Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DIVORCE

The legal ending of a marriage while the two parties are still living. Accordingly, it is a matter of grave seriousness and is always treated as such in the OT and NT.

The Mosaic law permitted divorce (Deut. 24:1-4), although the conditions under which it is allowed are not clear. Within a cultural context that allowed a man to divorce a woman under any circumstances or whimsy, the Israelite legal tradition would have appeared strict in that it placed limits on the right to divorce (Deut. 22:19, 29). Overall, the laws seem to protect women from some of the most flagrant endangerments of their livelihood. The divorce must be put into writing, and the woman must be sent from one house (the husband’s) to another house (presumably her father’s), in which she would have an opportunity for life. Other circumstances, customs, or laws regulating divorce are not known. Certainly, many marriages did not end in such an orderly fashion. The story of Samson and his first wife (an unnamed Philistine woman from Timnah; Judg. 14:1–15:8) shows a case where a marriage may not have been legally completed (depending upon the custom of seven days of feasting) or it may have been legally ended after Samson’s sudden departure; in either case, Samson seems to think that he is married, when unknown to him his wife has married another. In general, the OT expresses an acceptance of divorce, although within limits and with some recognition of difficulties involved. (Mal. 2:16 is textually problematic, and even if it does refer to divorce, it deals with the cessation of a relationship between God and people).

The NT provides a much different response to divorce. In the Gospels Jesus equates divorce and adultery (Matt. 5:31-32; 19:3-9; Mark 10:2-12; Luke 16:18). Paul permits divorce when the spouse initiating the separation is not a believer, but he argues that believers should not instigate divorce (1 Cor. 7:1-16). Paul later allows remarriage of widows (1 Cor. 7:39), but remains silent about the remarriage of divorced believers.

Jon L. Berquist

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DIVORCE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)