A Written Certificate
““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,”
A LAW ABOUT A HARD HEART
Jesus would later explain that this permission existed because of human hardness of heart, not because it reflected God's original design for marriage.
A CERTIFICATE REQUIRED
The law did not allow informal abandonment — it required a formal document placed in the woman's hand, protecting her from future accusations and legal ambiguity.
LIMITING MALE POWER
By requiring a formal process, the law restricted the husband's arbitrary power — even in a patriarchal culture, God placed limits on abuse.
GOD HATES DIVORCE
The prophet Malachi would later declare directly that God hates divorce — this permission was never a glad approval but a sorrowful concession.
JESUS POINTED BACK TO THE BEGINNING
When questioned about this law, Jesus returned to Genesis, to God's original design for marriage — the law does not define the ideal, only administers the fall.
GUARD A MARRIAGE NEAR YOU
Act: Send one specific message of encouragement today to a couple you know, praying that hardness of heart never defines their relationship.