Divorce in the Pentateuch - Essay Example

Relationships constitute the background of human existence and procreativity. Marriage was established to give legitimacy and formality to that aspect of relationships between spouses. Unfortunately, however, many are not as binding and permanent as modern and also ancient society would like to have. The process of divorce came into being to allow for a legal and formal separation. Within the Christian religion there has been varying views and beliefs of this process. The issue of divorce under Mosaic Law as outlined in the Pentateuch was one of the traps used by the Pharisees to trap Jesus because they realize that the Mosaic Law might have been in conflict with Jesus’ teachings. This essay will critically analyze what the Pentateuch has to say on the topic. According to the Creation story it would appear that divorce was not a part of God’s plan when he created man and woman. “This is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body” (Genesis 2: 24). If marriage was meant for two persons to be as one body then divorce would be viewed as an illness since it was making the body less wholesome. The Mosaic Law viewed divorce mostly in the light of honesty and fidelity. ‘If a man, after marrying a woman and having relationships with her, comes to dislike her, and makes monstrous charges against her and defames her by saying, “I married this woman, but when I first had relations with her I did not find her a virgin,” (Deut 22:13 – 14). The woman is viewed as an object and is always the property of the man whether it is the husband or the father. The verse further explained that the father should try to prove her innocence. Although this passage gave instructions that if the girl is found to be innocent the man should not divorce her it shows the responsibility that the community has when it comes to marriage and divorce. In return the couple is supposed to bear witness to the community and they had to show proof before a divorce could take place. The man was supposed to write the woman a certificate of divorce and send her away from his house. According to Hall this certificate was “crucial to protect her status” (359). Furthermore it served as a way of announcing to society that the woman was eligible to remarry. The man according to this verse in Deuteronomy is bound by the law in keeping his wife. He cannot divorce her because she was found to be innocent. This shows that this was the only grounds he had. “Moreover, she shall remain his wife, and he may not divorce her as long as he lives.” On the other hand if the man’s claims turn out to be true he would win on more than one grounds. He was free to divorce her as the law allows and he would also become a widower just leaving him free to remarry. “But if this charge is true, and evidence of the girl’s virginity is not found they shall bring the girl to the entrance of her father’s house and there her townsmen shall stone her to death.” This mention of divorce is ambiguous since the husband won’t really be divorcing, except for formal purposes and in the eyes of the public because she will be put to death. The mention of divorce in this case is not very clear as the consequences for the woman do not allow her to even be able to continue her life in society. The outcome for a man who seduces a virgin is quite different. “If a man comes upon a maiden that is not betrothed, takes her and has relations with her, and their deed is discovered, the man who had relations with her shall pay the girls father fifty silver shekels and take her as his wife….Moreover, he may not divorce her as long as he lives” (v 28-29). The tone of the passage allows one to believe that divorce was a possible option in biblical times. Since the man was by law instructed to live with his wife until he dies, divorce is placed in a negative light. The man’s inability to divorce is the punishment for the crime that he committed. Quotations from this passage form the basis of Jewish divorce certificates. Taking the term seduction in the literal sense one could consider that a harsh law for someone to be married to a man who rape and assault her. This can be examined in a different context in which the woman willingly had sexual relations with the man. Davidson elaborated on the possible meanings. “Thus the woman is not forced to marry and spend the rest of her life with a stranger who forcibly overpowered and raped her, but to marry a sexual partner with whom she willingly had sexual relations” (386). The law protects the woman. It protects her from the sin of fornication as well as providing for her economically, socially, and spiritually through the bond and sanctity of marriage. The Pentateuch treated divorce in favor of the man although in many parts the grounds for divorce are conditional. It does not consider abuses that may be done to the wife but rather emphasized, for the most part, infidelity on the part of the woman. This could be due to the practice of polygamy which would make it easier for the man to escape the claim of committing adultery. This ground for divorce could only be applied to women, because the permissibility of polygamy meant that adultery by a man could not be a ground for divorce. A woman was assumed to promise to be faithful to one man when she married him, but a man could not be assumed to make the same promise as part of the marriage contract, because it was permissible for him to take more than on wives. (David Brewer). The woman has little or no influence in the matter. They are treated differently. According to the passages in the Pentateuch a woman could not divorce her husband. It was always the husband who had the authority and who was guided by law to keep or to get rid of his wife. In his publication, “Old Testament Perspectives on Divorce and Marriage “, Sprinkle claimed that God sometimes directs divorce. One important occasion was when God directed Abraham to divorce his slave-wife Hagar. He reasoned that since God instructed Abraham to carry out this function then divorce may not be a sin. This ambiguity has helped to create the uncertainties and different interpretations that abound today. Sprinkle is justified in questioning whether divorce was seen as evil or something as a lesser evil. In looking at the whole context, however, Sprinkler ignored the fact that Hagar was not really married to Abraham. ‘Thus, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, his wife Sarai took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband to be his concubine’ (Genesis 16:3). A concubine does not enjoy the security and status of marriage. Hagar was Sarai’s maid so she was just allowed to bear a child because at her age Sarai believed that it was impossible to bear children and they were promised a chosen son. Hagar’s role in that event was like a modern day surrogate mother. It is fair to say, however, that just like the lack of clarity with regards to divorce in the Pentateuch, there are also other subjects that are clouded in ambiguity. In Exodus it would seem that a concubine or slave could also be a wife. “ If he takes another wife, he shall not withhold her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights” (Exodus 21:10). Based on this Sprinkler could well be justified in believing that Abraham divorced Hagar. It is not correct, therefore, to imply that God allowed or directed a divorce in this instance since there was no marriage or evidence of such between Abraham and Sarah. In Leviticus, divorced women are placed in the same category as prostitutes. “A priest shall not marry a woman who has been a prostitute or has lost her honor, nor a woman who has been divorced by her husband; for the priest is sacred to his God” Leviticus (21:7). This can be seen in the context of infidelity, however, where the man would only divorce his wife if she has been sexually unfaithful. She would then be considered unclean. Although there has been mention of divorce in some books of the Pentateuch the instructions in Deuteronomy has been the most straightforward with regards to the legality and formality of divorce. “When a man, after marrying a woman and having relations with her, is later displeased with her because he finds in her something indecent, and therefore he writes out a bill of divorce and hands it to her, thus dismissing her from his house:’ (Deut 24: 1). While some scholars agree that God permits divorce, others feel that it is not the will of God. Sigal believed there was no hard evidence of an institutionalized practice of divorce in the Pentateuch. He reasoned that if divorce was customary a husband shouldn’t have to go to great length to besmirch his wife’s name as was stated in Deuteronomy 22. He believed that it would be easier to divorce without going through such a long process. (125). Laney as well, believed that although divorce is mentioned in Deuteronomy the passage did not approve of it. The book was only addressing situations that were already in existence (3). Societies and cultures change and one has to examine the context of the era of the books of the Pentateuch. Family life was more intertwined than it is today so a husband in a patriarchal society had to have an abundance of proof especially when judging by what is related in the bible, divorce was permissible only on grounds of sexual misconduct. The Pentateuch treatment of foreign women as it relates to divorce shows a bias to those who were not of the House of Israel. ‘When you go out to war against your enemies and the Lord, your God, delivers them into your hand, so that you take captives, if you see a comely woman among the captives and become so enamored of her that you wish to have her as wife, you may take her home to your house” Deut 21: 10-11. The chapter continued to give some stipulations as to what the woman should do before entering into marriage. If the need for divorce arises, it was easier and less problematic to divorce owing to the fact that the wife is a foreigner. ‘However, if later on you lose your liking for her, you shall give her freedom, if she wishes it.’ Based on these instructions it appears that divorce is permissible then on more than one grounds. It was not stated that the man should divorce if the woman was found to be at fault, rather, it came across as very trivial in stating that if the man loses his liking. That was not conditional. On the other hand consideration is being given to the circumstances surrounding the marriage since it does not appear that she gave in voluntarily. ‘But you shall not sell or enslave her, since she was married to you under compulsion.” The conditions that the woman should meet before entering into marriage may have been formed to allow the couple to get accustomed to each other’s culture and way of living. ‘The regulations helped to ensure that the attraction to the woman was not short lived and purely physical’ (Smith, 517). Based on the Pentateuch it would appear that divorce can be justifiable. Although God despises it, He permits it for a just cause. Remarriage was permissible but a couple wasn’t permitted to remarry each other after divorcing. “If on leaving his house she goes and becomes the wife of another man, and the second husband, too, comes to dislike her and dismisses her from his house by handing her a written bill of divorce, of if this second man who has married her, dies, then her former husband who dismissed her may not again take her as his wife since she has become defiled. That is an abomination before the Lord’ (24:4). Wenham et. al agreed that phrases such as “matter of indecency” refer to a justifiable or valid grounds for divorce. Whenever the phrase, “hate” or “dislike” is used, on the other hand, it ‘is used to show that the action arose from a subjective motive and without objective grounds to justify it’ (64). The woman who was divorced on unjustifiable means would be given back her dowry. This is perhaps one of the reasons why men would go to great length to besmirch her name since divorcing her on grounds less than sexual misconduct would set him back financially. The view of divorce in the Pentateuch shows a God who understands human feelings and nature. Although His will was for man to have permanence in marriage as suggested in Genesis when man’s female companion was created, man’s fall from grace allowed God to have checks and balances in place and to restore man to a state of acceptance. Although the laws and instructions are open to many and varied interpretations it still provides a way in which man can be guided with respect to his social and personal relationships. Baumann, Gerlinde. Love and violence: marriage as the metaphor for the relationship between YHWH and Israel in the prophetic books. Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2003. Print. Brewer, David Instone. “Three Weddings and a Divorce: God’s Covenant with Israel, Judah and the Church.” Tyndale Bulletin 47.1 (1996): 25. Print Davidson, Richard M. Flame of Yahweh: sexuality in the Old Testament. Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2007. Print. Field, David. “Talking Points. The Divorce Debate – Where are we Now?” Themelios 8.3 (1983): 31. Print Hall, Gary Harlan. Deuteronomy. New York: College Press Publishing Company, 2000. Print. House, Wayne, Laney Carl. Divorce and remarriage: Four Christian Views. Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1990. Print. J. Carl Laney, "Deuteronomy 24:1-4 and the Issue of Divorce," Bibliotheca Sacra 149: 593 (1992): 15. Print. Sigal, Phillip. The Halakah of Jesus of Nazareth according to the Gospel of Matthew. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1992. Print. Smith, James. The Pentateuch California: Baker Book House, 1992. Print. Sprinkle, Joe M. "Old Testament Perspectives on Divorce and Remarriage.: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40.4 (1997): 550. Print. Andrew Warren, "Did Moses Permit Divorce? Tyndale Bulletin 49.1 (1998): 56. Print. Wenham, Gordon et. al. Remarriage After Divorce in Today’s Church. Michigan: Zondervan, 2006. Print. The New American Bible. Ed. Daniel Pilarczyk. New York: Catholic Publishing House, 1992. Print. Read More