Woman, among the Hebrews, as among most nations of antiquity, occupied a subordinate position. Though the Hebrew wife and mother was treated with more consideration than her sister in other lands, even in other Semitic countries, her position nevertheless was one of inferiority and subjection. The marriage relation from the standpoint of Hebrew legislation was looked upon very largely as a business affair, a mere question of property. A wife, nevertheless, was, indeed, in most homes in Israel, the husband’s “most valued possession.” And yet while this is true, the husband was unconditionally and unreservedly the head of the family in all domestic relations. His rights and prerogatives were manifest on every side. Nowhere is this more evident than in the matter of divorce. According to the laws of Moses a husband, under certain circumstances, might divorce his wife; on the other hand, if at all possible, it was certainly very difficult for a wife to put away her husband. Unfortunately a double standard of morality in matters pertaining to the sexes is, at least, as old as Moses (see Exodus 7 to 11).
The Old Testament law concerning divorce, apparently quite clear, is recorded most fully in Deuteronomy 24:1. A perusal of the commentaries will, nevertheless, convince anyone that there are difficulties of interpretation. The careful reader will notice that the renderings of the King James Version and the Revised Version differ materially. The KJV reads in the second part of Deuteronomy 24:1: “then let him write a bill,” etc., the RV has “that he shall write,” etc., while the Hebrew original has neither “then” nor “that,” but the simple conjunction “and.” There is certainly no command in the words of Moses, but, on the other hand, a clear purpose to render the proceeding more difficult in the case of the husband. Moses’ aim was “to regulate and Thus to mitigate an evil which he could not extirpate.” The evident purpose was, as far as possible, to favor the wife, and to protect her against an unceremonious expulsion from her home and children.
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Author: International Std. Bible Encyclopedia
Keywords: Divorce in Old Testament, Adultery, Get, Ghet, Divorced, Remarriage, Remarry, Grounds for divorce, Reasons to divorce, Infidelity, Marriage, Marital unfaithfulness, Marital infidelity, Divorcement, Bill of divorcement, Marriage contract, Certificate of divorce, Divorce, Remarried, Marriage divorce, Marriage remarriage, Divorce remarry, Marry again, Putting away one's wife
Bible reference(s): Deu 24:1-4, Matthew 5:31-32, Matthew 19:3-9, Mark 10:4, Mark 10:11-12, Luke 16:18
Source: James Orr (editor), The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 5 volume set.
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