Deuteronomy 24:1-13 - Divorce and Remarriage, Loans and Pledges, Kidnapping

<p>     In this section, Moses addresses divorce and remarriage (Deut 24:1-4), military and societal exemptions for a newlywed man (Deut 24:5), respecting those who gave pledges for loans (Deut 24:6, 10-13), kidnapping and selling a fellow Israelite (Deut 24:7), and respecting the authority of the Levitical priests concerning matters of skin disease (Deut 24:8-9). Several of these directives seem to be an expansion of the commandment, “You shall not steal” (Deut 5:19).</p> <p>Divorce and remarriage</p> <p>     In the first three verses of this chapter, Moses describes a scenario where divorce occurs (protasis). The specific reason would have been known to Moses’ audience; however, that reason is not known to us. In this scenario, only verse four provides a legislative directive, and that pertains to remarriage (apodosis). Describing the scenario, Moses wrote:</p> <ul><li>"When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house, 2 and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, 4 then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the LORD, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance." (Deut 24:1-4)</li> </ul> <p>     In the opening verse, Moses describes a man who marries a woman (Deut 24:1a), but then afterwards, he finds “some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house” (Deut 24:1b). Under the Mosaic Law, divorce was permitted, on certain grounds, but not promoted. The indecency found in the woman i