Translations:Does Joseph's intent to divorce Mary show that the death penalty for adultery was not mandatory?/10/en

This may surprise some people, but under Biblical law, men were not required to get permission from the civil government to divorce their wives (Deut. 24:1). I'll discuss this in greater detail below, because this is another point which Kayser gets wrong. Men were required by Biblical law to issue a "writ of divorcement," but this was not "supervised" or "authorized" by any judge, and did not require any public (or even private) "prosecution." Under Biblical law, a judge would only be sought out (by Mary, presumably) if Joseph refused to give her the writ, as he was required to by law.