Under old covenant law, divorce was regulated by requiring the husband to give his wife a certificate of divorce. This certificate was presumably meant to explain the reason for divorce (something indecent) as well as freeing the woman for remarriage. 1 It may also have been connected in some way with her original dowry, so as to ensure that the women is provided for now that her husband has put her out of the home.2 Divorce was not required, but it was allowed on account of the sinfulness of the human heart (see Matthew 19:8).
31 “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’