(Deut. 24:1-2) When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house, 2 and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife.
What does Moses mean by “indecency”? Jewish rabbis debated what constituted “indecency” (ʿerwat-dābār). We find this phrase in only one other place in the OT (Deut. 23:14), which doesn’t shed much light on its meaning.[1] Literally, it means the “nakedness of a matter” or “indecency of a matter.”[2] The school of Shammai focused on the term “indecency,” while the school of Hillel focused on the term “matter.” Consequently, the school of Hillel later stated that divorce could be obtained for “any matter.”[3]
Some commentators believe that this refers to adultery. However, adultery was a capital crime (Deut. 22:22-27; Lev 20:10), so it isn’t likely that “indecency” refers exclusively to adultery. It must have been something “more than trivial”[4] and honestly the meaning is “no longer clear.”[5] The best assumption is that it refers to “any lewd, immoral behavior, sometimes including, but not restricted to, adultery.”[6]
The word “defiled” implies adultery (Lev. 18:20). In other words, by passing the woman around from one husband to another was considered adultery in the Mosaic Law. By taking her back, the first husband was performing an “abomination” (tô‘ēbâ) that would “bring sin on the land.”
It could be that these laws were “intended to preserve the second marriage,”[7] thus avoiding serial marriages. By contrast, in the surrounding ancient Near Eastern cultures “divorce was common and was easily obtained.”[8] This civil law provided “guideposts” and could act as a “deterrent” for divorce, making it “a more serious affair.”[9] Since the woman couldn’t be passed from one man to another, it resulted in “the elevation of the status of women.”[10]
“…certificate of divorce…” Instone-Brewer writes, “Nowhere outside Judaism is there any reference to a divorce certificate or any other document that would be taken away by every divorced woman.”[11] If she didn’t have this certificate, her former husband could charge her with adultery. The Middle Assyrian law #36 stated that the original husband could come back within five years and reclaim his divorced wife.[12] Instone-Brewer continues, “Without the law of the certificate of divorce, a man could simply dismiss his wife from the house and then change his mind on a future occasion. The certificate made this dismissal a more significant event and gave the woman legal rights.”[13]
(Deut. 24:3) And if the latter husband turns against her [“hates” NET] and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife…
(Deut. 24:4) Then
her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his
wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination
before the LORD, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the LORD
your God gives you as an inheritance.
[1] From this other reference, Instone-Brewer understands this “to be related to some matter of the cleanliness laws.” David Instone-Brewer, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002), 10.
[2] David Instone-Brewer, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002), 111.
[3] David Instone-Brewer, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002), 111.
[4] Kalland, E. S. (1992). Deuteronomy. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel (Vol. 3, p. 145). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
[5] Craigie, P. C. (1976). The Book of Deuteronomy (p. 305). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
[6] Carson, D. A. (1984). Matthew. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol. 8, p. 413). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
[7] Thompson, J. A. (1974). Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 5, p. 267). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[8] Thompson, J. A. (1974). Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 5, p. 267). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[9] Thompson, J. A. (1974). Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 5, p. 267). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[10] Thompson, J. A. (1974). Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 5, p. 268). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
[11] David Instone-Brewer, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002).
[12] This law states, “If her husband has gone off to the fields, … If she has gone to live with a(nother) husband before the five years and has also borne children, her husband upon coming back shall get her back and her children as well because she did not respect the marriage covenant but got married.” David Instone-Brewer, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002), 31.
[13] David Instone-Brewer, Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible: The Social and Literary Context (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002), 33.