Husband Refusing to Divorce Wife
Question
If a man’s wife is unfaithful to him, she becomes forbidden to him and he is required to divorce her. Suppose he refuses to divorce her and he chooses to remain married to her, despite the infidelity. What consequences could he face for this according to biblical law? Is the surrounding community supposed to take action against him to compel him to divorce her?
Answers
According to Jewish Law, it is forbidden for a couple to remain married to each other if the wife has had an intimate relationship with someone other than her husband. Nowadays, there is little that a Jewish court of law can do to ensure that the couple divorce, as the Jewish courts of law have very limited civil powers. The community that the couple belongs to can exert pressure on the husband to agree to divorce his wife. But, any pressure is also limited to being ostracized by the community. There is very little else that the community can threaten the husband with.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team
Is there any specific biblical punishment for the husband?
How grave is the husband’s sin? Is it minor or serious?
In Biblical times once irrefutable proof was presented to the court of the wife’s infidelity she would be given a death sentence. In the times when the courts of law had much more power than today (but lacked the authority to pass death sentences) they would force the husband to divorce his wife. If the husband refused and they disappeared to go and live in a location where their story is not known, they would be living in sin as it is absolutely forbidden for them to continue living together as husband and wife.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team