JohnDB
Regular Member
but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery.
Matt. 5:32
A "put away" wife is not the same as a divorced wife.
There also were various levels of marriage in the ANE. They didn't have "engaged" or "betrothed" in their language. Only married.
Once the contract made for the bride price and dowry was made they were married...
Of course they had to create the marriage contract called a ketubah which detailed out who was to do what including how many times per week a husband had to perform his husbandly duties. And also a customary clause in this contract was that the bride price had to be given to the wife upon divorce.
So men would basically kick the woman out while staying married to her. Clothing and food and housing were denied her except for the most minimal amounts...(food) not really enough for a whole day.
This treatment was reserved for adulterous women. (Joseph was going to do this to Mary when she became pregnant and he had yet to completely marry her yet)
Malachi talks about how putting away a wife was abuse and bloodshed.
These put away wives went elsewhere to find a new husband because they had no means to access the courts for a divorce. No Levite priest or Rabbi would give any woman anywhere at anytime a divorce if she requested it.
Polygamy for men was allowed...
And men suspecting that a woman was "put away" could and would abuse the situation. Adulterous women were regularly stoned.
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