What would be the consequences of sending the women and children away? (And notice the almost offhand remark at the very end of the chapter that some of them had borne children.) Now, they would not be sent away to fend for themselves, as perhaps in a modern Western first world society; they would be sent back to their families and they would be provided for by their families. No doubt [they had larger families] in an ancient Near Eastern culture. But nevertheless, there are huge and significant problems here. Women torn away, perhaps unwillingly or perhaps there might have been a few that were willing, but one imagines that most of them would have been unwilling, and one imagines the emotional scenes as these women and children are being sent away. The Bible glosses over that scene entirely, because it is concerned with a matter of principle and not a matter of sentiment.1
Derek W. H. Thomas
3 Faisons maintenant une alliance avec notre Dieu pour le renvoi de toutes ces femmes et de leurs enfants, selon l'avis de mon seigneur et de ceux qui tremblent devant les commandements de notre Dieu. Et que l'on agisse d'après la loi.