God’s Protection of Women – Article 2: God’s Commandment for Divorce…in Certain Circumstances

The apostle Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is inspired by God. With that in mind, let me point you to the Law of Moses in the Torah (Old Testament) and at least one place in which God provided for the protection of women in ancient times. Of course, if God meant it for way back then, it is still meant for us today.

As morally reprehensible as it sounds, the buying and selling of wives in the ancient Middle East was common practice. Unfortunately, such a practice continues in many parts of the world to this day. But, thankfully, God’s laws provided some measure of justice for women. For example, in Exodus 21, the law states that a husband must provide food, clothing, and marital rights (probably sexual relations so that she could bear children and thus be honored in society) for his wife, regardless of whether or not he loved her; regardless of whether or not she was a slave wife or a free wife.

If a husband did not provide the most basic needs of food, clothing, and other marital rights for his wife, then God’s law required the husband to set her free—formally divorce her. In other words, God allowed divorce as a means of protecting wives from neglectful, unloving husbands in bad marriages. It’s true that the law does not command wives to divorce, but they were expected to tell a trusted loved one (perhaps a father) who would then speak on her behalf and pressure the neglectful husband to go through with the divorce. Mercifully, that divorced wife owed her ex-husband nothing—no money, no debt of any kind.[i]

A manipulative “Christian” husband might argue that the Old Testament laws do not apply to marriages today or that the laws of Moses were and are only for Jewish people, but remember two things: 1) all Scripture is God-breathed—allmeaning both Old and New Testaments; 2) the entire Bible reveals God’s character. In a Middle Eastern culture of gender politics that demeaned and debased females, God’s laws revealed His protective lovingkindness toward women.

That same manipulative husband might also try to argue that the Old Testament’s references to divorce open the door for more Christians to unnecessarily break apart their marriages, but consider this: God’s perfect design for marriage has always been for husbands to properly love, provide and care for their wives. Knowing, however, that not all husbands would be good and kind to their wives as they ought to be, God not only allowed, he commandeddivorce as a means of protecting uncared-for wives. Jewish Rabbinical teaching applies God’s commands from the least to the greater, so by legally commanding husbands to divorce their mistreated, unloved, unwanted slave wives, God made it very clear that He does not tolerate the mistreatment of any wife at any level, slave or free.[ii]

[i]God’s Protection of Women, by Martin R. De Haan II, p. 7

[ii]God’s Protection of Women, by Martin R. De Haan II, p. 7