Today's Scripture Reading (January 25, 2022): Deuteronomy 24
Judy Sheindlin, better known as Judge Judy, has been
married three times, but only to two husbands. She married Richard Levy when
she was in her early twenties. The marriage lasted for twelve years. Then, in
1977, Judy married Jerry Sheindlin; the pair then divorced in 1990 but remarried again in 1991. Jerry
and Judy have remained married since then. The reason for the divorce is
believed to have been a result of the stress on Judy due to the death of her father. Maybe we should see the
divorce in 1990 as a mistake, one that was rectified a year later.
The Bible's stand on marriage might be a little confusing. But
the preferred standard has always been a union between two people for life.
Genesis sums up the concept of marriage with these words: "a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his
wife, and they become one flesh (Genesis 2:24).
The
Pharisees asked Jesus if it was legal to divorce a woman for any reason. Part
of our struggle with ancient marriage is that the control over the marriage
rested with the man. A woman had no say in whether or not the marriage
continued; it was the man who held the power of divorce. Today, that power is
shared between the couple. Another problem with divorce is that the dissolution
of a marriage would often leave the woman in a state of poverty. Unless she
could find someone else who was willing to marry her, the divorced woman could
often live only because of the financial support of her friends and family. The
effects of divorce were decidedly one-sided, with the woman bearing most of the
cost for the end of the marriage. Jesus's response to the Pharisees was;
Haven't you read that at the
beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and
said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to
his wife, and the two will become one flesh?' So they are no longer two, but one
flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate"
(Matthew 19:4-6).
The next question of the Pharisees was if marriage is
supposed to be permanent, why did God make provision for divorce? Again, Jesus responds that "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives
because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning"
(Matthew 19:8).
One restriction that Moses does put on marriage is
that remarriage of a spouse after she has married someone else is prohibited.
And the reason might not be obvious, but I believe it is so that women could not be toyed with. It is not so that a mistake can't be corrected. Judge Judy's remarriage would have been legal in Moses's Israel because there was no spouse between her two marriages to Jerry
Sheindlin. But in a world where the man holds all of the power, the woman had
to be protected. And allowing a man to play with a woman's emotions was simply wrong. Regardless, it would be
better if the divorce hadn't happened in the first place.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 25
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