The Divorce Certificate (Get)

Deuteronomy 24:1-4 describes a situation where a man divorces his wife by writing 'a certificate of divorce' (sefer keritut, literally 'document of cutting off'), gives it to her, and sends her from his house. The passage does not command divorce; it regulates a practice already occurring, specifically prohibiting a man from remarrying his original wife if she has subsequently married another man who has also died or divorced her. The 'certificate of divorce' functioned as formal legal documentation that freed the woman from her marriage and permitted her to remarry - protecting her from the ambiguous social status of uncertain marital state.

The grounds for divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1 - 'because he finds something indecent in her' (ervat davar, literally 'nakedness of a thing') - became the source of bitter rabbinic debate. The two main schools split sharply: the school of Shammai allowed divorce only for sexual immorality (the strict reading of ervat davar); the school of Hillel permitted divorce for almost any reason, including if the wife burned dinner ('something displeasing'). Rabbi Akiva went further, permitting divorce if the man found another woman more beautiful.

When the Pharisees ask Jesus 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?' (Matthew 19:3), they are explicitly testing him on the Shammai-Hillel dispute. Jesus's response is neither - he appeals to the creation order (Genesis 2:24) to argue that divorce was a concession to human hardness of heart, not God's original design, and limits grounds to sexual immorality (Matthew 19:9). Mark 10:10-12 adds the striking provision that a woman who divorces her husband also commits adultery - a legal possibility in Roman law but not Jewish law, showing that Jesus addressed Gentile as well as Jewish contexts.

The actual procedure for a get (divorce document) in rabbinic halakha required the document to be written specifically for this couple, by a scribe, handed by the husband to the wife in the presence of witnesses, who then physically received it and walked away. This physical receipt confirmed the woman's freedom to remarry. The halakhic complexities of get delivery have generated centuries of legal discussion and remain a live issue in modern Jewish divorce law.

Archaeological Evidence

Divorce documents from ancient Near Eastern sites show the legal formalities involved. Old Babylonian divorce tablets from Nippur specify the formula for divorce and the financial obligations involved. The Elephantine papyri include both marriage and divorce documents from the Jewish colony in Egypt. Mesopotamian divorce law required the husband to provide a written document confirming the wife's free status.

Dead Sea Scrolls Evidence

The Damascus Document (CD 13:17) prohibits taking multiple wives in ways that may address the divorce-and-remarriage practice. 4Q271 (Damascus Document fragment) and 4Q251 contain marriage and divorce regulations. 11QT (Temple Scroll) col. 57 restricts the king to one wife and implies that divorce was a real concern in the law. The Qumran community's strict interpretation appears to have prohibited divorce entirely based on their reading of Genesis 1-2.

Parallel Cultures

Divorce with written documentation appears in Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Greek legal contexts. Hammurabi §138-140 addresses divorce procedure and financial obligations. Athenian law required the husband to formally return the wife to her *kyrios* (guardian). Roman *repudium* (divorce letter) was the standard formal procedure. What was distinctive in Israelite law was the explicit requirement that the husband provide a written certificate - protecting the woman from informal abandonment by providing legal documentation of her free status.

Scholarly Sources

Carolyn Pressler's work on Deuteronomic family law is essential. Jeffrey Tigay's *Deuteronomy* covers Deuteronomy 24:1-4. Raymond Brown's *The Birth of the Messiah* addresses the Matthew 1 divorce context. For Jesus's teaching on divorce, Francis Moloney's work on Matthew 19 provides exegetical analysis.

Modern Misconceptions

A common error reads Deuteronomy 24:1 ("something indecent") as the Pharisaic debate topic of Jesus's day - it was indeed the central disputed phrase, with the school of Shammai reading it narrowly (sexual immorality only) and the school of Hillel reading it broadly (any displeasure). Jesus's teaching went beyond both schools, addressing the creation intent of marriage (Genesis 2:24) rather than the conditions for divorce.

• ISBE: Divorce
• Matthews, Manners and Customs of the Bible, pp.130-133
• Freeman, Manners and Customs of the Bible, pp.238-242