Deuteronomy 24:3

On the subject of divorce as defined in the Old Testament law, the Bible says in Deuteronomy 24:3-4, “And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;[4] Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.” According to the law, once a couple had been divorced and the woman married a second time, she was not allowed to marry her first husband a second time. Of course, if she never married a second time, then she would have been allowed to re-marry her first husband. What is going on here? I think what God is telling the Israelites is this: once you make a decision about marriage, God wants you to stick with it. Once you get married, God wants that marriage to last. He wants you to do everything you can to make it work. Jesus said this in Mark 10:9, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” Make a decision and stick with it. OK, you did not stay with the marriage and you decided to divorce, then stay with that decision too. Get on with your life from where you are now. Jesus also said in Matthew 18:18, “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” By the way The Lord gives you freedom of choice. You can choose to be married or not to be married. You can choose to stay in the marriage bond or to be loosed from the marriage bond. The choice is yours, and God will accept what you choose. If you choose to be loosed from the bond, then it will accepted in heaven what you have chosen. Of course, God’s perfect choice is that you find your sweetheart through prayer and waiting upon God’s leading, and then both of you stay in your marriage bond with love for each other until death do you part. But this is an imperfect world, and people make mistakes. Some people make a foolish decision and marry the wrong person. Some people make foolish decisions after they are married, and ruin the marriage. Even when Jesus was talking about the inviolability of marriage, Jesus said that fornication would be a justifiable reason for divorce. But that does not mean that it is the only reason for divorce.

Back on the subject of the beginning of marriage, the Bible says in Deuteronomy 24:5, “When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.” This is an interesting verse, coming from what is generally known as the severe and harsh Old Testament law. This is a much more generous and gracious approach to a new marriage than we find anywhere today that I know of. Basically, this is a honeymoon that lasts a year. It says that the purpose is that a man would “cheer up” his new wife. God wants this marriage to last, and so God wants to make sure that the new couple has plenty of time to bond together. This marriage bond should last a lifetime, so get off to a good start. Learn to enjoy each other’s company. Learn to do things together. Learn to make decisions as a couple. Love one another. Do all that the first year. Get off to a good start, and then keep doing it for the rest of your lives.

In most of the next several verses the Bible is talking about treating your neighbor properly. It says in Deuteronomy 24:6, “No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh a man's life to pledge.” A millstone would have two primary purposes. It would be used to grind grain into flour for feeding one’s family, or would be used to make one’s livelihood. In other words, if someone owes you something, you cannot take something from them in repayment that would ruin their life or harm them in some way.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 24:7, “If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from among you.” Here is one more instance of the death penalty being handed out: for kidnapping and selling someone into slavery. Such a “thief” would be destroying someone’s life, and therefore must pay with his life too. This would definitely help end the problem of modern-day trafficking of children.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 24:8-9, “Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do.[9] Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt.” The incident that is being talked about in regards to Miriam, Moses’ sister, and leprosy is recorded in Numbers chapter 12. There are a couple of important spiritual lessons that we can learn from what happened to Miriam and her leprosy. She got leprosy because of a sinful attitude that she had. She was rebellious against the authority of Moses, the authority that God had set up. It says in Numbers 12:1-2, “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.[2] And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.” God has set up the human hierarchies that exist. If you cannot obey people who are over you, how can you obey God who is over all? Christians are told in Romans 13:1-7, “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.[2] Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.[3] For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:[4] For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.[5] Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.[6] For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.[7] Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.”

It is important to point out that physical infirmity and sickness was one negative result to Miriam’s sin. Of course, not all sickness is due to someone’s sin, but some is. One way to get sick is to sin and not repent of your sin. When you are sick, get the best doctor care that you can, but also make sure that your sins are confessed. That truth is demonstrated in James 5:14-15, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:[15] And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” The anointing with oil is not a religious ceremony. Olive oil was used in the first century for medicinal purposes. And so what James is saying is to both do what you can medically and confess your sins, and then faith shall save the sick one from his or her malady.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 24:10-11, “When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge.[11] Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee.” Basically, these verses are saying that a man’s home is his castle. Even if he is poor, and even if he owes you something, it is his home. This shows that God likes to give to everyone a certain amount of self-determination. Know your borders, and do not cross certain lines. Respect others and their property at all times.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 24:12-13, “And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge:[13] In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.” These verses emphasize the fact that believers should have some consideration for the poor. Even though a poor person owes you something, do not use that obligation as a reason to take from him what he needs for the basic necessities of life: in this case his clothing.

The next two verses are also about the poor and making sure to treat them fairly: in this case servants who are, of course, poor. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 24:14-15, “Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates:[15] At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.” Just because you have authority or power over someone does not mean that you do not have to treat them fairly. God treats all people the same. Jesus died for all, and He loves all. He offers salvation to all. Every human being has the same worth and deserves the same honor.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 24:16, “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.” Many sermons have been made in which the parents have been given great responsibility and unfortunately a lot of blame for what the children do and for what kind of people the children become. Of course, the parents whose children turn out fine do not mind such an emphasis because they find that to be an opportunity to boast just how great of a job they did at raising their children. But what the Bible emphasizes in this verse is that each person makes their own decisions in life. No matter who your parents are, you hear some good and some bad, and then you make your own decisions. By the way, every person will be held responsible before God for the decisions that they make. There is one commandment in the Ten Commandments that deals with the parent-child relationship and it puts the responsibility on the child, not on the parent. It says to the children, “Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

There is a great passage in the New Testament about the parent-child relationship, and it also quotes from the Ten Commandments, putting the responsibility first of all upon the children to “obey” the parents; and then secondarily putting the responsibility upon the parents. It says in Ephesians 6:1-4, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.[2] Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)[3] That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.[4] And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” The number one responsibility of a parent is to teach the children. When the parents are told to bring up the children in the “nurture and admonition” of the Lord, it means to properly teach and instruct the children. One of the problems with the school systems today is that the parents have given up their responsibility to teach their own children and out of convenience have turned their children over to government-run schools. This would not be so bad if the government had not taken the Bible out of the school system. The greatest book ever written and it is not taught in the schools. That is not an education. Issues like the teaching of the Bible in school should be decided by the parents at the local level. If a local community has no problem with it, then it should be permitted. The Ten Commandments, the beatitudes of Jesus, the Lord’s prayer, and the 23^rd Psalm should be well-known by every school kid in America. It is a horrendous failure on the part of our government-run schools to have neglected the Bible and cast it out. The Bible can be taught in a non-partisan and straight forward way that does not force beliefs on anyone, but is educational and lays a foundation of understanding an important part of human history. There was a time in America when parents could send their kids to school and if the teacher was so inclined, the Bible would be opened and some of the wonderful stories of the Bible would be read to the students. There was no harm in that, and it helped the parents in this great responsibility to bring up their children in the “nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

Notice also that the passage in Ephesians has a warning not to punish children too harshly. Be careful about adopting the harsh teachings of the Old Testament for your children here in the age of the New Testament. It says in Ephesians 6:4, “provoke not your children to wrath.”

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