Notes for Divorce in OT

1. A. Warren's reading of v1b as permission for divorce ("then he may/should write . . ." emphasis mine), though syntactically possible, requires a level of grammatical sophistication to make it unlikely, and has not received wide acceptance; "Did Moses Permit Divorce? Modal wqatal as a Key to New Testament Readings of Deuteronomy 24:1-4," Tyndale Bulletin 49 (1998): 39-56.

2. The literature is voluminous. Some of the more significant ones include: Raymond Westbrook, "The Prohibition on Restoration of Marriage in Deuteronomy 24:1-4," in Studies in the Bible 1986, ed. S. Japhet (Scripta Hierosolymitana 31; Jerusalem, Magnes, 1986), 387-406; Judith R. Wegner, Chattel or Person? The Status of Women in the Mishnah (New York: Oxford, 1988); Léonie J. Archer, Her Price Is Beyond Rubies: The Jewish Woman in Graeco-Roman Palestine (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 60; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic/JSOT Press, 1990); David Instone-Brewer, "Deuteronomy 24:1-4 and the Origin of the Jewish Divorce Certificate," Journal of Jewish Studies 49 (1998): 233-34..

3. See, e.g., R. Yaron, "The Restoration of Marriage," Journal for Semitic Studies 17 (1966):1-11; G. J. Wenham, "The Restoration of Marriage Reconsidered," Journal for Semitic Studies 30 (1979):36-40; R. Westbrook, "The Prohibition on Restoration of Marriage in Deuteronomy 24:1-4," in Studies in Bible 1986, ed. S. Japhet (Scripta hierosolymitana 31; Jerusalem: Magnes, 1986) 387-406.

4. J. G. Millar, Now Choose Life: Theology and ethics in Deuteronomy (New Studies in Biblical Theology, 6; Leicester: Apollos, 1998), 139.

5. The Qu'ran, Sura 2:229-30; Hadith al-Bukhari 63:190.