“The title of each verse grouping below will suggest the linking concept by comparison or contrast.”

The third block starts with Matt 23 and Matt 26 “he spake” and “he finished his sayings”. This last block has longer thematic groupings rather than the nearly one-to-one correspondence we see in the drash above.

As we have seen before Matthew has three parallel outlines beginning with Matt 5 and Matt 8 with Jesus going up the mountain and coming down the mountain.

Matt 19:8 falls in the middle of the second block of parallel text beginning with Matt 12 and Matt 18. The linking texts are “At that time” and “At that hour”.

The title of each block will suggest the linking concept by comparison or contrast. This is the drash. The purpose of Drash is to suggest additional related information concerning the idea being presented to richen your ruminations. The third block of Drash not only enriches our meditations on the word, but actually reveals the abomination that causes desolation.

Temptation
Matt 12:33 `Either make the tree good, and its fruit* good, or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad, for from the fruit is the tree known.
Matt 19:3 And the Pharisees came near to him, tempting him, and saying to him, `Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?’
* fruit is the symbols of temptation from the Genesis story.

Hint at the Genesis story
Matt 12:34 `Brood of vipers! how are ye able to speak good things–being evil? for out of the abundance of the heart doth the mouth speak.
Matt 19:4 And he answering said to them, `Did ye not read, that He who made them , from the beginning a male and a female made them,
* ‘viper’ and ‘from the beginning’ both point to the Genesis story

Marriage is a good thing
Matt 12:35 The good man out of the good treasure of the heart doth put forth the good things, and the evil man out of the evil treasure doth put forth evil things.
Matt 19:5 and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and they shall be–the two–for one flesh?
* This will be a thematic inclusio

A reckoning
Matt 12:36 `And I say to you, that every idle word that men may speak, they shall give for it a reckoning in a day of judgment;
Matt 19:6 so that they are no more two, but one flesh; what therefore God did join together, let no man put asunder.’
* The final reckoning is God vs. man

Words condemn you
Matt 12:37 for from thy words thou shalt be declared righteous, and from thy words thou shalt be declared unrighteous.’
Matt 19:7 They say to him, `Why then did Moses command to give a roll of divorce, and to put her away?’
Matt 19:8 He saith to them–`Moses for your stiffness of heart did suffer you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it hath not been so.
* The stiff hearted used words to put away their wives. These words declare them stuff, unrighteous.

Adultery
Matt 12:38 Then answered certain of the scribes and Pharisees, saying, `Teacher, we will to see a sign from thee.’
Matt 12:39 And he answering said to them, `A generation, evil and adulterous, doth seek a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet;
Matt 19:9 `And I say to you, that, whoever may put away his wife, if not for whoredom, and may marry another, doth commit adultery; and he who did marry her that hath been put away, doth commit adultery.’
* Adultery

Dead
Matt 12:40 for, as Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights, so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.
Matt 19:10 His disciples say to him, `If the case of the man with the woman is so, it is not good to marry.’
* Since marriage is a good thing, the disciples have demonstrated their dead condition by calling good ‘evil’.

Received the word
Matt 12:41 `Men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, for they reformed at the proclamation of Jonah, and lo, a greater than Jonah here!
Matt 19:11 And he said to them, `All do not receive this word, but those to whom it hath been given;
*The Ninevites received the word, others do not. Remember Drash can be compare or contrast.

Receive it
Matt 12:42 `A queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and lo, a greater than Solomon here!
Matt 19:12 for there are eunuchs who from the mother’s womb were so born; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are eunuchs who kept themselves eunuchs because of the reign of the heavens: he who is able to receive it –let him receive.’
*Queen and those with ears receive it.

Marriage is a good thing for those who are able to receive it. Singleness is appropriate for those who can receive it.

As with Remez, this drash calls to memory the creation story and the story of the Ninevites. The phrase “he who is able to receive it” is reminicent of “he who has ears” and so, suggests a ‘sod’.

The ‘sod’ of the creation story is that God created a man in His own image. This man is Christ (see the drash of Heb 11.3), hence his wife is the church. Only in Christ is man truly found to be in the image of God. The command to replenish the earth was a command to bear children in the image of God, not merely living bodies of flesh.

The Ninevites will stand in judgment on this generation because they became living children of God by the word of Jonah. This generation is only bearing children of flesh who call good ‘evil’.

Marriage or singleness is appropriate as it best suites God’s purpose of begetting living children.