What would be the consequences of sending the women and children away? (And notice the almost offhand remark at the very end of the chapter that some of them had borne children.) Now, they would not be sent away to fend for themselves, as perhaps in a modern Western first world society; they would be sent back to their families and they would be provided for by their families. No doubt [they had larger families] in an ancient Near Eastern culture. But nevertheless, there are huge and significant problems here. Women torn away, perhaps unwillingly or perhaps there might have been a few that were willing, but one imagines that most of them would have been unwilling, and one imagines the emotional scenes as these women and children are being sent away. The Bible glosses over that scene entirely, because it is concerned with a matter of principle and not a matter of sentiment.1
Derek W. H. Thomas
3 Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law.