Deuteronomy 24:4 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:1-4

This is that permission which the Pharisees erroneously referred to as a precept, Matt. 19:7; Moses commanded to give a writing of divorcement. It was not so; our Saviour told them that he only suffered it because of the hardness of their hearts, lest, if they had not had liberty to divorce their wives, they should have ruled them with rigour, and it may be, have been the death of them. It is probable that divorces were in use before (they are taken for granted, Lev. 21:14), and Moses thought... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:4

Her former husband which sent her away may not take her again to be his wife ,.... Though ever so desirous of it, and having heartily repented that he had put her away: this is the punishment of his fickleness and inconstancy, and was ordered to make men cautious how they put away their wives; since when they had so done, and they had been married to another, they could not enjoy them again even on the death of the second husband; yea, though she was only espoused to him, and he had never... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 24:4

She is defiled - Does not this refer to her having been divorced, and married in consequence to another? Though God, for the hardness of their hearts, suffered them to put away their wives, yet he considered all after-marriages in that case to be pollution and defilement; and it is on this ground that our Lord argues in the places referred to above, that whoever marries the woman that is put away is an adulterer: now this could not have been the case if God had allowed the divorce to be a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:1-4

EXPOSITION LAWS RESPECTING DIVORCE , AGAINST MAN - STEALING AND INJUSTICE . Of divorce . If a man put away his wife because she did not any longer please him, and she became the wife of another man, by whom also she was put away, or from whom she was severed by his death, the first husband might not remarry her, for that would be an abomination in the eyes of the Lord, and would bring sin on the land. This is not a law sanctioning or regulating divorce; that is... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:1-4

These verses should be read as one continuous sentence, of which the protasis is in Deuteronomy 24:1-3 , and the apodosis in Deuteronomy 24:4 , thus: "If a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she doth not find favor in his eyes, because of some uncleanness in her, and he hath written her a bill of divorcement, and given it in her hand, and sent her out of his house; and if she hath departed out of his house, and hath gone and become another man's; and if the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:1-4

Divorce. The Hebrew Law, "for the hardness of men's hearts," found it was necessary to "suffer" many things not approved of absolutely ( Matthew 19:8 ). Divorce was one of these. It was permitted on grounds of strong personal dislike ( Deuteronomy 24:3 ). The Law was inapplicable to adultery, that being judged a capital offense. While permitting divorce, Moses obviously aims at restricting it, and shows, by his modes of expression, how alien this rupture of the marriage bond is to the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:1-5

Permissive legislation. No treatment of this passage can Be appropriate which does not set it in the light thrown upon it by Matthew 19:1-12 . The heading we have given to this outline indicates a point on which special stress should be laid whenever an expositor has occasion to refer to it. In the course of time, men had come to regard this passage in the light of a command . Hence the wording of the question in Matthew 19:7 . But our Lord informs us that it was simply permissive... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:1-6

The rights of women. The tendency of the true religion has been to secure and respect the rights of women. Now, we have here women's rights brought under notice in two cases—in a case of separation, and in a case of war. Moses, "because of the hardness of their hearts," allowed divorce, because it prevailed to a lamentable extent in society in his time. He suffered them to divorce their wives, but insisted on a written divorce. Among other nations an oral divorce was sufficient, and so... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:4

The woman was held to be defiled by her second marriage, and thus by implication, the marrying of a woman who had been divorced was pronounced immoral, as is by our Lord explicitly asserted ( Matthew 5:32 ). The prohibition of a return of the wife to her first husband, as well as the necessity of a formal bill of divorcement being given to the woman before she could be sent away, could not fail to be checks on the license of divorce, as doubtless they were intended to be. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Deuteronomy 24:1-4

In this and the next chapter certain particular rights and duties, domestic, social, and civil, are treated. The cases brought forward have often no definite connection, and seem selected in order to illustrate the application of the great principles of the Law in certain important events and circumstances.These four verses contain only one sentence, and should be rendered thus: If a man hath taken a wife, etc., and given her a bill of divorcement and Deuteronomy 24:2 if she has departed out of... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:1-4

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:4

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 24:4

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:1-4

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:1-4

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:1-4

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:1-5

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:1-6

The Pulpit Commentary - Deuteronomy 24:4

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Deuteronomy 24:1-4

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