Deuteronomy 24:1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.
3 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.
Reason for Divorce
Hebrew: `erwah (HSN-<H6172>), translated "uncleanness" (Deut. 24:1); "shame" (Isa. 20:4); and "nakedness" (Gen. 9:22-23; 42:9,12; Ex. 20:26; 28:42; Lev. 18:6-19; 20:11-21; 1Sam. 20:30; Isa. 47:3; Lam. 1:8; Ezek. 16:8,36-37; 22:10; 23:10,18,29; Hos. 2:9). It comes from `arah (HSN-<H6168>), which means to make bare; empty; destitute; discover; make naked; uncover. The idea here is that of discovering or uncovering something in the wife that was not known before to the husband. Exactly what uncleanness included here is not known. Judging from how the word is translated it would be something of the nature of shame, disappointment, and extreme dislike. If the uncleanness refers to moral sin, as in Deut. 22:13-21, the earlier law demanded the death penalty. Perhaps Moses saw that by carrying out the letter of such a law there would be frequent executions due to extremely lax morals among Israelites. He thus modified the law by permitting a wife to clear herself with a solemn oath in some cases (Num. 5:11-31), and in other cases allowing the husband to divorce his wife privately without bringing her to trial (Deut. 24:1-4; Mt. 1:19).
The various translations are as follows: Young: "nakedness of anything"; Rotherham: "some matter of shame"; the Peshitta: "some evidence of open prostitution"; Berkeley: "something improper in her"; Moffatt: "found her immodest in some way"; the Septuagint: "found something unseemly in her"; Fenton: "found repulsive qualities in her." All this seems to indicate a serious moral sin.
Whatever the intended thought, it is clear that divorce was not commanded here, but permitted because of the hardness of hearts (Deut. 24:1; Mt. 19:8); that both divorced parties were free to remarry (Deut. 24:2); that the first husband could not take the wife a second time, for that was an abomination to God (Deut. 24:3-4).
Such things must be understood in the light of several factors: that a wife became the actual property of the husband and he became her lord and master (Ex. 21:7-11; 2Cor. 11:3; Eph. 5:22-33; Col. 3:18; 1Pet. 3:5-7); that easy divorces were a common thing in those days among all nations; that Israel had been influenced greatly by such nations and was in the habit of getting divorces for the most frivolous excuses; and that Moses simply tolerated certain practices because of the hardness of the hearts of Israel. Hence, this law limiting divorce to "uncleanness" was needed.
The rival schools of Hillel and Shammai in the days of Christ interpreted this "uncleanness" different ways. Shammai held that it referred only to moral and criminal sins of adultery; but Hillel contended that it referred to anything disliked by the husband, even though it was something trivial (notes, Mt. 5:31-32; note, 19:3; notes, Mk. 10:1-9). Christ sanctioned the teaching of Shammai, interpreting the uncleanness as fornication, (porneia (GSN-<G0>), (Mt. 5:32; 19:9). See notes, Mt. 5:31-32 for definitions of divorce, fornication, etc. For wording of an ancient Jewish divorce decree, see note, Mk. 10:4.
According to the Gospels (Mt. 5:31-32; 19:1-9; Mk. 10:1-8; Lk. 16:18), Moses wrote the law on divorce because of "hardness of the heart" of the people. Except for fornication, one must not divorce his wife (Mt. 5:31; note, Mt. 19:9). Except for fornication, if one puts away his wife he causes her to commit adultry (Mt. 5:32; 19:9). Except for fornication dissolving a marriage, one who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. All hardness-of-heart divorces for any and every cause are wrong, and only those with a scriptural reason for divorce have the right to remarry. The man and woman who divorce without scriptural grounds cause sin by forcing each other to marry someone else. Paul gives one more scriptural reason for divorce -- willful desertion because of Christ and the gospel (2Cor. 7:12-15).
Finis Jennings Dake, Dake's Annotated Reference Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments of the Authorized or King James Version Text, (Lawrenceville, GA: Dake Bible Sales, Inc., 1997), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: "Chapter 24".