administration of it. We must remember then, that theoretically at least, if a man commited adultery on his wife, she would automatically be free to remarry under Jewish law, because the offending party was DEAD. They were stoned. So throughout the centuries, the Jews had no problem with a divorcee remarrying because the cheating husband or wife, if that was the case, was dead. However, also was given them the Writing of Divorcement, allowing them to divorce for Non-Morally related reasons. This is very important to know. The writing of divorcement was a certificate that was given for divorce because of NON-MORALLY related issues. Why so? Because you didn�t need this certificate if your spouse had cheated on you, they were dead! So this was a way out for the Jews when no law had necessarily been broken.
B.2 Deuteronomy 24:1-2: The Writing or Certificate of Divorce
The writing of divorcement was a document used from the time of Moses, and even before actually. The people had grown accustomed to the Egyptian lifestyle, and Moses allowed them to continue this practice because of the hardness of their hearts. Men were cruel, people sin. Moses knew that divorce was inevitable in a fallen world, and so gave this escape of leniency to the people to continue the practice. Now Jesus� Divorce Doctrine is related in every way to this OT document. It was the center of the discussion taking place, not divorce itself.
When this certificate was given, it dissolved the marriage. Both parties were free to remarry and were in no way looked upon as adultrous, otherwise they would have been stoned. This was the very certificate that Joseph was going to give Mary when she was with child, and he believed it to be illegitimate. This fact proves that some men would divorce their wives for fornication without saying so necessarily to keep them, as Joseph did from becoming a public example, meaning being stoned. So the man (predominantly) gives this certificate to the woman�s family, and the moment she departs from the man�s house, she can go and be another man�s wife. So the woman as long as she had this certificate in her hand was free. She could remarry and it wan�t wrong. Therefore, there was no longer any matrimonial relationship between the two parties. The twelfth century Rabbi Mimodedas said that the divorce bill was given with such clarity and precision that the river was mentioned which was closest to the parties at the time it was given. There used to be a copy of it in the Expositor�s New Testament. However, even though Jesus disputed the reasons this certificate was given, he acknowledged the divorce bill as valid.
Among other places, John 4 is probably the best example and proof of this.
: He uses the term "former" husband. So she did not have 2 husbands.
: He says that she has well said by saying she has NO husband.
So, Jesus accepted, as all Jews did, this bill of divorce as valid, but only disputed the motives for which is was given so easily.
This certificate by Jesus� time had been used for fourteen centuries or better. The phrase "If he find some uncleaness in her", was not referring to a moral problem, otherwise she would be dead. Rather, it meant that the man could divorce his wife for whatever reason he wanted to. At least, that�s the way they were interpreting it. Josephus said if the woman couldn�t cook, if she got ugly, this was considered grounds for divorce according to this phrase. The man had to give this certificate in the presence of two witnesses. The Talmud, which was kind of like where the borders were concerning the gray areas of the law said that being unclean included if the woman was obnoxious.
Now remember, this had nothing to do with unfaithfulness or anything relatively serious. These were any and every reason one could think of to obtain a divorce.