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Prayer request Meeting the Pastors

Guys, not sure we are going to solve every possible nuance or agree on the exact balance between letter and spirit of the Law... Bottom-line, each case needs to be measured on it's own merits and the safety of the woman should be a very strong central consideration.

That said, can we let this discussion return to the OP?
I don't think anyone is arguing that the battered wife should remain in the marriage. The disagreement we have here, is whether she is allowed to find another husband, while the man she was married to, is still alive. If I could find it in Scripture without reading between the lines, I would, but since I cannot, I would be no better than an anti-polygamist, that reads things into the Scripture that simply aren't there.
 
It’s a crying shame that we cannot ask the author what His intentions were.
 
It’s a crying shame that we cannot ask the author what His intentions were.

Perhaps it is possible that God might provide grace to allow for a woman, who divorces due to dire circumstance, to remarry. Perhaps it might be a case by case situation where God makes the final judgement?
 
Like @Mojo , I hear what you are saying, but let me throw a real live human being that I personally know out here as a case study.

She is divorced. He former husband physically, mentally and sexually abused her. For ten years. The last time he pistol whipped her, tried to kill her and left her for dead. During those ten years he had multiple sexual encounters and extended relationships with both married and unmarried women. Now, this woman has been divorced for ten+ years and desperately just wants love, healing, and protection. What should she do?
I still hold to the more Hebraic understanding that as long as she has a certificate of divorce, ie a legal divorce in our day and age, she is free to marry another. In the instance where he won't release her, she's stuck in limbo, and this is a violation of Torah. I had a sister-in-law in this situation. Her husband was a piece of work...an alcoholic, fornicator, and physically abusive to her and his kids. He died alone in an apartment and wasn't found for several days. No one was sad.
 
I did understand your sarcasm and appreciated it. I apologize if I inadvertently conveyed something different. It was my intent to add on to your comment, not detract from it.
That wasn’t aimed at you.
Your comment was right on, I Liked it. I need Grace and Mercy often, and think that extending them to others is the often the heart of the Father.
 
I still hold to the more Hebraic understanding that as long as she has a certificate of divorce, ie a legal divorce in our day and age, she is free to marry another. In the instance where he won't release her, she's stuck in limbo, and this is a violation of Torah. I had a sister-in-law in this situation. Her husband was a piece of work...an alcoholic, fornicator, and physically abusive to her and his kids. He died alone in an apartment and wasn't found for several days. No one was sad.
EXACTLY! Prov 27:1 tells us precisely what will happen to people like this. Either we trust God will do what He says He will do, or we take matters into our own hands. We need to confront, reprove, and rebuke those who abuse their wives and children. We should confront them until they either turn from their wicked ways, or God takes them out.
 
Moses never gave provisions for the woman to give her husband a Bill of Divorce. There is only one instance I am aware of in the OT, that a woman left her husband of her own accord. The concubine in Judges 19 went back to her father's house, and her husband went there to get her back.
 
Moses never gave provisions for the woman to give her husband a Bill of Divorce. There is only one instance I am aware of in the OT, that a woman left her husband of her own accord. The concubine in Judges 19 went back to her father's house, and her husband went there to get her back.
Small clarification. He went there to beg her to come back. Proving that she had the right to leave and return to her fathers house and he had no authority.

Obviously her judgement was right the first time and she shouldn’t have given him a second chance
 
Small clarification. He went there to beg her to come back. Proving that she had the right to leave and return to her fathers house and he had no authority.

Obviously her judgement was right the first time and she shouldn’t have given him a second chance
I am ashamed to admit that I have never seen the separate parts as the reality of her story.
 
Small clarification. He went there to beg her to come back. Proving that she had the right to leave and return to her fathers house and he had no authority.

Obviously her judgement was right the first time and she shouldn’t have given him a second chance

First, she was a concubine. Second, just because she could leave does not mean she had the authority to leave.

Moses never gave provisions for the woman to give her husband a Bill of Divorce. There is only one instance I am aware of in the OT, that a woman left her husband of her own accord. The concubine in Judges 19 went back to her father's house, and her husband went there to get her back.

Yes I know that but how is her limbo state a violation of Torah?
 
First, she was a concubine. Second, just because she could leave does not mean she had the authority to leave.
To your first point, that makes it even more pertinent to my point as a concubine didn’t have as many rights as a ketubahed wife.

To your second point, nowhere does it say that she didnt have the authority to leave. In fact, his appeal would indicate that she did have the authority to leave or he would have appealed to her lack of authority to leave as the reason to both her and her father to force her to return. He didn’t.
 
Small clarification. He went there to beg her to come back. Proving that she had the right to leave and return to her fathers house and he had no authority.

Obviously her judgement was right the first time and she shouldn’t have given him a second chance
Yeah, I wasn't trying to imply that he had any such authority. To say her judgment was right, is to rightfully point out that the husband did not defend her when the attackers came, but rather, threw her to the wolves. One thing to consider though, is that he wasn't exactly holding a loaded weapon where he could fire off a few rounds, and there was no police force that he could simply dial 911. If it were me, I probably would have grabbed any weapon I could, and taken out as many of those wicked men as I could, until the inevitable occurred, but I was raised with diffferent values than this man was raised with. I'm not implying that he did the right thing, but considering the times and the technology that was available, I do tend to cut the guy some slack..

You also have to consider that if she hadn't run off in the first place, none of that would have happened to begin with, so her judgment didn't exactly work out all that well. Now when you look at Abigail, she subversively helped her future husband against the wishes of her current husband, and that worked out pretty well for her. I try not to draw too much inference out of something bad happening, therefore the actions that preceded it were either good or bad. There is a greater story that unfolded out of that story, which is what the author was trying to point out to people, which was that everyone was doing that which was right in their own eyes. My only point in mentioning it, is that this is the only instance I am aware of, where the woman left her husband without getting the "Get".
 
To your first point, that makes it even more pertinent to my point as a concubine didn’t have as many rights as a ketubahed wife.

To your second point, nowhere does it say that she didnt have the authority to leave. In fact, his appeal would indicate that she did have the authority to leave or he would have appealed to her lack of authority to leave as the reason to both her and her father to force her to return. He didn’t.

Or that he was just pathetic and weak. Or that concubinage was according to consent/romance and not contract/dowry. Or that God punished her in the end. One can read any things into narrative history like this one from Judges where not everything is explained. But it's not from the telling of the law. Only the husband was given the right of divorce in the law. You can't read no-fault divorce into the OT.

Oh, I just read it again to refresh my memory...

But his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah, and was there four whole months. 3 Then her husband arose and went after her, to kindly to her and bring her back, having his servant and a couple of donkeys with him.

So it clearly says that she played the harlot. His appeal wasn't from lack of authority, but from kindness. Her leaving wasn't her right, but an act of unfaithfulness and rebellion. Far from showing she had the authority to leave, this passage shows she erred in leaving. Even after she left him, he was still called her husband. In other words the Bible still saw her as belonging to him, even though she left. Her leaving did not affect her status; i.e. she had no authority to leave so she still rightfully belonged to him.
 
Well simply, if he is not providing anything for her, does not want to have a marital relationship with her, will not seek counsel from elders in order to reconcile and do right by her, he should release her by giving her a certificate of divorce (called a Get). For starters see Deuteronomy 24:1 - 4. She can return to her father's house or remarry. By not releasing her with a get, she has no means of support or hope for marriage and children. It can be a real problem in some Jewish communities, I've heard. An attitude of "I don't want you, but because I'm a heartless jerk, I'll make sure no one else can have you either." IMO, another reason why Yeshua said "because of the hardness of your heart..." There are valid reasons for divorce, but those were/are pretty rare I think. Treat her right or let her go...
 
Well simply, if he is not providing anything for her, does not want to have a marital relationship with her, will not seek counsel from elders in order to reconcile and do right by her, he should release her by giving her a certificate of divorce (called a Get). For starters see Deuteronomy 24:1 - 4. She can return to her father's house or remarry. By not releasing her with a get, she has no means of support or hope for marriage and children. It can be a real problem in some Jewish communities, I've heard. An attitude of "I don't want you, but because I'm a heartless jerk, I'll make sure no one else can have you either." IMO, another reason why Yeshua said "because of the hardness of your heart..." There are valid reasons for divorce, but those were/are pretty rare I think. Treat her right or let her go...

I understand what you're saying now. I thought you were speaking of a situation (such as in this thread) where the wife left and the husband didn't want divorce, did want to reconcile but was being forced to give a get.
 
To your first point, that makes it even more pertinent to my point as a concubine didn’t have as many rights as a ketubahed wife.

To your second point, nowhere does it say that she didnt have the authority to leave. In fact, his appeal would indicate that she did have the authority to leave or he would have appealed to her lack of authority to leave as the reason to both her and her father to force her to return. He didn’t.
Here we go again. IF there is such a thing as a concubine in scripture she has MORE rights than the completely undefined “ketubah wife”. The slave girl’s food, clothing and sex was protected statutorily. The completely not talked about in scripture “ketubah wife” was not so protected. Not that it matters because there is no such thing as a concubine in God’s design for marriage.
 
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