ee and a publican went up to the temple to pray. The
Pharisee prayed "with himself"; his words can hardly be construed as a
prayer to God. That he stood while praying was not an impropriety, for
the standing attitude was usual in prayer; the publican also stood. The
Pharisee thanked God that he was so much better than other men; he was
true to his class, a separatist who looked with disdain upon all who
were not like him. That he was not like "this publican" was made a point
of special thanksgiving. His boast, that he fasted twice a week and gave
tithes of all that he possessed, was a specification of worthiness above
what was required by the law as then administered; he thus implied that
God was his debtor.[986] The publican, standing afar off, was so
oppressed by his consciousness of sin and his absolute need of divine
help, that he cast down his eyes and smote upon his breast, craving
mercy as a penitent sinner. The Pharisee departed, justified in his own
conscience and before man, prouder than ever; the other went down to his
house justified before God though still a despized publican. The parable
is applicable to all men; its moral was summed up in a repetition of our
Lord's words spoken in the house of the chief Pharisee: "For every one
that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted."[987]

ON MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE.[988]

While wending His way by short stages toward Jerusalem, and while still
"beyond" or on "the farther side" of Jordan, and therefore in Perean
territory, Jesus was met by a body of Pharisees, who had come with the
deliberate purpose of inciting Him to say or do something on which they
could base an accusation. The question they had agreed to submit related
to marriage and divorce, and no subject had been more vehemently
contested in their own schools and among their own rabbis.[989] The
crafty questioners may have hoped that Jesus would denounce the
adulterous state in which Herod Antipas was then living, and so bring
upon Himself the fury of Herodias, to which the Baptist had already died
a victim. "Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?"
they asked. Jesus cited the original and eternal law of God in the
matter; and indicated the only rational conclusion to be drawn
therefrom: "Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning
made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave
father and mother, and shall cle