Because Your Hearts are Hard

Deuteronomy 24:1–4 (ESV)1 “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then 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 of his house, and she departs out of his house, 2 and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 and the latter man hates 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 man dies, who took her to be his wife, 4 then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

This is one of the few laws that Jesus directly addresses for us in the New Testament. A question is brought to Him about divorce and Moses' allowance for a certificate to be written in the case of a man desiring to separate from his wife.

Consider their question for this allowance and Jesus' response:
Matthew 19:7–9 (ESV) They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning, it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”

This is a stunning response from Jesus. It helps us see the Old Testament rightly in almost every way. Consider that Jesus here makes it clear the original intent of God was one man and one woman for life. Anything outside of that is ungodly.

Consider also that Jesus takes the side of the most conservative interpretation of marriage and divorce. Only one thing allows it - sexual immorality on the part of the wife. That is, the man is to be married to his wife so long as she stays faithful to him. Now in our modern age, we wonder about the woman's rights should her husband be unfaithful but the times in which the law was written and Jesus' interpreted were so far removed from ours we have to assume the same would be true in the opposite case (husband's unfaithfulness to his wife allows her to divorce him righteously).

In ancient Israel, the question became: what qualifies as "indecency" in a wife? The more liberal rabbi's taught that an ill-prepared meal was enough. The more conservatives said it would only be adultery. The word "indecency" is vague in Hebrew but could refer to some sort of promiscuous behavior or immodesty of a kind. We cannot really hammer one specific act as the "hard-line" here.

We must take note that this law was for the protection of the woman. Even Jesus makes clear this stipulation was in place because MEN's hearts were hard! A divorced woman in the ancient world would have been considered damaged goods no matter what she did. But a woman with a divorce certificate would have the option to marry again with impunity. This would protect the weaker sex from indiscriminate abandonment. The husband could leave (he shouldn't) but if he does, he writes her a certificate and she can marry without being considered a loose woman.

Furthermore, the law prohibited the man from re-marrying his first wife. This would eliminate the "loop-hole" manner of committing adultery. Divorce, fool around, remarry the same girl and all is well. God eliminates that option here demanding a man honor his vow and love ONE woman for life.

Now comes the interesting part. Jesus tells them straightly that this law was only an allowance for their hard-hearted ways. The heart of a man is the problem with every marriage. (Today, because culture is far more equivalent in gender rights, it is the heart of man and woman). God understood this in the time of Moses and provided a safe escape for all who endured unfair treatment rooted in the evil human heart of another. But let's be honest, we are all terrible to each other at times. And even the record of laws in Deuteronomy consistently points to this - God is drawing boundaries around His people so they stop hurting one another.

Herein lies the beauty of the Gospel. The Lord is our true husband who laid down his life for us in faithful love. He does not grow disatisfied with us and leave. He joins Himself to us for eternity. Why? Because His heart is NOT hard. His heart is good and perfect. Therefore He is faithful to the end and committed to help us become ONE with Himself.

Have you experienced the fruits of hard-hearted people? Turn to your true lover. The lover of your soul - Jesus Christ.