What does the Bible say about remarriages?

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Question:

What does the Bible say about remarriages? It’s written in Deuteronomy not to have a remarriage with the spouse you broke up with because it would be a abomination, but it’s written in Hosea that God commanded Hosea and his wife to get remarried and they did, what does God say on the topic of remarriages or consulting broken marriages?

Answer:

Deuteronomy 24     “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man’s wife, if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife, then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

The passage above speaks about a very specific case, where a woman was divorced, married again, and divorced a second time. The command is that she should not remarry the first husband, after being married a second time.

Hosea 1     The word of the Lord that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea:

“Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the Lord.”

In Hosea’s case, the Lord told Hosea to marry a prostitute, as an enacted parable to Israel, as they had been going away from God to idolatry, over and over again. So Hosea married Gomer, and as expected, she committed adultery again and again, in the same manner as Israel. But God told Hosea to take her back, no matter what (see passage below), to illustrate that God would take Israel back, no matter how many times they rejected Him. This is totally different, as they were never divorced, and never remarried; Hosea just took her back as his wife.

Hosea 3:1   Then the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans.

The Bible has nothing against remarriage, when a spouse dies, as we see below. If a person’s spouse dies, he/she is allowed to marry again, and no sin is committed. I think this is very clear.

Romans 7     For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man.

I hope that this answers your question. God bless!

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Romans 7:2-3

For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 

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