Deuteronomy 24:1-4

(6) DIVORCE AND REMARRIAGE (Deuteronomy 24:1-4)

When a man taketh a wife, and marrieth her, then it shall be, if she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife. 3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife; 4 her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before Jehovah: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 24:1-4

405.

Since this text has been variously used and abused, it should merit our most careful reading and thought.

406.

Read through the fourth verse for the complete thought, What is it?

407.

In this passage, as in many others, certain wrong practices of the people are assumed. Moses (and God) deal with life as is. What is assumed in this passage?

408.

Read Matthew 19:3-9. Does our Lord approve of the prevalence and purposes for divorce as given in Deuternonmy? Cf. Matthew 5:31-32.

409.

How would the violations of the regulations specified here cause the land to sin? Cf. Deuteronomy 24:4.

AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 24:1-4

When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a bill of divorce, puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house,
2 And when she departs out of his house, she goes and marries another man,
3 And if the latter husband dislikes her and writes her a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house; or if the last husband dies, who took her as his wife,
4 Then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she is defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord; and you shall not bring guilt upon the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance.

COMMENT 24:1-4

See also Deuteronomy 22:13-21, Deuteronomy 21:10-14, Matthew 5:31-32; Matthew 19:3-9. The law of Jealousy (Num. ch. 5) should also be kept in mind.

A great deal of discussion she been occasioned by the phrase some unseemly thing in her (Deuteronomy 24:1). Some critics insist that the phrase has a moral connotation: Some indecency in her (R.S.V., Amplified O.T., Smith.) ... he has found her immodest in some way (Moffatt). But although the phrase is literally rendered a thing or matter of nakedness, the reference is more general. i.e. some shameful thing, something disgraceful (Pulpit). Indeed, we have already seen that adultery was punishable by death under the Mosaic law (Deuteronomy 22:22, Leviticus 20:10). The Pharisees substituted the phrase for every cause (Matthew 19:3) in their questioning of Jesus. And it does appear that this law, given by Moses because of the hardness of their hearts, enabled a man to divorce his wife on sometimes very flimsy grounds. But, as the Pulpit Commentary remarks, This is not a law sanctioning or regulating divorce; that is simply assumed as what might occur and what is here regulated is the treatment by the first husband of a woman who has been divorced a second time.

Edwin C. Bissell, in Bible-Work, states, This regulation is remarkable alike for its concessive and its restrictive character, It assumes the prevalence of divorcea fact also recognized in a number of other laws of this and the Levitical code (Leviticus 21:7 [13, 14] Deuteronomy 22:19; Deuteronomy 22:29). It assumes that it was carried on with some degree of formality. And such a custom, with the form it took of giving a -bill of divorcement,-' this law does not forbid; neither does it command it, Herein our Lord corrected the Pharisees-' false quotation of the Pentateuch, changing their -Why did Moses command?-' into -Moses suffered.-' In its restrictions, on the other hand, the law assumes the sacredness of the marital tie and provides against an obvious tendency to break and renew it at will. Its sole prohibition, however, is of the remarriage of divorced persons after a second marriage had been entered upon by the former wife.

Behrends continues in the same book, The Mosaic legislation permitted a certain liberty of divorce; but our Lord only brought into clear relief, and made emphatic for all time, its determining ethical principle, when he declared that the Mosaic permission was an unwilling concession to the -hardness-' of the people's heart; that from the beginning-' marriage was not so contemplated and constituted, that man may not -put asunder what God hath joined together;-' that divorce is permissible only -for the cause of fornication;-' that [permanent or prolonged] separation for any other cause is an incentive to adultery, and that whoever contracts marriage with the guilty party commits adultery.