Albert Barnes Commentary Deuteronomy 24:1-4

"When a man taketh a wife, and marrieth her, then it shall be, if she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man`s [wife]. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, who took her to be his wife; her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before Jehovah: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance." — Deuteronomy 24:1-4 (ASV)

In this and the next chapter, certain particular rights and duties—domestic, social, and civil—are treated. The cases brought forward often have no definite connection and seem selected 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 has taken a wife, etc., and given her a bill of divorcement; and (Deuteronomy 24:2) if she has departed from his house and become another man’s wife; and (Deuteronomy 24:3) if the latter husband hates her; then (Deuteronomy 24:4) her former husband, etc.

Moses neither institutes nor enjoins divorce. The exact spirit of the passage is given in our Lord’s words to the Jews: Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives (Matthew 19:8).

Not only does the original institution of marriage as recorded by Moses (Genesis 2:24) set forth the perpetuity of the bond, but the verses before us plainly intimate that divorce, while tolerated for the time, contravenes the order of nature and of God.

The divorced woman who marries again is defiled (Deuteronomy 24:4) and is grouped in this particular with the adulteress . Our Lord then was speaking according to the spirit of the law of Moses when He declared, Whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery (Matthew 19:9). He was also speaking, no less according to the mind of the prophets .

But Moses could not absolutely put an end to a practice that was traditional and common to the Jews with other Oriental nations.

His aim is therefore to regulate and thus to mitigate an evil that he could not eradicate.