John Gill Commentary Deuteronomy 24

When a man has taken a wife and married her That is, when a man has made choice of a woman for his wife, and has obtained her consent, and the consent of her parents; and has not only betrothed her, but taken her home, and consummated the marriage:

and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes ; is not agreeable to him, he takes no delight in her person, nor pleasure in her company and conversation; but, on the contrary, his affections are alienated from her, and he cannot bear the sight of her;

because he has found some uncleanness in her ; something that he disliked, and was disagreeable to him, and which made their continuance together in the marriage state very uncomfortable; which led him on to be very ill-natured, severe, and cruel to her; so that her life was exposed to danger, or at least become very uneasy; in which case a divorce was permitted, both for the badness of the man's heart, and in favour of the woman, that she might be freed from such rigorous usage.

This word "uncleanness" does not signify adultery, or any of the uncleannesses forbidden in (Leviticus 18:6–19) ; because that was punishable with death, when it could be proved; and where there was only a suspicion of it, the husband might make use of the bitter water: though the house of Shammai seem to take it in this sense; for they say a man might not divorce his wife unless he found her in some unclean thing, something dishonest and wicked, and which they ground upon these words; but the house of Hillell say, if she burnt his food, or spoiled it by over salting, or over roasting it; and Akiba says, even if he found another woman more beautiful than her or more agreeable to him.

But neither his sense, nor that of the house of Shammai, are approved of by the Jews in general, but that of the house of Hillell ^F13 ; and they suppose a man might divorce his wife for any ill qualities of mind in her, or for any ill or impudent behaviour of hers; as if her husband saw her go abroad with her head uncovered, and spinning in the streets, and so showing her naked arms to men; or having her garments slit on both sides; or washing in a bath with men, or where men use to wash, and talking with every man, and joking with young men; or her voice is sonorous and noisy; or any disease of body, as the leprosy, and the like; or any blemishes, as warts, are upon her; or any disagreeable smell that might arise from any parts of the body, from sweat, or a stinking breath ^F14 :

then let him write her a bill of divorcement ; Jarchi says, this is a command upon him to divorce her, because she finds not favour in his eyes; and so the Jews ^F15 generally understand it, and so they did in the time of Christ, (Matthew 19:7) ; whereas it was no more than a permission, for reasons before given. A man might not dismiss his wife by word of mouth, which might be done hastily, in a passion, of which he might soon repent; but by writing, which was to be drawn up in form; and, as the Targum of Jonathan, before the sanhedrim, in a court of judicature, which required time, during which he might think more of it, and either recede from his purpose before the case was finished, or do it upon mature deliberation; and a firm resolution. The Jews say ^F16 many things of the witnesses before whom it was to be written and sealed, and at what time, and upon what, and with what it was to be written, and who were proper persons to write it or not, in a treatise of theirs, called Gittin, or divorces. In the Hebrew text this bill is called "a bill of cutting off" ^F17 ; because the marriage was rescinded, and man and wife were cut off and separated from one another for ever; of the form of such a bill, (See Gill on Matthew 5:31);

and give [it] in her hand ; which was to be done before witnesses, and which is one of the ten things requisite to a divorce ^F18 ; though it made no difference whether it was delivered by himself, or by a messenger; or whether to her, or to her deputy, appointed by her before witnesses; or whether it was put into her hand, or in her bosom, so be it that she was but possessed of it; with which agrees the Jewish canon,

if he casts a bill to his wife, and she is within the house, or within the court, she is divorced; if he casts it into her bosom, or into her work basket, she is divorced ^F19 :

and send her out of his house ; which was a visible token and public declaration of her divorce; besides, were she to be continued in his house afterwards, it would give suspicion of cohabitation, which after a divorce was not lawful.

FOOTNOTES:

• F13: Misn. Gittin, c. 9. sect. 10. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.
• F14: T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 90. 1. 2. Misn. Cetubot, c. 7. sect. 6, 7. & Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.
• F15: T. Bab. Gittin, ut supra. (^F14)
• F16: Misn. Gittin, c. 2. sect. 2, 3, 4, 5.
• F17: (ttyrk rpo) "libellum excidii", Montanus, Fagius; "succisionis", Munster; "abscissionis", Tigurine version.
• F18: See Ainsworth in loc.
• F19: Misn. Gittin, c. 8. sect. 1.

And when she is departed out of his house With her bill of divorce, by which departure out of his house it is notified to all:

she may go and be other man's [wife] ; it was permitted her to marry another man, she being by her divorce freed from the law of her former husband; and who indeed, in express words contained in the divorce, gave her leave so to do; which ran thus, ``you are in your own hand, and have power over yourself to go and marry any other man whom you please; and let no man hinder you in my name, from this day forward and for ever; and, lo, you are free to any man;'' (See Gill on Matthew 5:31).

And [if] the latter husband hate her
Or less loves her than another woman, and she is disliked by him as she was by her former husband;

and write her a bill off divorcement, and giveth [it] into her hand ,
and sendeth her out of his house :
as he had by this law a permission, in like manner as her former husband had; (See Gill on Deuteronomy 24:1);

or if her latter husband die, which took her [to be] his wife ;
and she survives him; as she is then by death loosed from the law of an husband, she may lawfully marry another man, but not her former husband, as follows.

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 has 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 lain with her, as Ben Melech observes, it was forbidden the former husband to marry her; though if she had only played the whore, according to the same writer, and others ^F1 , she might return to him:

after that she is defiled ;
not by whoredom, for in that case she was not forbidden, as it is interpreted, but by her being married to another man; when she was defiled, not by him, or with respect to him, nor with regard to any other man, whom she might lawfully marry after the decease of her latter husband; but with respect to her first husband, being by her divorce from him, and by her marriage to another, entirely alienated and separated from him, and so prohibited to him; and thus R. Joseph Kimchi interprets this defilement of prohibition, things prohibited being reckoned unclean, or not lawful to be used:

for that [is] abomination before the Lord ;
for a man to take his wife again, after she had been divorced by him, and married to another man; and yet, such is the grace and goodness of God to his backsliding people, that he receives them when they return unto him their first husband, and forsake other lovers, (Jeremiah 3:1) (Hosea 2:7Hosea 2:19) ;

and you shall not cause the land to sin which the Lord your God gives
you [for] an inheritance ;
since if this was allowed, that men might put away their wives, and take them again at pleasure, and change them as often as they thought fit, no order could be observed, and the utmost confusion in families introduced, and lewdness encouraged, and which would subject the land and the inhabitants of it to many evils and calamities, as the just punishment thereof.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Sotah, c. 2. sect. 6.

When a man has taken a new wife
A wife he has lately married, new to him, though a widow, as Jarchi observes; but the Targum of Jonathan says a virgin; however this is opposed to his old wife, and divorced; for this, as Jarchi and Ben Melech say, excepts the return of a divorced wife, who cannot be said to be a new one:

he shall not go out to war ;
this is to be understood of a man that had not only betrothed, but married a wife; a man that had betrothed a wife, and not married her, who went out to war, might return if he would, (Deuteronomy 20:7) ; but one that had married a wife was not to go out to war:

neither shall be charged with any business ;
as betrothed ones were; they, though they had a liberty of returning, yet they were to provide food and drink for the army, and to prepare or mend the highways, as Jarchi observes; but these were not obliged to such things, nor even to keep watch on the walls of the city, or to pay taxes, as Maimonides ^F2 writes:

[but] he shall be free at home one year ;
not only from all tributes and taxes, and everything relative to the affairs of war, but from public offices and employments, which might occasion absence from home. Jarchi remarks, that his house or home comprehends his vineyard; and so he thinks that this respects his house and his vineyard, that if he had built a house and dedicated it, or planted a vineyard and made it common, yet was not to remove from his house because of the necessities of war:

and shall cheer up his wife which he has taken ;
or rejoice with his wife which he has taken, and solace themselves with love; and thereby not only endear himself to her, but settle his affections on her, and be so confirmed in conjugal love, that hereafter no jealousies may arise, or any cause of divorce, which this law seems to be made to guard against. So it is said ^F3 , that Alexander after the battle of Granicus sent home to Macedonia his newly married soldiers, to winter with their wives, and return at spring; which his master Aristotle had taught him, and as he was taught by a Jew.

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: Hilchot Melachim, c. 7. sect. 10, 11.
• F3: Arrian. Expedit Alex. l. 1.