Mark 10:3 What did Moses command you?

Spoken to
The Pharisees

Jesus goes into Judea and Pharisees showed up and ask if it is lawful to divorce a wife.

KJV

Mark 10:3 What did Moses command you?

NIV

Mark 10:3  What did Moses command you?

LISTENERS HEARD

What to you did he command, Moses?

LOST IN TRANSLATION

The question about divorce was a trap because Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, had divorced his wife and married Herodias, his cousin, which divorced her husband, Antipas's half-brother. Herodias's divorce was more scandalous because under Judean law and wife doesn't divorce her husband, but Herodias divorced her husband under Roman law, since they both lived in Rome.  This issue also came up in the Sermon on the Mount.

Here, Jesus answers a question with a question, as he often does. Since the question is about law, Jesus goes to Moses, the original law-bringer.

MY TAKE

Laws are proven valuable by the test of time. Current fashion is a dangerous guide.

GREEK (Each Word Explained Bottom of Page)
# KJV TRANSLATION ISSUES
0
EACH WORD of KJV

What -- -- The word translated as "what" means primarily "anything" or "anyone," but Jesus often uses it to start a question so it means "who", "what", or even "why". 

did -- This helping verb make the upcoming verb the past, but in Greek the tense is one about something happening at a specific point in time, past, present, or future. Since Moses was in the past, the past works best in English.

Moses -- "Moses" is from the Greek spelling of the Hebrew name.

command -- "Command" is from a Greek verb that primarily means to give verbal commands or orders. Of course, famously, the ten commandments of Moses were written. They are often described in the form of "what has been written," which gets translated as "scripture."

you? -- The Greek pronoun "you" here is plural and in the form of an indirect object, "to you", "for you", etc. 

EACH WORD of NIV

What -- -- The word translated as "what" means primarily "anything" or "anyone," but Jesus often uses it to start a question so it means "who", "what", or even "why". 

did -- This helping verb make the upcoming verb the past, but in Greek the tense is one about something happening at a specific point in time, past, present, or future. Since Moses was in the past, the past works best in English.

Moses -- "Moses" is from the Greek spelling of the Hebrew name.

command -- "Command" is from a Greek verb that primarily means to give verbal commands or orders. Of course, famously, the ten commandments of Moses were written. They are often described in the form of "what has been written," which gets translated as "scripture."

you? -- The Greek pronoun "you" here is plural and in the form of an indirect object, "to you", "for you", etc. 

COMPARISON: GREEK to KJV

Τί [252 verses( irreg sg neut nom ) "What" is tis which can mean "someone", "any one", "everyone", "they [indefinite]", "many a one", "whoever", "anyone", "anything", "some sort", "some sort of", "each", "any", "the individual", "such," and so on. In a question, it can mean "who", "why," or "what."

ὑμῖν [289 verses](pron 2nd pl dat) "To you" is humin the plural form of su the pronoun of the second person, "you." 

ἐνετείλατο[6 verses] (verb 3rd sg aor ind mid ) "Comman" is from entello, which means "to enjoin," "to command" especially verbally, "invest with legal powers", and "authorize to act."

Μωυσῆς; [18 verses](Hebrew Name) "Moses" is Moyses, which means "Moses".

Possible Symbolic Meaning

Note that Christ describes the commandments as Moses's laws, while "the law" come from the entire tradition of Jewish history (Matthew 11:13). The law is bigger than the commandments, but the commandments are the basis of the law. Both are permanent fixture in human history (Matthew 5:18).

For Jesus , this is where the discussion of the laws of the universe (the universal rule or kingdom of heaven) begins. The law started with Moses explained certain aspects of how the world works. Christ agrees with all of that explanation and only seeks to extend it and to encourage all of us to extend it.

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