What You Said
“That is not what you said!” argued the woman. “Yes, it is exactly what I said!” responded the man. Have you heard or been in an arguement like this before? What a person often hears is not what was said. Their bias, mental condition, emotion, the topic at hand, or a plethora of othe factors regarding an issue blinds them to hearing anything except what they are sensitive to and offended by.
The sermon on the mount demonstrates how this occurs. In Matthew 5, the terms “You have heard” or “It has been said” are frequently stated by Jesus as to what the Jews thought they knew. He then provides truth statements starting with the words “I say unto you”. He does this because what they said or believed they heard, was not the full context of the instruction or command they had recieved under the old law. Consequently, whether by accident or intent they had twisted scripture away from its intended meaning and purpose.
Consider specifically Matthew 5:31-32:
Mat 5:31-32: “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality [fornication], makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
Now Examine Deteronomy 24:1:
“When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.”
Before commenting on what was said and what wasn’t said consider this about the word “uncleanness”. In ancient Hebrew, the base of this word is to “see a man” and “nakedness” or using another common old testament phrase: “to uncover a man’s nakedness”. In fact, the word specifically is used as “nakedness” in Leviticus 32 times. The most of any Old Testament book. What did it mean to see/find/uncover a man’s nakedness?
Leviticus 20:11 – “And the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”
Leviticus 18 covers a plethora of examples of what this means. It means, having sex with someone with whom you aren’t aren’t authorized to have sex.
So back to our main thought. The Jews claimed Moses stated if you divorce give a certificate. That was not the whole story. The whole story which Jesus correctly states was that if the wife was guilty of having sex with someone other than her husband she could be given a certificate of divorce. Big difference from the idea of divorce for any reason at all.
Jesus knows every word we think or say. We on the other hand tend to remember only what we want to hear. If you are going to quote someone be sure to know exactly what they said. If it isn’t in writing, video, or recorded in some manner then don’t declare with certainty what you think they said. Even more importantly, if someone who knows for a fact you are wrong in your quote, say Jesus… or the person who stated the words in the first place, tells you that you aren’t correct. Accept it. Repent from your false statement. Make things right if possible. Move on, being far more careful with what comes out of your lips in the future.
Mat 12:34 “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
