These laws in Deuteronomy seem relatively straightforward. You can eat grapes, but not take any with you (Deuteronomy 23:24). A man is not to wear women’s clothing (Deuteronomy 22:5). If a man is scared to fight, he can be excused from battle (Deuteronomy 20:8).
That’s how the law of divorce seems to be in Deuteronomy 24:1. If you find something “indecent” in your new spouse, you may divorce them—provided you don’t remarry them later after they have been married to someone else.
Before we go any further, though, we have to address this “indecency” clause that Moses allows for.
Surprisingly, this law is quite subjective. While traditional interpretations suggest things such as suspicious absences from home or embezzlement of household funds, most scholars agree that it could be much more mundane than that. One translation renders indecency as “something obnoxious”; in that view, burning the toast would qualify.
As you could imagine, this opens the door to all sorts of abuse, which is probably why Jesus addresses it head-on in Matthew 19. In that story, Jesus is asked by the Pharisees His specific position (what “school of thought” He subscribes to) on marriage, divorce, and remarriage.
In response, Jesus says that adultery is the only cause for divorce and remarriage, which most likely shocked most people there. When they asked about this clause in Deuteronomy 24, where Moses allowed for such a wide use of divorce, Jesus said that it was because of the “hardness of their hearts.”
God never wanted divorce. It was never part of the plan, which is why Jesus takes the argument back to creation with Adam and Eve (Matthew 19:5). However, because He knew that mankind would probably create loopholes, Moses allowed divorces because of “indecency.”
Put the divorce issue to the side real quick (we’ll address it head-on when we get to Matthew…eventually). Instead, let’s ask this question: What does Jesus’ repositioning of the Law in Matthew 19 say about the other laws in Deuteronomy?
For instance, the laws mentioned above are black and white. If a man is too scared to fight, he can leave. Case closed (Deuteronomy 20:8).
But why would that man be scared to begin with? Is it because he doesn’t trust in God? Is it because he has sin and is worried about not handling that before he dies? Does he have questions about the validity of the battle itself?
There are all sorts of questions that underpin most of these laws which simply can’t be dealt with one-on-one. When Jesus takes an otherwise “routine” law in Deuteronomy 24 and starts getting to the heart of the matter, it should lead us to do so with other laws.
We can’t change them, obviously, and we don’t live under the Old Law anyways. But understanding the heart of those laws may help us understand more about what God really wants from us.