Bible Question:

Does Deuteronomy 24:1-4 say a person can ally their ex-spouse again?

Bible Answer:

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 is about divorce and remarriage. The passage tells us that a man or woman cannot return to a former spouse and marry him or her if the sometime spouse had subsequently married another person. Hither is the passage,

When a man takes a married woman 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 mitt and sends her out from his house, and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man'swife , and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her mitt and sends her out of his firm, or if the latter husband dies who took her to exist his married woman, and so her one-time husband who sent her away is non allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an anathema before the LORD, and you shall not bring sin on the state which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance. Deuteronomy 24:1-4 (NASB)

Does the Bible Say I Can Remarry My Ex-Spouse

First Hubby Divorces His Wife

God gave the Israelites this instruction through the prophet Moses. In this passage, Moses gave the Israelites an illustration and then concluded with a biblical principle. The illustration helps us sympathize the principle. Moses starts by painting the film of a hubby divorcing his wife for some reason. Moses does not clearly explain the reason for the divorce apparently because his purpose was non to provide a list of God-approved reasons for divorce. It is articulate from Malachi ii:16 that God hates divorce. In Matthew 19:8 Jesus tells us that when God permits divorce, information technology is only because we have hard hearts. The only reason that Moses gives us for the divorce is that the husband found some "indecency." The Hebrew word for indecency is עֶרְוָה or erwa. The general consensus of Bible translators is that the significant of the word is unknown since they translate the words as "something wrong," "something indecent," "something offensive," "something improper" and "some indecency."

However, it should be noted that the word normally refers to nakedness or genitals. Out of the 54 times the word appears in the Old Attestation, it occurs 32 times in Leviticus xviii. Since Leviticus 18 is predominately well-nigh sexual sins, this would suggest that the indecency is related to some sexual effect. In Matthew 5:32 and 19:4-9, Jesus teaches united states of america that divorce is permitted for porneia or various sexual sins. This would seem to suggest that the indecency was some form of sexual immorality.

Deuteronomy 22:20-22 eliminates that meaning of indecency.

But if the thing is truthful, that evidence of virginity was not found in the immature woman, then they shall bring out the immature woman to the door of her father'south firm, andthe men of her metropolis shall stone her to death with stones, because she hasdone an outrageous thing in Israel by whoring in her father'south house.So y'all shall purge the evil from your midst. Deuteronomy 22:20-22 (NASB)

The first part of the passage is about premarital sex, and the final role of the passage is most adultery. In both situations the penalisation of the guilty individuals was death. This eliminates sexual immorality as being the cause of the indecency. In the Jewish civilization premarital sex was tantamount to spousal relationship, which explains the charge of adultery. This passage helps u.s.a. sympathize that the indecency cannot refer to some sexual sin. Instead, it refers to some unknown but serious crime.

Earl Due south. Kalland makes this comment about the give-and-take indecency.

Something less than adultery must be meant here, since the penalisation for infidelity is death ([Deuteronomy] 22:22-27; Lev. twenty:10). Being guilty of "something indecent," nonetheless, is more than than fiddling.[one]

It is of import to annotation that Moses' purpose was not to give us a God-approved justification for divorce. His purpose was to give us an illustration to help us understand a biblical principle. Therefore, allow us go along.

2nd Husband Divorces Her or Dies

Side by side we are told that she decided to ally some other human being. Moses does not control her to remarry. The purpose of this illustration is not to teach that she should remarry or non ally. The illustration only states that she marries another human. But her new husband either 1) becomes unhappy with her for some reason and legally divorces her or 2) dies. Either by existence divorced or her hubby's death, she is legally able to marry from a secular perspective.

Can the Wife Marry Her Old Husband Again?

Moses has created a hypothetical situation and is ready to teach the states a principle. Now he explains that her first husband cannot take her back. That is, he cannot remarry her. Why? The simply reason given in Scripture that would prevent her from remarrying her ex-spouse is that the first divorce was non for reasons of immorality. We say the outset divorce was not a biblical divorce since neither the husband or the ex-wife had the right to remarry.  The report Porneia Definition — What is the meaning of the Greek discussion porneia in the Bible? explains the various forms of sexual activities that are immoral. Consequently, since the get-go divorce was not a biblical divorce, she committed infidelity by marrying the 2d man. Remember that in Matthew five:32 and 19:iv-nine, Jesus teaches that adultery occurs when a spouse divorces for any reason other than sexual immorality.

This is the correct estimation since Moses says that "she has been defiled; for that is an abomination earlier the LORD." The first divorce was acceptable, but she did not take the right to remarry anyone. Both the woman and her ex-spouse would accept to remain unmarried. But since she remarried, she committed adultery and could not become dorsum to the first spouse. Jeremiah 3:1 teaches united states of america that a spouse could not remarry their offset spouse afterwards marrying someone else.

Determination:

Deuteronomy 24:one-4 is an important passage since many couples have divorced and then wanted to remarry. The principle that is taught in this passage is that the outset couple tin can remarry only if both individuals remained unmarried since the divorce. The reason is that Deuteronomy describes an unbiblical divorce. For more data about the diverse conditions for biblical divorce and remarriage, delight visit the written report "Biblical Divorce and Remarriage."

References:

1.  Earl South. Kalland. Deuteronomy. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Zondervan Publishing. 1992. vol. 3. p. 145.

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