Passage
Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
Mark 10:2 (WEB)
Nearby Context
Mark 10:1 He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Multitudes came together to him again. As he usually did, he was again teaching them.
Mark 10:2 Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
Mark 10:3 He answered, “What did Moses command you?”
Mark 10:4 They said, “Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her.”
Study Lenses
The verse centers on "pharisees", "came", "testing", "asked", "lawful", "divorce", and "wife". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "pharisees" and "came", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.
The nearby context moves from verse 1's "He arose from there and came into..." into verse 3's "He answered What did Moses command you...", so "pharisees" and "came" belong inside that flow. In Mark context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.
A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "pharisees" and "came" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.