Deuteronomychapter 24
22 verses · BSBDeuteronomy book hub →
Key verse
If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds some indecency in her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.
It stands in A bill of divorcement, and no going back, verses 1 to 4.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Divorce, gleanings, labour, and the pledge. Divorce permitted but not encouraged; a second husband's divorce does not restore the first. The newly-wed man free from war and public charge for a year. No handmill or upper millstone taken as a pledge: ‘for he taketh a man's life to pledge’. Kidnapping punished with death. Leprosy: ‘remember what the LORD thy God did unto Miriam’. Lending without entering the debtor's house to fetch a pledge; the poor man's garment returned at sundown. Wages paid the same day. No perverting the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, widow; no pledge from the widow. Gleanings of field, olive, vine left for the poor.
Context
Law · Moses · Deuteronomy overview
The world behind this chapter
Deuteronomy 24The history
The chapter is Moses speaking in the fortieth year, and its statutes are addressed to whoever holds the stronger position. The house reading dates it to about 1406 BC, stated as a reading rather than a settled date. The place is the plains of Moab, and the households in view are the ones Israel will keep in the land. The occasion is the protection of people who cannot enforce a claim, from a dismissed wife to a day labourer to a widow gleaning. A first hearer knew what the certificate at verse 1 was for, since a document proved a woman free to remarry. A first hearer knew what a millstone was worth, since taking a hand mill in pledge took away a family's ability to make bread. A cloak was worth as much, since a poor man's cloak was his covering at night. Wages were paid by the day, so a worker holding out for pay overnight had no reserve to wait on. A first hearer also knew that collective family punishment was ordinary practice under the legal systems of the day, which is the background to the rule at verse 16.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
What it meant to them
Every statute in the chapter protects somebody who could not enforce a contract. The ground given for them is stated twice, that Israel was a slave in Egypt and the LORD redeemed them from there. The harvest rules backed the wage rules up, since what a reaper forgot in the field belonged to the stranger, the fatherless and the widow. The rule that fathers are not put to death for children made each person answer in court for his own sin.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- This site's published exposition of Deuteronomy 24, in the store's exposition_notes
Where the chapter sits
Deuteronomy 24 falls in Second sermon, the law restated (chapters 5–26). The Decalogue repeated; the Shema; laws for the land, for worship, for kingship, for war, for the poor. The covenant's central exposition.
Before it: First sermon, retrospective, chapters 1–4. After it: Third sermon, blessings and curses, chapters 27–30.
The whole shape of Deuteronomy→The structure of this chapter
People1
Places1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. A bill of divorcement, and no going backvv. 1-4
Verses 1 to 3 set out a case and verse 4 alone carries the command, so what the statute forbids is the first husband taking her back after a second marriage. The Pharisees quote it at Matthew 19:7 as though Moses had commanded the writing of divorcement, and Jesus answers that Moses suffered it for the hardness of your hearts and that from the beginning it was not so. The schools of Shammai and Hillel divided over how much the phrase some uncleanness covers, which is why the question at Matthew 19:3 is put in the form of every cause. Jeremiah 3:1 reasons from this same law about Israel and her lovers.
Deuteronomy 24:1
“That the husband must give it into the hand of his wife, and send her away, which some think obliged him to endow her and make provision for her, according to her quality and such as might help to marry her again; and good reason he should do this, since the cause of quarrel was not her fault, but her infelicity.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Deuteronomy 24:1
“When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes--It appears that the practice of divorces was at this early period very prevalent amongst the Israelites, who had in all probability become familiar with it in Egypt [LANE]. The usage, being too deep-rooted to be soon or easily abolished, was tolerated by Moses (Mt 19:8).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Deuteronomy 24:1
“Let him write - This is not a command as some of the Jews understood it, nor an allowance and approbation, but merely a permission of that practice for prevention of greater mischiefs, and this only until the time of reformation, till the coming of the Messiah when things were to return to their first institution and purest condition.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Deuteronomy 24:1
- Quoted inMatthew 5:31“It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’”
'Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement'
Deuteronomy 24:2
“The divorce had dissolved the bond of marriage as effectually as death could dissolve it; so that she was as free to marry again as if her first husband had been naturally dead.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 24:3
“And write her a bill of divorcement - These bills, though varying in expression, are the same in substance among the Jews in all places. The following, collected from Maimonides and others, is a general form, and contains all the particulars of such instruments. The reader who is curious may find a full account of divorces in the Biblioth.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 24:4
“Defiled - Not absolutely, as if her second marriage were a sin, but with respect to her first husband, to whom she is as a defiled or unclean woman, that is, forbidden things; forbidden are accounted and called unclean, Judg. xiii, 7, because they may no more be touched or used than an unclean thing.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:4
“Although what relates to divorce was granted in indulgence to the Jews, yet Christ pronounces that it was never in accordance with the Law, because it is directly repugnant to the first institution of God, from whence a perpetual and inviolable rule is to be sought.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
B. A year at home; no millstone taken in pledgevv. 5-9
The exemptions at 20:5-7 sent home the man who had betrothed a wife and not taken her, and verse 5 adds a full year at home for the man who has. Verses 6 and 7 both price a man's life: the hand mill may not be taken in pledge because he taketh a man's life to pledge, and stealing a man is capital where stealing goods was not, which Exodus 21:16 had already said. The leprosy law itself is not repeated here, only the order to do what the priests teach, and the memory set beside it is Miriam at Numbers 12:10-15. Remember falls fourteen times in this book and three of them stand in this chapter, at verses 9, 18 and 22.
Deuteronomy 24:5
“When a man hath taken a new wife - Other people made a similar provision for such circumstances. Alexander ordered those of his soldiers who had married that year to spend the winter with their wives, while the army was in winter quarters. See Arrian, lib. i.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:5
“When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war--This law of exemption was founded on good policy and was favorable to matrimony, as it afforded a full opportunity for the affections of the newly married pair being more firmly rooted, and it diminished or removed occasions for the divorces just mentioned.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Deuteronomy 24:6
“The nether or the upper mill-stone - Small hand-mills which can be worked by a single person were formerly in use among the Jews, and are still used in many parts of the East. As therefore the day’s meal was generally ground for each day, they keeping no stock beforehand, hence they were forbidden to take either of the stones to pledge, because in such a case the family must be without bread. On this account the text terms the millstone the man’s life.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:6
“Mill-stone - Used in their hand-mills. Under this, he understands all other things necessary to get a livelihood, the taking away whereof is against the laws both of charity and prudence, seeing by those things alone he can be enabled both to subsist and to pay his debts.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Deuteronomy 24:6
“No man shall take the nether or the upper millstone to pledge--The "upper" stone being concave, covers the "nether" like a lid; and it has a small aperture, through which the corn is poured, as well as a handle by which it is turned. The propriety of the law was founded on the custom of grinding corn every morning for daily consumption.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Deuteronomy 24:7
“If a man be found stealing any of his brethren of the children of Israel,.... Whether grown up or little, male or female, an Israelite or a proselyte, or a freed servant; all, as Maimonides (f) says, are included in this general word "brethren"; though Aben Ezra observes, that it is added, "of the children of Israel", for explanation, since an Edomite is called a "brother".”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:7
“It was not death by the law of Moses to steal cattle or goods; but to steal a child, or a weak and simple man, or one that a man had in his power, and to make merchandize of him, this was a capital crime, and could not be expiated, as other thefts, by restitution--so much is a man better than a sheep, Matt. xii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 24:8
“The laws concerning it we had, Lev. xiii. They are here said to be commanded to the priests and Levites, and therefore are not repeated in a discourse to the people; but the people are here charged, in case of leprosy, to apply to the priest according to the law, and to abide by his judgment, so far as it agreed with the law and the plain matter of fact.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 24:9
“Remember what the Lord thy God did unto Miriam,....”
C. Return his cloak before the sun goes downvv. 10-13
Deuteronomy 24:10-15
The creditor waits outside and the debtor brings the pledge out to him, so a poor man's house is not entered over a debt. Exodus 22:26-27 already required the garment back by sundown, and verse 13 adds what the older statute did not, that it shall be righteousness unto thee before the Lord thy God. The hired servant is paid at his day whether he is of thy brethren or of thy strangers, because he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it, and Leviticus 19:13 gives the same rule. James 5:4 has the hire of the labourers kept back by fraud crying into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Deuteronomy 24:10
“The borrower (says Solomon) is servant to the lender; therefore lest the lender should abuse the advantage he has against him, and improve it for his own interest, it is provided that he shall take not what he pleases, but what the borrower can best spare. A man's house is his castle, even the poor man's house is so, and is here taken under the protection of the law.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 24:11
“Thou shall stand abroad,....”
Deuteronomy 24:13
“Bless thee - Bring down the blessing of God upon thee by his prayers: for though his prayers, if he be not a good man, shall not avail for his own behalf, yet they shall avail for thy benefit. It shall be right - Esteemed and accepted by God as a work of righteousness, or mercy.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:13
“In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again, when the sun goeth down,....”
D. Pay the hired man the same day
1. (vv. 14-15)
Deuteronomy 24:14
“Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy--Hired servants in the East are paid at the close of the day; and for a master to defraud the laborer of his hire, or to withhold it wrongfully for a night, might have subjected a poor man with his family to suffering and was therefore an injustice to be avoided (Le 19:13).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Deuteronomy 24:15
“He is poor, and setteth his heart upon it - How exceedingly natural is this! The poor servant who seldom sees money, yet finds from his master’s affluence that it procures all the conveniences and comforts of life, longs for the time when he shall receive his wages; should his pay be delayed after the time is expired, he may naturally be expected to cry unto God against him who withholds it. See most of these subjects treated at large on Exo 22:21-27 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2. (vv. 16-18)
Deuteronomy 24:16
“Not put to death - If the one be free from the guilt of the others sin, except in those cases where the sovereign Lord of life and death, before whom none is innocent, hath commanded it, as chap. xiii, 1-18 Josh. vii, 24. For though God do visit the father's sins upon the children, Exod. xx, 5, yet he will not suffer men to do so.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:16
“The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, etc. - This law is explained and illustrated in sufficient detail, Ezekiel 18.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Deuteronomy 24:16
“Accordingly, we find Amaziah sparing the children, even when the fathers were put to death for killing the king, 2 Kings xiv. It was in an extraordinary case, and no doubt by special direction from heaven, that Saul's sons were put to death for his offence, and they died rather as sacrifices than as malefactors, 2 Sam. xxi.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 24:17
“Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:17
“Compare the marginal references. The motive assigned for these various acts of consideration is one and the same Deu 24:18, Deu 24:22.”
Deuteronomy 24:18
“Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman - Most people who have affluence rose from comparative penury, for those who are born to estates frequently squander them away; such therefore should remember what their feelings, their fears, and anxieties were, when they were poor and abject.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:18
“But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt,....”
2 Kings 14:6 quotes this verse by name when Amaziah executes his father's murderers and spares their children, so the rule stands on record as having been kept. Exodus 20:5 speaks of God visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, while this verse governs what a court may do, and Ezekiel 18 takes up the difference at length. The stranger, the fatherless and the widow stand together here as they do through the book, and the ground given for the group is that thou wast a bondman in Egypt and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence.
E. Leave the forgotten sheaf in the fieldvv. 19-22
Leviticus 19:9-10 and 23:22 left the corners of the field and the gleanings, and this adds the sheaf a man forgot, so what is lost by accident becomes the portion of the poor. Ruth 2 is the same law in operation, since Ruth is both a stranger and a widow, two of the three named here, and Boaz at 2:16 orders handfuls let fall on purpose, which is past what the statute asks. The chapter closes on the ground verse 18 gave, that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 24:19
“When thou cuttest down thine harvest - This is an addition to the law, Lev 19:9; Lev 23:22. The corners of the field, the gleanings, and the forgotten sheaf, were all the property of the poor. This the Hebrews extended to any part of the fruit or produce of a field, which had been forgotten in the time of general ingathering, as appears from the concluding verses of this chapter.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Deuteronomy 24:19
"Say not, 'What should the poor do with grapes and olives? It is enough for them to have bread and water;' for, since they have the same senses that the rich have, why should not they have so me little share of the delights of sense?" Boaz ordered handfuls of corn to be left on purpose for Ruth, and God blessed him. All that is left is not lost.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Deuteronomy 24:19
“When thou cuttest down thine harvest in thy field--The grain, pulled up by the roots or cut down with a sickle, was laid in loose sheaves; the fruit of the olive was obtained by striking the branches with long poles; and the grape clusters, severed by a hook, were gathered in the hands of the vintager. Here is a beneficent provision for the poor.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Deuteronomy 24:20
“When thou beatest thine olive tree,.... With sticks and staves, to get off the olives when ripe: thou shall not go over the boughs again; to beat off some few that may remain; they were not nicely to examine the boughs over again, whether there were any left or not: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow; who might come into their oliveyards after the trees had been beaten, and gather what were left.”
Deuteronomy 24:21
“When thou gatherest the grapes of thy vineyard,....”
Deuteronomy 24:22
“And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt,.... When they would have been glad to have enjoyed the like favours, as small as they might seem to be, even to glean in their fields, vineyards, and oliveyards: therefore I command thee to do this thing; to suffer the poor to take the forgotten sheaf, and to come into their oliveyards and vineyards, and gather what olives and grapes remained after the first beating of the one, and the ingathering of the other.”
This page carries no textual note on Deuteronomy 24. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
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