.

Later Instone-Brewer speculates that the Hillel 'any cause' divorce is what Jesus was against and his exception for 'porneia" is a backing of the Shammai school. Also, he suggests that this is what Jesus meant by this "adulterous generation"in Matthew and Mark. Also it is perhaps significant that in the Matthew verses Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees.

What would Jesus think of modern "no-fault" divorces? This form of modern divorce sounds very similar to the 'any matter' divorces or the Greco-Roman 'divorce-by-separation'.