To Which Situation Did God Say, "I Hate Putting Away (Divorce)?"
We have heard this Scripture: “the Lord God of Israel says that HE HATES DIVORCE” (Malachi 2:16). This is almost always quoted as if God hates all divorces in general. But that’s just not true. We have previously read from the Bible books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Deuteronomy and 1Corinthians that God is not against divorce. Then why all the confusion concerning why God said that “He hates divorce?” The reason for the confusion is because there are TWO “kinds” of marriages and TWO “divorces” being mentioned in the Malachi 2:11-16 passage.
The “divorces” were not official divorces; they didn’t need to be. They were already previously married and “unofficially” married again. The Hebrew word shalach means “putting away”― a separation, as correctly translated in most Bibles. However, the King James and a number of newer versions have incorrectly translated shalach as to mean: divorce. It never meant divorce and it doesn’t mean divorce. The word was most likely translated as “divorce” to fit what was taught in the church. Shalach is just a common word used throughout the Old Testament which means to: go, separate or to send. That’s it!
So why did God angrily say that He “…hated putting away [a separation]?” “…Because you have not kept My ways [concerning marriage, divorce and remarriage] but have SHOWN PARTIALITY IN THE LAW” (Malachi 2:9). The Law specifically stated that when a man got a divorce from his wife that he was to write “…her a CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE, put it in her hand, AND [shalach] send her out [put her away]…” (Deuteronomy 24:1). God also commanded them not to marry anyone who did not serve him ― who served a foreign god (See Nehemiah 13:25-30).
Instead, men separated from their wives without ever giving them a Certificate of Divorce and then illegally married someone else. This is why the Lord said that they were still “their wife by covenant.” The marriage covenant had never been dissolved by the Divorce Certificate.
“The Lord’s holy institution which He loves...the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth ...[and] SHE [STILL] IS YOUR COMPANION AND YOUR WIFE BY COVENANT. For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce [shalach], [separating without a Certificate of Divorce].... He has [illegally] married the daughter of a foreign god. May the Lord cut off ...the man who does this being awake and aware” (Malachi 2:11,12a,14b,c,16a).
Because these men had remarried illegally ― separated from their wives without giving them a Certificate of Divorce, they were in adultery as Jesus stated: “Furthermore it has been said, “Whoever PUTS AWAY [separates from {apoluo}] his wife, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE. But I say to you that whoever PUTS AWAY [separates and remarries without being divorced from] his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery: and whoever marries a woman who is PUT AWAY [separated without being divorced {apoluo}] commits adultery” (Matthew 5:31-32). (The Lord never forgot about the Malachi incident when He came to earth to redeem lost man).
The Old Testament Hebrew word shalach and the New Testament Greek word apoluo are equivalent which will be discussed later.
Because these disobedient men still had “un-divorced” wives, the Lord did not command them to give their illegal wives a Certificate of Divorce, rather, they simply had to “separate, put them away, [shalach].” SO DID GOD HATE DIVORCE? NO! RATHER, GOD HATED THAT THE HUSBANDS WERE SEPARATING FROM THEIR WIVES WITHOUT GIVING THEM A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE WHICH WOULD ENABLE THEM TO GET REMARRIED. THIS IS WHAT GOD HATES!
The men of Israel were SEPARATING from their wives for self-gratifying reasons. God Himself was a “witness” at their original marriage ceremony which was still in effect. The marriage covenant was never dissolved by a Certificate of Divorce. The men remarried outside their own culture (race) and tribe. God considered the children they bore unholy because of the mixed marriages bringing curses into their families (See Ezra 9:1,2, Nehemiah 13:26-30).
Because of these unauthorized marriages, the Word of God came to Ezra and Nehemiah to have the men and women of Israel who had done this thing, to separate from their spouse and even from their children (See Ezra 9:1, 11-12, 10:3, Nehemiah 13:23-27). In this situation, God’s command was to “put them away, separate yourselves from them!” This was NOT the kind of marriage to which God was saying, “I hate divorce!” He was saying loudly, “Get out of these wrong marriages!”
DIVORCE IS A METHOD TO SEPARATE THE ONE, AND MAKE THEM INTO TWO just as a surgeon’s knife is used to separate the cancerous flesh from the healthy flesh. Both operations are good. Divorce can be used to kill a righteous marriage, just as a surgeon’s knife can be used to kill a healthy person.
Excerpt from https://www.divorcehope.com/godhatesdivorce.htm
You are absolutely right Dom. Ages ago on Yahoo chat a sold out for Christ Christian woman married to an unbelieving abusive husband
sent me a PM asking me what she should do about it
i think it was her pastor & some other believers in her church wanted her to hang in there
but that is definitely not always the case
Psalm 11:5 in the Christian Standard Bible (CSB) reads, "The Lord examines the righteous but he hates the wicked and those who love violence"
We are not to have any idols in our lives for we know God is a jealous God & if an abusive spouse is causing a believer to go to the right or to the left & stray off the narrow beaten path if you will then it's time to give him or her the old heave ho & yes God will delight in it because that sheep will not be tempted to leave the flock
Matthew 10:34-37 CSB. Don't assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household
I think it's an incorrect stretch to say that God hates it when Husbands don't give a certificate of divorce and not the divorce itself since God has said that he only allowed divorce through the law because of their hard hearts.
It's also a stretch to allow a husband to give a certificate of divorce for any reason with the many scriptures in both the old & new testament backing up adultery as the only acceptable reason.
But if that's the hill you want to die on then be my guest.
LD I would most definitely like to hear what you have to say on the subject on desertion of an unredeemed partner as another reason for divorce.
The new testament repeatedly say's that adultery is the only legitimate reason for divorce so I would have a very hard time seeing any other reason as Biblical.
1 Corinthians 7:13-15
13 And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.
14 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.
15 But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.
Some use these passages as another reason for divorce as some translations substitute divorce for the word depart which I believe is incorrect given all the scriptures that say adultery is the only reason.
I believe what 1 Corinthians 7:13-15 is telling us is that it's OK to leave but you would still be married.
There are all kinds of various “interpretations” and opinions concerning Jesus’ or Paul’s statements about divorce.
But one fact that is most striking about many of people’s opinions and interpretations is the absence of query which should extend into the fuller 👉context👈 of Jesus’ statements.
I can find hardly any asking questions like:
1. Who was Jesus speaking to?
2. Why was he speaking to them?
3. Was Jesus answering a specific question or concern?
4. Were Jesus’ statements intended to be a comprehensive treatment on the subject?
5. What does the 👉entire👈 Bible tell us about the subject of divorce? How does each part of scripture relate to all the rest (That’s a purpose of Systematic Theology).
I see the New Testament, at least in some part as a clarification of Old Testament scriptures. Many Old Testament scriptures were manipulated to mean things that God didn't intend them to mean.
And of course context and who God was addressing are also important. But it's impossible for me to ignore the repeated New Testament scriptures stating that adultery is the only Biblical for divorce.
So in order to say there are other reasons for divorce, then those scriptures would have to be wrong and as of yet I'm not ready to make that jump.
With so much nonsense and incompetence coming from the pulpit these days, you have a right to be cautious HC.
Through the years, I’ve been all over the board on the issue of divorce and remarriage, bouncing from one extreme to another trying to understand who’s right.
I went from divorce was ok for most reasons to believing that once you’ve blown it with one single divorce you’re done and you have to stay single until your partner, who divorced and left you to marry someone else, dies.
But thanks to a mixture of incompetent preaching and pesky evolutionary atheists and agnostics driving me to buckle down to find who’s right. They had grieved me terribly nearly to the point of total despair and unbelief.
Their constant challenges calling into question the reliability of the Bible and the existence of God wore me down and I was forced to either reject God and the Bible because there was no evidence supporting either or find real support for the Bible and its claims.
I’ll have to admit, atheism and its assumed freedom from God’s rules had some appeal.
To make a long story short, lo and behold, I found out that 👉👉people make mistakes👈👈.
