Deu 24:1-4 | KingComments | STEP | It seems that this arrangement is being made because divorce is already regularly happening. Possibly it has even been practiced in Egypt. The purpose of this prescript seems to be to discourage a light-hearted divorce. If someone has sent his wife out from his house and she is married again and is then sent away again, then the first husband is not allowed to have her back to be his wife. Although God, because of the hardness of their hearts, has allowed them to send their wives away, He states that the woman has been defiled by the next marriage. Therefore the Lord Jesus says that anyone who marries a woman who is send away by her husband commits adultery. This could not be so if God were to recognize divorce as a lawful thing. In God’s sight, there can be no legitimate reason for divorce. There is no explicit consent to divorce anywhere in Scripture. It is permitted, because of the hardness of heart ( ). Nonetheless God hates divorce ( ). This arrangement is also made to prevent a man from fickle willful acts, at his every caprice. He could change wives as often as he likes. What a confusion that would cause in family life! Finally, there would also be no clarity about the inheritance. The reason for sending away can be anything the man describes as “some indecency”. In any case, it has nothing to do with adultery, because therefore the death penalty would apply ( ). If he sends the wife away, he must give a certificate of divorce. She then has proof that her first husband renounces her and is no longer allowed to take her to wife. God has given Israel a certificate of divorce: “And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce” ( ). Did God not prolong His hesitation before giving that letter? Finally, God had to write the certificate of divorce, because it is an apostate people in question who, as it is, will never return to blessing. For the people as a whole there is no recovery. What is being restored is a remnant of the election of grace ( ). Grace goes beyond the law. Through this remnant God accepts His people again although, as a whole, they have been whoring away from Him. For the church in nominal Christianity, the moment of the certificate of divorce also comes. No restoration is possible for this Christianity either ( ; ). In the present time, however, a “Philadelphia” ( ) persists. This is indicated in .

‏ Deuteronomy 24:1-4

Divorce and a Certificate of Divorce

It seems that this arrangement is being made because divorce is already regularly happening. Possibly it has even been practiced in Egypt. The purpose of this prescript seems to be to discourage a light-hearted divorce. If someone has sent his wife out from his house and she is married again and is then sent away again, then the first husband is not allowed to have her back to be his wife.

Although God, because of the hardness of their hearts, has allowed them to send their wives away, He states that the woman has been defiled by the next marriage. Therefore the Lord Jesus says that anyone who marries a woman who is send away by her husband commits adultery. This could not be so if God were to recognize divorce as a lawful thing. In God’s sight, there can be no legitimate reason for divorce.

There is no explicit consent to divorce anywhere in Scripture. It is permitted, because of the hardness of heart (Mt 19:8). Nonetheless God hates divorce (Mal 2:16). This arrangement is also made to prevent a man from fickle willful acts, at his every caprice. He could change wives as often as he likes. What a confusion that would cause in family life! Finally, there would also be no clarity about the inheritance.

The reason for sending away can be anything the man describes as “some indecency”. In any case, it has nothing to do with adultery, because therefore the death penalty would apply (Deu 22:20-22). If he sends the wife away, he must give a certificate of divorce. She then has proof that her first husband renounces her and is no longer allowed to take her to wife.

God has given Israel a certificate of divorce: “And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce” (Jer 3:8a). Did God not prolong His hesitation before giving that letter? Finally, God had to write the certificate of divorce, because it is an apostate people in question who, as it is, will never return to blessing. For the people as a whole there is no recovery. What is being restored is a remnant of the election of grace (Rom 11:5 ; 23-24). Grace goes beyond the law. Through this remnant God accepts His people again although, as a whole, they have been whoring away from Him.

For the church in nominal Christianity, the moment of the certificate of divorce also comes. No restoration is possible for this Christianity either (Rev 18:21; Rom 11:21-22). In the present time, however, a “Philadelphia” (Rev 3:7-13) persists. This is indicated in Deu 24:5.