The question that the pharisees bring to Jesus is a similar sort of question that people ask all the time; Is it lawful? That's always what people want to know... what can we get away with. Is it against the law to download songs off torrents? Buy pirated dvd's in Asia? Etc., etc. But it's the wrong question. We shouldn't ask if something is allowed (or "lawful"), we should ask if it if right (should we do it?) Not to harp on it, but internet piracy is a good example. People quickly realized that laws hadn't caught up with technology. It wasn't against the law to do such and such on the internet. Legally, there were lots of grey areas, and by the time the contrast was turned up on those issues, the cat was already out of the bag. But legality isn't at the heart of it. "Can I" shouldn't be considered until "should I" is answered.
Jesus responds to the pharisees by saying essentially, "Well, divorce isn't something that you should do, but it's been allowed because of your hard hearts." He does say that Moses is the one that allows for it, but in any event, it was allowed. It wasn't right, but is was allowed.
The law isn't at the heart of what Jesus was about. In the gospels, He's definitely shorter on commandments than we should expect if He was here to give us a new or revised morality. He wants our hearts to change, not our actions primarily. Laws are not so important if our hearts have been made new.
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