Bible Dictionary
Divorce
Divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage. Moses regulated it, but Jesus taught that God’s purpose for marriage is lifelong faithfulness and restricted divorce to the case of sexual immorality.
Definition
Divorce is the legal dissolution of the marriage relationship. Mosaic law regulated the practice and specified circumstances affecting a husband’s right to dismiss his wife.
Biblical Usage
Jesus taught that God’s purpose for marriage is not lightly set aside and limited the accepted ground of divorce to sexual immorality. His teaching addressed the loose practices and disputed interpretations current among the Jews.
Historical Background
Jewish teachers differed over the grounds for divorce. The school of Shammai restricted it to moral wrongdoing, while the school of Hillel allowed lesser causes, including trivial domestic complaints.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The dissolution of the marriage tie was regulated by the Mosaic law (Deut. 24:1-4). The Jews, after the Captivity, were reguired to dismiss the foreign women they had married contrary to the law (Ezra 10:11-19). Christ limited the permission of divorce to the single case of adultery. It seems that it was not uncommon for the Jews at that time to dissolve the union on very slight pretences (Matt. 5:31, 32; 19:1-9; Mark 10:2-12; Luke 16:18). These precepts given by Christ regulate the law of divorce in the Christian Church.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
“a legal dissolution of the marriage relation.” The law regulating this subject is found (24:1-4) and the cases in which the right of a husband to divorce his wife was lost are stated ibid ., (22:19,29) The ground of divorce is appoint on which the Jewish doctors of the period of the New Testament differed widely; the school of Shammai seeming to limit it to a moral delinquency in the woman, whilst that the Hillel extended it to trifling causes, e.g., if the wife burnt the food she was cooking for her husband. The Pharisees wished perhaps to embroil our Saviour with these rival schools by their question, (Matthew 19:3) by his answer to which, as well as by his previous maxim, (Matthew 5:31) he declares that he regarded all the lesser causes than “fornication” as standing on too weak ground, and declined the question of how to interpret the words of Moses.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>see DIVORCE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT; DIVORCE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT</p>