speak only of the husband divorcing his wife. This fits the situation in a culture where only males initiated divorce. It would certainly not be viewed as adultery by first-century Jews. As Amram puts it: “This ancient right of the husband, to divorce his wife at his pleasure, is the central thought in the entire system of Jewish divorce law; and the Rabbis did not, nor could they, set it aside, although … they gradually tempered its severity by numerous restrictive measures.”2