Bible Commentaries

Deuteronomy 24:1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give [it] in her hand, and send her out of his house.

Ver. 1. Because he hath found some uncleanness.] He is displeased with some defect which he hath found either in her body or behaviour: as our Henry VIII pretended at least to do in his Anne of Cleve, sister to William, duke of Cleve, whose other sister Frederick, duke of Saxony, Luther’s patron and protector, had espoused. This lady being sent into England, against Frederick’s liking, and married to King Henry, seemed nothing pleasing in his eye, and was therefore ( sed quo iure?) soon after divorced. This Stephen Gardiner thought a fit subject for him to work upon against the Lord Cromwell, who had made the match, and now opposed the divorce, and was therefore put to death, which he suffered right Christianly and cheerfully. ^(a)

Let him write her a bill of divorcement.] Heb., He shall write her a bill of divorcement. God permitteth, he commandeth not the Jews thus to do, as they mistook the matter, [Matthew 19:7] and were better informed by our Saviour. [Matthew 19:8] {See Trapp on "Matthew 19:8"}

Deuteronomy 24:3 And [if] the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth [it] in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her [to be] his wife;

Ver. 3. And if the latter husband hate her.] As many Nabals now-a-days do. Job was not more weary of his boils, than they are of their bedfellows, cursing their weddingday as much as he did his birthday, and thirsting after a divorce as he did after death: which, because it cannot be had, their lives prove like the sojourning of Israel in Marah, where almost nothing could be heard but mourning, conjuring, and complaining.

Deuteronomy 24:4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that [is] abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance.

Ver. 4. After that she is defiled.] Or, Caused to he defiled, to wit, by her husband, who put her away first, he being her only lawful husband. [Matthew 5:32]

Deuteronomy 24:5 When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: [but] he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken.

Ver. 5. Shall cheer up his wife.] For the better knitting of their affections; which, if well done at first, will continue the more firm ever after; as a broken bone well set, or as two boards well glued together, will sooner break in a new place than there.

Deuteronomy 24:6 No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge: for he taketh [a man’s] life to pledge.

Ver. 6. A man’s life.] That is, his livelihood. A poor man in his house is like a snail in his shell, crush that and you kill him. See Luke 8:43, Mark 12:44. All her life, ολον του βιον, that is, all her living.

Deuteronomy 24:7 If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and maketh merchandise of him, or selleth him; then that thief shall die; and thou shalt put evil away from among you.

Ver. 7. And maketh merchandise of him.] What then shall be done to those seducers, that "creeping," or shooting themselves into houses, "lead captive silly women," [2 Timothy 3:6] and simple men, [Romans 16:18] take them prisoners, and then make price of them? [2 Peter 2:3] Of which sort of soul merchants, there are now-a-days found not a few. See Revelation 18:13.

Deuteronomy 24:8 Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you: as I commanded them, [so] ye shall observe to do.

Ver. 8. The Levites shall teach you.] Not the history only, but the mystery too. {See Trapp on "Leviticus 13:2"} &c.

Deuteronomy 24:9 Remember what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt.

Ver. 9. Did unto Miriam.] When he spat in her face, and spared her not, though a prophetess, and a conductress of God’s people to Canaan. [Micah 6:4] God will not pass by the sins of his saints, if scandalous especially, without a sensible check.

Deuteronomy 24:10 When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge.

Ver. 10. To fetch his pledge.] To see, Quam sit eurta supellex, and to pick and choose what pledge thou pleasest.

Deuteronomy 24:12 And if the man [be] poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge:

Ver. 12. Thou shalt not sleep with his pledge.] As those cruel crafties did, [Amos 2:8] that "sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes." [Amos 2:6]

Deuteronomy 24:13 In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the LORD thy God.

Ver. 13. May bless thee.] Saying, as St Paul brings in the relieved poor Christian, [2 Corinthians 9:15] "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." God will surely bless thee for such a blessing.

And it shall be righteousness unto thee.] God will reckon it for a good work, and graciously reward it, he will turn paymaster to thee; thy righteousness, and thy riches too, shall endure for ever. [Psalms 112:3]