Question: I have a question about Gordon J. Wenham's position on the reason why Deuteronomy 24:1-4 forbids remarriage to the original husband when a divorced woman's second marriage ends. (The position he sets forth in the article "The Restoration of Marriage Reconsidered")

Wenham posits that the reason the remarriage is prohibited is because the first marriage established a familial-type bond between the wife and her first husband that would cause a remarriage to be akin to incest.

My question is: if Wenham's position is correct then why does the prohibition depend upon the woman marrying a second man? Why wouldn't the prohibition apply to all instances of remarriage between a man and his wife? In other words, if something-akin-to-incest is the reason they can't remarry, why does the passage allow the husband to remarry his ex-wife if she hasn't married someone else in the interim?

This seems like such an obvious flaw in Wenham's position that I fear I have overlooked an obvious explanation.

I don't have access to Wenham's article so I don't know if he addressed this question there. Your insights would be appreciated.

Best regards,
Al Margheim