What God Joined Together - Family Radio

The key words of Deuteronomy 24:1 are “some uncleanness.” For “some
uncleanness” found in a wife the husband had Biblical cause for divorce. What
was this sin
The Hebrew word “debar,” which is translated as “some” in the phrase
“some uncleanness,” normally means “word” or “matter.” Out of about 2400
usages in the Bible, “debar” is translated in at least 1000 verses as “speak” or
“talk” or something similar. In other verses it is translated “word” (at least 770
times). Thus, “word” or “talk” are the dominant meanings of the word “debar.”
Less often, but with considerable frequency, “debar” is translated as “act”
(52 times), “matter” (63 times), and “thing” (215 times). Thus, we can safely
say that in Deuteronomy 24:1, “debar” should be translated as “act,” “matter,”
“thing,” or “word.”
The Hebrew word translated as “uncleanness” in this same phrase is
“ervah,” which is found 54 times in the King James Bible. In more than 50 of
these places it is translated “nakedness.” When we examine the places where
it is translated “nakedness,” we find that it usually relates to gross sexual
impurity. For example, in Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20, where God sets forth
commands prohibiting incest, God employs the word “nakedness” (“ervah”) at
least 30 times.
Thus, the word “ervah” takes on the meaning “fornication.” In Leviticus
18:8 God warns, “The nakedness [ervah] of thy father’s wife shalt thou not
uncover.” A commentary on this warning is found in I Corinthians 5:1:
It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such
fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should
have his father’s wife.
In this verse, God uses the word “fornication” in connection with sexual
impurity between a man and his father’s wife. In Leviticus 18:8, God speaks
of this kind of sexual impurity as uncovering the nakedness. Therefore, we can
see that “nakedness” or “uncleanness” is synonymous with “fornication.”
Bringing these facts together, we know that in Deuteronomy 24:1 God is
teaching that if a man found a “word” or a “matter” of fornication in his wife,
he could write a bill of divorcement and divorce her. Certain acts of
fornication were punishable by death, but if the particular act or word of
fornication did not require the death of the fornicating wife, the husband had
the right to divorce her.
Another understanding of the meaning of “ervah” was what opened the
door for the Israelite husband to divorce his wife under almost any
circumstance.
DIVORCE FOR ANY CAUSE
In Deuteronomy 23:12-14 God uses the identical phrase, “ervah dabar,”
which is the key phrase of Deuteronomy 24:1. “Ervah debar” does not refer to
fornication; rather, it refers to ceremonial uncleanness. Deuteronomy 23:12-
14:
12 What God hath joined together...