And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
Once she has been put away and has left her husband's house, a divorced woman is permitted to go and become another man's wife. This permission was a reluctant concession to blindness and hardness of heart, not God's wish or original order for marriage, but something suffered to lessen a ruinous evil. Jesus explained that Moses allowed it because of hardness of heart, while from the beginning it was not so, and that divorce and remarriage are adultery except for the case of fornication. If she has married another man, she may not return again to her first husband, a restriction that checks the practice and upholds God's standard of purity in family life.
Words and Legal Setting
The divorced woman, once she has departed out of her husband's house, is permitted to go and become another man's wife. Under the law of Moses a man could dismiss his wife, and after she left his house she could marry another man under the restrictions allowed in Israel. If the divorced wife does marry another man, she may not return and marry her first husband again, a prohibition guarding against shame and confusion. The provision stands within the repetition of various laws in Deuteronomy 23-25 concerning duties between man and man and between man and God.
It is part of Israel's social laws, which were binding as laws on Israel but are not legally binding on other nations, though their underlying principles remain binding. It was commanded and written by Moses as part of the law, and Jesus' attribution of this divorce law to Moses, saying Moses commanded it and wrote it, shows Moses was the human author of the Pentateuch.
The divorce document is called in Greek biblion apostasion, the bill of apostasy. Apostasy in this connection signifies rebellion, withdrawal, turning away, despising, and proving untrue like a false-hearted companion toward lifelong union solemnly promised. The man putting her away was to write the bill of divorcement and give it to her, stating in it the nature of the trouble, so that after she left his house she might become another man's wife if that second man, knowing the cause of complaint, was willing to take her.
Concession to Hardness
The permission for a divorced woman who has left her husband's house to become another man's wife was a reluctant concession to human blindness and hardness of heart, not God's wish or the original divine order for marriage. It was something suffered and tolerated in Israel in order to give people a chance to learn God's will, while the enduring standard of purity in family life remained different from the beginning. When putting away a wife had become so common while Israel journeyed through the wilderness, some regulation had to be made to lessen the evil.
In this it parallels the permission to eat flesh, for in both God allows men to have their own way after first protesting the sad results, while His ideal is different. The surrounding restriction limits the situation as a check on a ruinous social practice. If the divorced wife marries another man, she may not return and marry her first husband again, which guards against shame and confusion.
Later Teaching and Application
Moses' provision allowed a man to dismiss his wife on certain grounds, and once she had left his house allowed her to become another man's wife. The Pharisees treated that provision broadly, using it to support putting away a wife for even a frivolous reason. Jesus explained that this Mosaic allowance was made because of hardness of heart and did not reflect God's intention for marriage from the beginning. Apart from the stated case of fornication, divorce followed by remarriage is treated as adultery.
Marrying a second time and a third time is lawful and has been countenanced among God's children all the way through, with special instruction regarding remarriage given in the books of Moses. That instruction came through Christ Himself, since the whole word of God came through Him, so He favors second marriage. One who married for true love and then lost the companion by death may after sorrow truly love another person and be joined with another companion in one flesh in a divine marriage, loving the second equally with the first.
The bill of divorcement is called in Greek the bill of apostasy, where apostasy signifies rebellion, withdrawal, turning away, despising, and proving untrue like a false-hearted companion toward one with whom lifelong union had been solemnly promised. In this sense the verse illustrates the course of the professed church since apostolic times and for ages before the Christian era, showing how natural it is to apostatize or backslide. Its very words were quoted directly by Christ in His teaching on divorce.
Once she has been put away and has left her husband's house, a divorced woman is permitted to go and become another man's wife. This permission was a reluctant concession to blindness and hardness of heart, not God's wish or original order for marriage, but something suffered to lessen a ruinous evil. Jesus explained that Moses allowed it because of hardness of heart, while from the beginning it was not so, and that divorce and remarriage are adultery except for the case of fornication. If she has married another man, she may not return again to her first husband, a restriction that checks the practice and upholds God's standard of purity in family life.
Words and Legal Setting
The divorced woman, once she has departed out of her husband's house, is permitted to go and become another man's wife. Under the law of Moses a man could dismiss his wife, and after she left his house she could marry another man under the restrictions allowed in Israel. If the divorced wife does marry another man, she may not return and marry her first husband again, a prohibition guarding against shame and confusion. The provision stands within the repetition of various laws in Deuteronomy 23-25 concerning duties between man and man and between man and God.
It is part of Israel's social laws, which were binding as laws on Israel but are not legally binding on other nations, though their underlying principles remain binding. It was commanded and written by Moses as part of the law, and Jesus' attribution of this divorce law to Moses, saying Moses commanded it and wrote it, shows Moses was the human author of the Pentateuch.
The divorce document is called in Greek biblion apostasion, the bill of apostasy. Apostasy in this connection signifies rebellion, withdrawal, turning away, despising, and proving untrue like a false-hearted companion toward lifelong union solemnly promised. The man putting her away was to write the bill of divorcement and give it to her, stating in it the nature of the trouble, so that after she left his house she might become another man's wife if that second man, knowing the cause of complaint, was willing to take her.
Concession to Hardness
The permission for a divorced woman who has left her husband's house to become another man's wife was a reluctant concession to human blindness and hardness of heart, not God's wish or the original divine order for marriage. It was something suffered and tolerated in Israel in order to give people a chance to learn God's will, while the enduring standard of purity in family life remained different from the beginning. When putting away a wife had become so common while Israel journeyed through the wilderness, some regulation had to be made to lessen the evil.
In this it parallels the permission to eat flesh, for in both God allows men to have their own way after first protesting the sad results, while His ideal is different. The surrounding restriction limits the situation as a check on a ruinous social practice. If the divorced wife marries another man, she may not return and marry her first husband again, which guards against shame and confusion.
Later Teaching and Application
Moses' provision allowed a man to dismiss his wife on certain grounds, and once she had left his house allowed her to become another man's wife. The Pharisees treated that provision broadly, using it to support putting away a wife for even a frivolous reason. Jesus explained that this Mosaic allowance was made because of hardness of heart and did not reflect God's intention for marriage from the beginning. Apart from the stated case of fornication, divorce followed by remarriage is treated as adultery.
Marrying a second time and a third time is lawful and has been countenanced among God's children all the way through, with special instruction regarding remarriage given in the books of Moses. That instruction came through Christ Himself, since the whole word of God came through Him, so He favors second marriage. One who married for true love and then lost the companion by death may after sorrow truly love another person and be joined with another companion in one flesh in a divine marriage, loving the second equally with the first.
The bill of divorcement is called in Greek the bill of apostasy, where apostasy signifies rebellion, withdrawal, turning away, despising, and proving untrue like a false-hearted companion toward one with whom lifelong union had been solemnly promised. In this sense the verse illustrates the course of the professed church since apostolic times and for ages before the Christian era, showing how natural it is to apostatize or backslide. Its very words were quoted directly by Christ in His teaching on divorce.