Jesus Comments on the Certificate of Divorce – Matt 5:3-32 & Deut 24:1-4
Matt 5:31-32 "It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.'
Deut 24:1-4 “If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the LORD. Do not bring sin upon the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.”
The law to which Jesus refers is recorded in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. The certificate of divorce states that you should not return to his wife once she has married someone else. Moses allowed divorces on the grounds of "indecency" or “not pleasing to her husband”.
In Jesus day there were debates between liberal and conservative views on divorce. The liberals stated that a man may divorce his wife for almost any cause, such as being publicly embarrassed, burning his food, not having children, or not satisfying him sexually. Hillel, though, limited divorce to infidelity. He taught adultery was sufficient cause for the death by stoning, but if a man wanted to show mercy, he could write a bill of divorce allowing her to remarry. He would read the bill in front of two witnesses and hand her the document and send her from his house. The Jewish culture was a patriarchal society so a woman could not divorce her husband, except for very rare and extreme circumstances.
Jesus offers a deeper understanding of why divorce was allowed in Matthew 19:1-12. Verses 7-9 says "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?" Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."
Divorce certificates were given to prevent sin from leading to greater sin. God did not create divorce, but He allowed it in the Old Testament due to hardness of hearts. It was the lesser of two evils. Before divorce was permitted men would be cruel to women who had no options but to beg, steal, or go into prostitution. She remained the property of her husband who might leave her destitute without any provisions. Understand that mostly women didn't pick their husbands, their fathers did. Divorce was allowed to give her protection economically if another desired her. It was to prevent worse sin and evil consequences from an already sinful condition.
The Pharisees weren't interested in Jesus’ answer. They were trying to trap him. They were not interested in what God's word said, instead as we see in the Matthew 19 account, they sought to justify their behavior through legalism. Today we have a problem. If you don't like a passage of Scripture that doesn't agree with your thinking, then keep looking and soon you will find one. Everyone thinks they are an exception to the rule. The main cause of marital problems is not incompatibility, it is sin and disobedience. Jesus said that a broken marriage is the result of hardness of heart - sin.
Divorce is clearly not Gods' plan. Unfortunately, this directive has also been abused by men who manipulate and abuse their wives. To be submissive to your husbands has been an excuse of ungodly behavior in the home and some men justify abuse with a Bible verse. You understand that is a crime and illegal, as well as unchristian. How some men convince themselves they can beat their wives and kids is beyond me and use the Bible as a club to further control them with his sinful behavior. Such a one must answer to God if not the authorities. Victims have been sadly affected for many years. If that is true in your home, get help.
There is almost no sorrow so profound as that of an unhappy marriage and no tragedy greater than the degradation of what God meant for love and fulfillment.
There just isn’t any such thing as a good divorce.
Prayer: Lord have mercy on our world today. We need You. Be the center of every marriage and family
