Deuteronomy 24:4

“Her former husband which sent her away may not take her again to be his wife, etc.] Though ever so desirous of it, and having heartily repented that he had put her away: this is the punishment of his fickleness and inconstancy, and was ordered to make men cautious how they put away their wives; since when they had so done, and they had been married to another, they could not enjoy them again even on the death of the second husband; yea, though she was only espoused to him, and he had never lain with her, as Ben Melech observes, it was forbidden the former husband to marry her; though if she had only played the whore, according to the same writer, and others f418, she might return to him:…”

“In this and the next chapter certain particular rights and duties, domestic, social, and civil, are treated. The cases brought forward have often no definite connection, and seem selected in order to illustrate the application of the great principles of the Law in certain important events and circumstances. These four verses contain only one sentence, and should be rendered thus: If a man hath taken a wife, etc., and given her a bill of divorcement and Deuteronomy 24:2 if she has departed out of his house and become another man’s wife; and Deuteronomy 24:3 if the latter husband hates her, then Deuteronomy 24:4 her former husband, etc. Moses neither institutes nor enjoins divorce. The exact…”

“May not - This is the punishment of his levity and injustice in putting her away without sufficient cause, which by this offer he now acknowledgeth. 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, Jdg 13:7, because they may no more be touched or used than an unclean thing. Thou shalt not cause the land to sin - Thou shalt not suffer such lightness to be practised, lest the people be polluted, and the land defiled and accursed by that means. Deuteronomy 24:5”

“24:4 Perhaps the woman is described as defiled because she had two husbands; returning to the first husband would be considered adultery. • guilt upon the land: The concept of community was so strong in ancient Israel that the individual’s identity almost merged with that of the community. The sin of one individual had collective, corporate consequences.”

“Her former: Jer 3:1 thou shalt: Lev 18:24-28; Jos 22:17, Jos 22:18 Deuteronomy 24:5”