Every Bible you have ever owned labels Deuteronomy 24 same way. They all call Deuteronomy 24:1-4 "The Law of Divorce" —but what if that's not what the passage is about at all?
In this episode, Mark walks through Deuteronomy 24:1-4 word by word, drawing on the work of Raymond Westbrook to make the case that this passage is not giving permission for divorce, not restricting divorce, and not establishing grounds for divorce. It is doing something else entirely — something far more specific, far more historically grounded, and far more protective of women than the standard reading ever allowed.
Also drawing on Babylonian law, the Code of Hammurabi, the Laws of Eshnunna, and biblical narratives involving Abraham, Sarah, David, and Michal, this conversation uncovers why ancient legal context completely changes how we read the passage.
In this episode:
- Why Deuteronomy 24:1-4 is not a divorce law
- The certificate of divorce — what it meant for a woman in the ancient world
- The key word in verse 4 — "defiled" — and why nobody has ever adequately explained what it means or why it applies here
- Why the Hebrew word toevah — abomination — is used for a man who takes back his ex-wife, the same word used for idolatry and child sacrifice
- Raymond Westbrook's argument about what the passage is actually protecting against - How misreading this passage has shaped Christian teaching on divorce and remarriage for 2,000 years
📚 Sources & Scholars Mentioned:
Raymond Westbrook — ancient Near Eastern legal scholar, work on biblical divorce law
David Instone-Brewer — Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible (Eerdmans)
Bernard Jackson — Wisdom Laws: A Study of the Mishpatim
Samuel Greengus — Laws in the Bible and in Early Rabbinic Collections
