In Leviticus 21 we saw the first reference to divorce in the Bible, when the Lord forbade the priests of Israel from marrying a divorced woman. Obviously, the fact that God had to prohibit such a marriage proves that divorce was already taking place within the nation of Israel, and throughout the ancient world. It is important to note, however, that the reference in Leviticus 21 simply acknowledges the reality of divorce without giving any explanation of where it originated or of God’s opinion on the matter. On one hand, God already expressed his opinion on divorce when he instituted marriage during the creation week and said that it involves dissolving all close relational ties and the creating a new, permanent bond that makes one flesh out of the husband and the wife. But due to the fact that divorce was clearly already happening, the Lord gave instructions to Moses to regulate the practice:
“If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, he may write her a divorce certificate, hand it to her, and send her away from his house. If after leaving his house she goes and becomes another man’s wife, and the second man hates her, writes her a divorce certificate, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house or if he dies, the first husband who sent her away may not marry her again after she has been defiled, because that would be detestable to the LORD. You must not bring guilt on the land the LORD you God is giving you as an inheritance. When a man takes a bride, he must not go out with the army or be liable for any duty. He is free to stay at home for one year, so that he can bring joy to the wife he has married.”
Deuteronomy 24:1-5
Carl Laney makes an important observation that will help us avoid misinterpreting this passage when he says, “It is crucial to understand that Deuteronomy 24 does not institute divorce! Divorce is ‘man made,’ not God ordained, and reflects man’s sinful rejection of God’s original plan for marriage.” It is interesting that in the New Testament, when the Pharisees mentioned this passage to Jesus, they characterized it as Moses “commanding” divorce, but Jesus rightly recognized that Deuteronomy 24 does not include any command that a man must divorce his wife. Instead, Moses “permitted” divorce because the people had rejected God’s perfect design established in the Garden of Eden.
So Deuteronomy 24 does not command divorce, but what purpose then does it serve? There are several important observations in the text that will help us understand the significance of this passage. First of all, Moses is speaking hypothetically. He is not laying down the law concerning every marriage, but describes a very specific set of circumstances in which a husband might choose to divorce his wife. He makes no comment at all about whether such an action is appropriate or right, only that it may occur, and then he proceeds to give instructions about how it must be done. Second, by commanding a husband to give his wife a bill of divorce, he was making divorce much more difficult than among their neighbors. As Fred Wight explains: “For centuries it has been possible for a husband in Arab lands to divorce his wife by a spoken word….It was for this reason that the Law of Moses limited the power of the husband to divorce his wife, by requiring that he must give her a written bill of divorcement.” Rather than encouraging divorce, the law made divorce in Israel less likely.
Third, these rules concerning divorce serve to protect the wife who was most vulnerable in the ancient world. Again, Fred Wight is helpful here: “The wife thus divorced [by a spoken word] is entitled to all her wearing apparel, and the husband cannot take from her anything she has upon her own person. For this reason, coins on the headgear, and rings and necklaces, become important wealth in the hour of the divorced woman’s greatest need.” Quite literally, a divorced woman could be put out of her husband’s house with only the clothes on her back! But the requirement that the wife be served with a certificate of divorce would limit such rash actions and allow a quick-tempered husband to cool down and reconsider or give time for a divorced wife to make arrangements to return to her father’s house.
Another important instruction here has to do with the prohibition of reconciling a marriage after the divorced spouse has married someone else. Again, the Lord’s concern is not to promote divorce, but to make it less likely. This is accomplished by prohibiting the husband from remarrying his wife after she has become the wife of another man, even if she is legally divorced from him or if he dies. The reason for this is that “she has been defiled,” suggesting that the second marriage constitutes an act of adultery, and for the Israelites to sanction adultery “would be detestable to the LORD.” Doing so would bring guilt on the land of Canaan which they were inheriting. Clearly, Deuteronomy 24 considers divorce to be a perversion of God’s design and intention for marriage.
The final instruction found in v.5 is that a newly married man is to be free from military service and any other form of compulsory service for the first year of marriage. This is intended to promote “cleaving” between a husband and wife, just like God intended. By producing a happy family life (happy wife, happy life!), divorce could be minimized even further, and the ideal of one man and one woman for life could be upheld. And we, too, ought to encourage young couples to develop strong and happy marriages in order to protect their families from the threat of divorce.