“A certificate of divorce”
If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds some indecency in her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her, and send her away from his house. (Deuteronomy 24:1 BSB)
What it sounds like today
An ancient law making it easy for a man to dump his wife.
The cultural key
Though it sounds one-sided, the certificate of divorce (the get) functioned largely as a protection for the woman: without written proof of release she could be accused of adultery or left in limbo, unable to remarry. The document made her status public and legal. The phrase 'some indecency' was hotly disputed: the school of Shammai read it narrowly (sexual sin), Hillel broadly (almost anything). Jesus enters exactly this debate, saying Moses permitted divorce 'because of your hardness of heart,' but it was not so from the beginning.
Recovered meaning
The law regulates and limits divorce rather than celebrating it, giving the woman a document that safeguards her future. Jesus treats it as a concession to human hardness, pointing back past it to the one-flesh union of Eden.