Taboo – Divorce bring us to the end of a marriage. In this lesson we’ll see that God hates divorce. It’s a verse from the Bible. That said there are many moving parts to the ending of a marriage. God actually says plenty on the topic of divorce. This study is the first of two parts that digs into the Biblical teaching on divorce.
Good Reasons
There are three reasons for divorce. Maybe good isn’t the right word to describe what happened when a marriage breaks, really rips. It’s ugly. There is no good way for it to happen.
- Adultery
- Abuse
- Desertion
Who’s The Subject
For this blog post I want to talk about the first one. God does hate divorce. Just ask him! He says so in Malachi 2:16…
“I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel, “and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,” says the Lord Almighty. That’s from your NIV84. The example that I quoted in the study on Sunday from the author’s book is from the NIV11…
“The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the Lord Almighty. And let’s show you the new EHV used by many Lutheran churches today.
He hates divorce! That is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. He hates it when a person wears violence as a garment. That is what the Lord of Armies says.
The question for the Hebrew is who is the subject. The context of this section of Malachi is about husband who are being unfaithful. Does the meaning change if God is talking and says – I hate divorce! vs The man who hates and divorces? Not really. We know what God’s attitude is about divorce. We know that a divorcing husbands action can be sinful too. Divorce is always the result of sin, even when it may be Biblically permitted for the three reasons already mentioned.
Want to hear more? Watch this week’s study, Taboo – Divorce.
Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.