Divorce for Domestic Abuse?

 It was common for men to divorce their wives in the Bible. This was often a cruel practice. A man could threaten to divorce his wife if she was not submissive to his will.

In NT times, many rabbis allowed a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all.

A divorced woman was often faced with horrible alternatives. She was no longer a virgin. If her father or brothers would not support her, she could be forced into begging or prostitution to survive.

This historical background helps us to understand the strong teaching of Jesus against divorce.

Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?
So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.
I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” Mt 19:3–9 NIV

In this passage Jesus is talking about husbands divorcing their wives, not women escaping brutal domestic violence, which is not the same issue.

In the OT there is a text which is often overlooked. If a man married a second wife, he must not neglect or mistreat his first wife, otherwise she would be entitled to a divorce.

Likewise if a man or his son married their female slave and did not treat her properly, she was entitled to a divorce.

This leads us to the question, if a freed slave girl or a first wife was protected by God in this way, should an abused wife today be entitled to less protection?

If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights.

If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money. Ex 21:10–11 NIV

What are marital rights? Only sex? Surely love, respect and protection.