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MARCH 31
33 Then they said to Him, “Why do the disci- puts a piece from a new garment on an old one;
ples of John fast often and make prayers, and otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the
likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat piece that was taken out of the new does not
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and drink?” match the old. And no one puts new wine into
34 And He said to them, “Can you make the old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst
friends of the bridegroom fast while the bride- the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins
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groom is with them? But the days will come will be ruined. But new wine must be put into
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when the bridegroom will be taken away from new wineskins, and both are preserved. And
them; then they will fast in those days.” no one, having drunk old wine, immediately
36 Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”
DAY 31:What does Deuteronomy 24:1–4 say about divorce and remarriage?
This passage does not command, commend, condone, or even suggest divorce. Rather, it rec-
ognizes that divorce occurs and permits it only on restricted grounds. The case presented here is
designed to convey the fact that divorcing produced defilement. Notice the following sequence:
1) if a man finds an uncleanness (some impurity or something vile,see 23:14) in his wife,other
than adultery, which was punished by execution (see 22:22);
2) if he legally divorces her (although God hates divorce, as Mal. 2:16 says; He has designed
marriage for life,as Gen.2:24 declares; and He allowed divorce because of hard hearts,as Matt.19:8
reveals);
3) if she then marries another man;
4) if the new husband then dies or divorces her, then that woman could not return to her first
husband (v.4).This is so because she was “defiled”with such a defilement that is an abomination to
the Lord and a sinful pollution of the Promised Land.
What constitutes that defilement? Only one thing is possible—she was defiled in the remar-
riage because there was no ground for the divorce. So when she remarried, she became an adul-
teress (Matt.5:31,32) and is thus defiled so that her former husband can’t take her back.Illegitimate
divorce proliferates adultery.

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