Ketubot 9B

כל היוצא למלחמת בית דוד, גט כריתות כותב לאשתו. דכתיב: ״ואת אחיך תפקד לשלום ואת ערבתם תקח״, מאי ״ואת ערבתם תקח״? תני רב יוסף: דברים המעורבין בינו לבינה.

Anyone who goes to a war waged by the royal house of David writes a conditional bill of divorce to his wife. This was done to prevent a situation in which the wife of the soldier would be unable to remarry because her husband did not return from battle and there were no witnesses with regard to his fate. The conditional bill of divorce accorded the wife the status of a divorcée and freed her to remarry, as it is written: “And to your brothers bring greetings and take their pledge [arubatam]” (I Samuel 17:18). What is the meaning of: And take arubatam? Rav Yosef taught: It is referring to matters that are shared [hame’oravin] between the husband and his wife, i.e., marriage. Since apparently it was customary for men at war to send their wives a conditional divorce, and since Uriah later died, Bathsheba assumed divorced status retroactively from the time that he set out to war. Therefore, she was not forbidden to David.

אמר אביי, אף אנן נמי תנינא: בתולה נשאת ליום הרביעי. ליום רביעי ⁠— אין, ליום חמישי ⁠— לא. מאי טעמא ⁠— משום איקרורי דעתא.

§ Apropos the credibility of the claim: I encountered an unobstructed orifice, Abaye said: We, too, learn in the Mishnah proof for the opinion of R' Elazar: A virgin is married on Wednesday. Abaye infers: On Wednesday, yes, a virgin is married; on Thursday, no, she is not married. What is the reason for this ruling? It is due to the fact that if the marriage were to be held on Thursday, several days would elapse before the court would next convene, and in the interim his resolve will cool and his anger subside. The concern is that consequently he will fail to claim before the court that his bride was not a virgin.