Matthew 19:3

φ. πειράζοντες : Pharisees again, tempting of course; could not ask a question at Jesus without sinister motives. εἰ ἔξεστιν : direct question in indirect form, vide on Matthew 12:10. ἀπολῦσαι … κατὰ πᾶσαν αἰτίαν : the question is differently formulated in the two accounts, and the answer differently arranged. In Mk. the question is absolute = may a man put away his wife at all? in Mt. relative = may, etc.… for every reason? Under the latter form the question was an attempt to draw Jesus into an internal controversy of the Jewish schools as to the meaning of Deuteronomy 24:1, and put Him in the dilemma of either having to choose the unpopular side of the school of Shummai, who interpreted עֶרְוַת דָּבָר strictly, or exposing Himself to a charge of laxity by siding with the school of Hillel. It was a petty scheme, but characteristic. Whether the interrogants knew what Jesus had taught on the subject of marriage and divorce in the Sermon on the Mount is uncertain, but in any case all scribes and Pharisees knew by this time what to expect from Him. For κατὰ in the sense of propter, vide instances in Hermann's Viger, 632, and Kypke.