A Biblical Divorce

It was said, “WHOEVER SENDS HIS WIFE AWAY, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE” . . . (NASB) Matt. 5:31

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 . . . (NASB) Deut. 24:1

Moses’ command to allow divorce was given because of the hardness of our hearts (Matt. 19:8). But the religious leaders of Jesus’ day took it as permission to dump one’s spouse for almost any reason.

The Jewish religious leaders had different interpretations of this passage. The House of Shammai taught that the passage allowed divorce only for the act of adultery. However, when we look closely at the Deut. 24:1 passage, we discover that it does not say that. It is not clear why they believed this. The House of Hillel taught the passage allowed for divorce if a husband’s wife did something wrong such as burn his meal or put too much salt on it. They believed that the phrase “found some indecency” was the acceptable reason. Rabbi Aqiba added that divorce was also allowed if the husband found someone who was more beautiful. He believed the phrase “no favor in his eyes” meant that. If his eyes saw someone else more pleasing, then he could change wives. Unfortunately, during Jesus’ day the opinion of the House of Hillel was the popular view.

Consequently, Jewish husbands were divorcing their wives for ridiculous reasons. The religious leaders had also given rules for how a divorce had to be filed. The divorce document had to have twelve lines - no more and no less. They specified the type of ink that had to be used. They required witnesses for the signing of the document and for its delivery. The wife could not appeal the husband’s decision, and the divorce certificate had to be delivered by two people who were not blind, dumb, or deaf. The divorce document was called a “Bill of Cutting Off” because the wife was literally cut-off. She was cut-off from everything.