Why does God hate divorce?

But not only has God made man and his wife one, He also hates putting away. The prophet introduces this in a most solemn way: "For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away." If therefore His people are in communion with His own mind, they will do so also. And how abundantly, through the whole history of Israel as a nation, is it proved that the Lord does hate putting away! If He had not done so, Israel would long since, and many times, have been renounced. They broke His covenant again and again, thereby forfeiting all claims upon His favour and love; but He endured them with much long-suffering, for His gifts and calling are without repentance. And in the prophets He continually reminded them of His union with them, that He was married to them, and that, therefore, He could not cast them off. (See Isa. 50; Jer. 3:1-14, &c.) It was this same spirit He would have them show in their relationships, insteadof covering violence with their garment; and "therefore" the prophet repeats, closing up this part of his subject, "take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously."

There is little doubt that verse 16 contains a general principle, and one, therefore, that has been rightly applied to discipline in the Church; for the heart of God must be expressed in discipline as much as in brotherly fellowship. If this were borne in mind there could be no room for haste or harshness, no forgetting the object of true and divine discipline, no satisfaction felt in the cutting off of the offender; but every step would be taken in tenderness, yea, in divine pity, identifying ourselves with the one over whom Satan had obtained a temporary advantage; and we should thus proceed with many searchings of heart, taking his burden on our own shoulders, considering ourselves lest we also be tempted. Discipline thus administered, having solely for its object the honour of the Lord, the glory of His name, would become a means of grace to all who took part in it, and would be far more frequently used for the restoration of the one who had sinned, as. well as to reveal to all the terrible nature of the evil, which could not otherwise be reached than by putting away from fellowship with the saints. It would then be seen that the offender was put away only because he could no longer be retained if the saints themselves would continue in fellowship with the Lord. The sentence, "The Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away," should therefore be deeply graven upon all our hearts, and especially upon the hearts of those who have the place of lead and government in the assembly.

The last part of the chapter is comprised in verses 13-16. The seventeenth verse really belongs to Mal. 3. From verse 13 we learn that, together with all the moral corruption which we have considered, there were all the outward signs of devotion to the service. of Jehovah. And what would seem so strange, did we not know the immense amount of deception it is possible to practise upon ourselves, is, that knowing how they had departed from the living God, they yet could not, or professed that they could not, understand why the Lord did not accept their offerings. "This," says Malachi, "have ye done again, covering the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that He regardeth not the offering any more, or receiveth it with good will at your hand. Yet ye say, Wherefore?" How often is this the case with God's people even now — cleaving to their sins, and yet surprised that He does not hear their cries, forgetful of the truth uttered by the apostle, "If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things." (1 John 3:20.) But if they say, "Wherefore?" the answer is at hand; and it reveals another form of evil existing at that time amongst this poor degraded people: "Because the Lord hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant." (v. 14.) We learn, from the answer of our Lord to the Pharisees, that divorce was permitted to the Jew, under the Mosaic dispensation, "because of the hardness of their hearts;" but He expressly adds, "from the beginning it was not so." (Matt. 19:3-9) And the farther they departed in heart and ways from God, not only did they the more frequently avail themselves of this permission, but they also so abused it that the marriage bond became relaxed on every side, and they separated from their wives at their own will and pleasure.

This is the evil which the prophet here denounces, and from which he takes occasion to show the oneness of man and wife according to the original institution of marriage. There could be no greater evidence of moral corruption than what has been termed the levity of divorce. Even now, when a people or nation make it easy for man and wife to obtain a legal separation, it is a sure sign of the decay of public morals. And we cannot but again call attention to the order of the sins here enumerated. First, there was the corruption of the covenant of Levi, and then the dealing treacherously every man against his brother, dealing treacherously with God in the matter of idolatry, and lastly, dealing treacherously with the wife of their youth. It is religious, social, and domestic corruption; and let it be carefully observed that the last two flow from the first. The modern doctrine is that an atheist even may perform the duties of this life. It is utterly impossible; for where the conscience is not in exercise before God there is no guarantee for fidelity to man, or even, as in this scripture, to those who are united by the closest of all ties. Dissolve the tie between man and God, and you dissolve every other tie that unites man to man. These of whom the prophet speaks were the professing people of God, and were still punctilious in the observance of their sacrificial ritual, and yet they were unfaithful in every relationship in which they stood (compare Micah 7:1-6); and the flesh is the same in every age, and, though social restraints may vary in different ages, it will ever find its outlet in corrupt channels. If, therefore, there be no fear of God before the eyes of men, sin and iniquity must continually and increasingly abound.

Moreover, the object of the oneness of man and wife, the inviolability of the marriage bond (save for the one sin specified by our Lord (Matt. 19) — the sin itself being, in fact, its violation) is declared by the prophet. "And wherefore one? That He might seek a godly seed." The Lord thus looks to find His people among the children of His servants; and it is on this account indeed that the apostle enjoins believing parents to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The Lord's interest in, and His care and love for the children of His people, have not been sufficiently remembered, nor that the godliness of the children — "a godly seed" — is divinely connected with the maintenance of the indissoluble sanctity of the marriage relationship. We have even further light now, because the Lord has been pleased to show us that the union of husband and wife is a figure of that between Him and the Church, and hence our responsibility is the greater, both to understand the nature of marriage, and also God's attitude of grace and blessing towards the offspring of His saints.

And yet rebuked for these social conditions and wicked deeds, they could ask another, "Wherefore?" They were so hardened that they could not see why they were to blame. The difficult fifteenth verse refers to the marriage relation, in which God makes of twain one. He made the woman for man, though He had the residue of the Spirit, the creative power by which He might have made many women for one man. And wherefore one? that is, one woman for the man--that He might seek a godly seed, to perpetuate those who are godly, which is counteracted by divorce, such as they had practiced. It seemed as if the remnant who feared Him were being influenced by these corrupt practices, hence the warning. "Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth."

In ver. 7 they say, "Why did Moses then command?" etc. He did nothing of the sort. He gave liberty; but never commanded; so the Lord takes them up and says he "suffered you." No doubt it was allowed in order to prevent worse sin, because of the hardness of the heart. The woman may suffer by fear, and the man be characterised by anger. If a daughter made a vow it had to be ratified by her father. But Jehovah hated this putting away. So we get the instructions in 1 Cor. 7. that the believing wife or husband is not to put away an unbeliever if pleased to dwell together. "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; else were your children unclean; but now are they holy." It was very different in Israel, as we learn from Ezra and Nehemiah. They were not on Christian ground, and so Israel had to put away these unholy alliances. But now a believing husband or wife is not to put away the unbeliever. There is only one exception, which in God's sight dissolves the tie. So that putting away in that case only makes public what already exists under God's eye. The disciples say, "If the case of a man be so with his wife it is not good to marry," which shows how they were affected by the evil. Living the truth before the eyes of the unbeliever is what God will honour (1 Peter 3:1).

The priests were corrupt, and with their bad example the people were likewise corrupt. It is the prophet who speaks in verse 10. The One Father was Jehovah, with whom the nation was in covenant relation. They had one Father, and they were one as a nation. By profaning that covenant they dealt treacherously every man against his brother. The abomination in social life, by which the covenant was profaned, and the holiness of the Lord outraged, was the marriage with the daughters of the heathen. They had put away their own Israelitish wives in order to enter into these unholy alliances. The Jew acted faithlessly toward his brother, both when he contracted a marriage with a heathen woman, and when he put away his legitimate wife, and thereby desecrated the covenant of the fathers, i.e., the covenant that Jehovah made with their fathers when He chose them to be a separated people. Those who have done this will surely be cut off. Verse 13 describes the weeping and the tears of the abandoned Jewish wives; it is the same condition, only worse, which is recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah. All was an abomination unto the Lord. Over fifty years ago a writer called attention to the divorce evil in the United States. He wrote then:

The frequency of divorce in the United States, so that in one of the States divorce is allowed for "misconduct," reveals the same state of things existing now, as was here condemned by Jehovah, and must bring with it the same evils, and the same punishment. What tongue can adequately tell, what heart conceive, the untold misery from this cause, especially to the deserted wives, and the children left without a mother's care! How little is the indissoluble nature of the marriage relation regarded! and the fact, that the Lord was the witness of it, and will be a swift witness against those who violate it! The Saviour only allows of one cause of divorce, and regards divorce for any other as adultery.

286 The Pharisees, drawing near, ask Jesus if it is permitted that a husband should put away his wife. The Lord takes the occasion to insist upon this truth, that that which God had established from the beginning of the creation was always valid in itself. Moses had allowed a man to put away his wife in the law; but this was only the patience of God with the hardness of man's heart; but it was not according to God's own heart and will. In the creation at the beginning God made that which was good - weak, but good. He allowed other things when He ordered provisionally the state of His people, of fallen man; but He had made things differently when He created them. God had united husband and wife, and man had no right to separate them. The bond is not to be broken.

In connection with the light of heaven on the lusts of the heart, the Lord adds His word on the permission of divorce in Deut. 24. It is here the woman protected against hard-hearted man. Positive sin in violation of the marriage tie alone calls for divorce. Men abused the licence beyond measure, as if the permission were a precept; and any vexation sufficed. But Jehovah hates putting away, as the last prophet testified to the Jews in their evil day.

According to God's will marriage is indissoluble. The Lord Jesus says this clearly in Matthew 19:6: "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." This not only applies to marriages made "in the Lord," but to every marriage. Already in the Old Testament God had said to the Jews who were divorced from their wives, "For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that He hateth putting away" (Mal. 2:16).

*Jehovah hates putting away (Mal. 2:16), even He who said "Lo-ammi, not my people," to her who had been called, "Ammi, my people;" and "Lo ruhamah, not pitied," to her who had been called "Ruhamah, pitied." (Hosea 1 and 2) He ought, and can, and He will, put away persons from Him, if they put not away their sin and bad ways.

As thus the sanctuary was polluted, and its ministers, and the offerings, so further we shall see the social life of Israel suffered no less. There is the deepest connection between a false religion, or a non-religion, and the practical ways of the people. "Have we not all one father? has not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers? Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of Jehovah which he loved, and has married the daughter of a strange god." Thus, though not idolators, they had contracted the nearest relationship in life with the heathen. "Jehovah will cut off, the man that does this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offers an offering to Jehovah of hosts. And this have ye done again, covering the altar of Jehovah with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regards not the offering any more, or receives it with good will at your hand." The prophet describes the weeping of the Jewish wives, now repudiated for the sake of the heathen they chose. It is the same state of things in Ezra, and especially Nehemiah. The heart of the people was sick as truly, yea, much more sick than in the earlier days when Isaiah laid it to their charge.

Nor was the moral insensibility less now but more. "Yet ye say, Wherefore?" They could not see wherein they were to blame. "Because Jehovah has been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant." They were both placed on a common footing with God. "And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For Jehovah, the God of Israel, says he hates putting away." What alienation from God's mind and ways! They were given up to self. Their light spirit in divorce was now reaching its head among the Jews — in the remnant. "For one covers violence with his garment, says Jehovah of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously."