Page 9 - The Standard Volume 4

DEALING WITH
Divorce &Remarriage
GOD’S WAY
I have found that most Christians have questions regarding marriage, divorce, and remarriage and it’s because they have misunderstood what Scripture has to say about it. With marriage, everything begins with God and His Word, and Deuteronomy 24:1-4 is the first exhaustive teaching we see coming from God on marriage as well as divorce. I can assure you that every passage in the Bible is going to springboard from these four verses as they are the guiding principal for marriage, remarriage, and divorce, and I would even say for singleness as well. We have to look at all of these within that context.
Deuteronomy 24:1-4 (KJV)
"1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. 2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife. 3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; 4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”
To understand this passage and why it was written, we have to look at what was happening during this time in history. Moses was dealing with the issue of men leaving their wives for frivolous reasons and because he did not have a specific law
from God regarding it, he had to provide a way so that women could be legally protected and provided for after divorce.
Archbishop Wayne R. Felton
Back then there was no such thing as state, county or federal assistance. A woman was either her husband’s wife or her father’s daughter and it was the responsibility of a woman’s family to take care of her, including those who were widowed. If a woman was not married, she would live in her father’s house because if she didn’t, she was unprotected and could starve, as well as be homeless. In those days, if the woman was put out of the house because of uncleanness, it meant she had committed something that would bring shame on the name of God or to her husband. The biggest shame she could bring was for her husband to find out that she was not as pure as he had assumed her to be.
Before we go further in discussing divorce and remarriage, we must understand that marriage is between a man and a woman only—in the Lord. We know this because he tells us in verse 1 of Deuteronomy 24, “When a man taketh a wife and married her...”. In God’s law there is no divorce with same sex couples because God does not recognize same sex unions. It has to be between one who was born a man and one who was born a woman.
A BILL OF DIVORCEMENT
Before Moses made provision for a bill of divorcement to be granted, men could dissolve their marriage by simply saying to their wife three times, “I divorce thee. I divorce thee. I divorce thee.”
Just like that, the woman was now divorced and immediately put out of her house! Because people lived in communities, everyone would know if someone was put out. No one would touch her because it was assumed she had done something worthy of being cast out. If the woman tried going to another community and was unable to prove she had been divorced legally, another man could not marry her for the penalty of marrying someone already married (according to God’s law) was being stoned to death for they’d be committing adultery.
This bill of divorcement was required in order for a man to depart from his wife and this document would justify why the
June 2022 | THE STANDARD 9