Q. What does the Bible say about divorce and remarriage.

A. The Scriptures allow for divorce and remarriage but only under certain circumstances and because the Lord knows that human hearts are hard, but it was not intended to be that way from the beginning. God allows things in this world like war, slavery, divorce and the taking of human life for a capital crime but that is only as a last resort and after all else has failed. Exodus 21.10-11 gives some reasons for a divorce such as non-support in areas like food, clothing and conjugal rights. Deut 24.1-4 gives more insight and says that one can divorce for some indecency. The Hebrew word is “ervah” and it means indecent, shameful or improper but it does not mean adultery because that sin is found in Leviticus 18 and is punishable by death. In Matt 5 31-32 the English word adultery is used in but the word in Greek in “porneia” and means something that makes life together unbearable anymore, which can mean sexual-type sins. It does not mean adultery there because you stoned adulterers so you wouldn’t need to have a divorcce. The Greek word for adultery is “moichao” so something other than adultery is being commented on, and this agrees with Deut 24.1. Other reasons for a divorce can be that the marriage was not legal or one married an idolater. Yeshua’s comments on divorce in Matthew 5 and 19 were centered around the fact that rabbinical interpretation had clouded the true essence of what God had truly intended. He was freeing Deut 24 from all the false interpretations of the Pharisee’s. If someone had a legal divorce they were free to remarry someone who was appropriate. You could not divorce someone in order to marry someone else either. That was considered adulterous. That issue got the attention of Herod Antipas who had married his brother’s wife Herodias, as John the Baptist so aptly pointed out. So it’s not a complicated issue but man-made traditions have overshadowed what the Lord’s original instruction was. Each case of marriage should be examined beforehand to avoid any unnecessary problems down the road