I agree.
Because that's what it says in Deuteronomy 24:2.
The purpose of the paperwork is so she can show a future husband that she is available, no other man has a competing claim. It is irrelevant whether that paperwork is issued privately by her husband, or if he uses the government process to get their paperwork - she has a piece of paper that shows he no longer claims her, and she is free.
If that paper may be invalid - if her former husband may have released her, but she still be not free to remarry because of a technicality - then she is stuck in limbo. She cannot go back to her former husband (he's made very clear he doesn't want her), but nor can she remarry (because the paper is invalid), so she is condemned to singleness. This is not fair on the woman, especially if she did nothing to deserve it.
You're all over the place here, if you look objectively at you position. Fairness to the women who were sent away unjustifiably is not the issue here, the law is. Women put in a bad spot because of distortion of the law is not the issue, the distortion of the law is. This is precisely what Jesus is addressing. He doesn't tell them to continue as is because a lot of women would be in a bad spot otherwise, he corrects them on the law, their interpretation of it, misuse of that interpretation, and then ultimately the morality of the entire thing, so that it stops happening.
I think the idea that the divorce is valid only if the reason is valid is being over-legalistic.
Absolutely. Rampant divorce and remarriage was a serious problem of monogamous greco-roman culture (like our own), which was strongly encroaching into their society. Jesus was speaking against it, and telling the men not to divorce their wives.
Deut 24:2 does not say that a man can send away or divorce a woman for any reason at all. There's a specific reason given that is needed for it to be lawful and binding. This is what Jesus makes clear as well. Any man who divorces his wife,
except for sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery
against her. He seems addressing serial monogamy via invalid divorces causing rampant adultery.
If I'm being over-legalistic, so be it, are we trying to understand the law as it's written and intended or are we more concerned about perceived fairness to women due to men misinterpreting the law?
If men only divorced and wrote a GET for women because of sexual immorality, would there be any women in limbo? No. They would all have valid GET's, or be stoned to death. Any man who wanted to take in a divorced woman who was guilty of sexual immorality, that's his choice, she's a free woman in God's eyes and any man's according to the law.
If a woman approached me and showed interest in me, told me she was married once, but had been put away and she has a GET, I'd ask to see the GET, and if it said anything other than some sexual immorality as the reason, my response based on what the law says, would be, you should seek reconciliation with your husband. You are still bound (In God's law, not man's) to your husband, that is not a valid reason for a GET, so it's not a valid GET, whether your husband or you think it is or not is irrelevant.
If the husband simply refused to take her back, the next argument then becomes, I suppose I can take her in, but the guilt of her adultery would be on him for sending her away without a lawful reason and refusing to provide for her as he is required by law, not her or me, based on what it seems Jesus is saying.
I don't think it is valid to read a punishment of the wives into this though - and effectively forcing those women who have been abandoned unjustly to remain single for the rest of their lives is a punishment of the victim.
I'm not trying to punish the wives, I'm trying to understand the law. If men distorted the law and women are hurt by it, that doesn't change the law or it's intent. You're working backwards to try to address the problem of abandoned women in limbo and then ignoring the law to do so.
I'm saying yes there would be some women in limbo, and that sucks, but the law is the law, and we are either going to teach it properly so that situation no longer continues to happen, or we will just keep diluting the law to try and make everything "fair" for all those who are in a bad spot due to distortion or dilution of the law, so then the law doesn't matter at all really does it?
If that paper may be invalid - if her former husband may have released her, but she still be not free to remarry because of a technicality - then she is stuck in limbo
It's not a "technicality", it's that a GET was written and she was sent away for what is
not a lawful reason. It's an invalid divorce. You are putting man's interpretation of the law and their usage of that distorting of it above the law itself. Saying that well she should be "free" merely because she had a "Get" even if it was not for a valid reason. Because it's not "fair" to her.
Does that not put man's distorted interpretation of God's law above God? If a woman is still bound to her husband in God's eyes, because the conditions for separation of that union weren't met, but she has a piece of paper that says she's "free" ... is she really free? I don't know how that's possible without undermining God and His law.
