Usually initiated by the husband who issued his wife with a certificate of divorce and sent her from his home, divorce broke the marriage bond and allowed parties to remarry. It was not part of God's original purpose for marriage, and is permitted only because of human sinfulness. God is depicted as taking divorce proceedings against adulterous Israel.
The nature of divorce
Divorce dissolves a marriage
Mark 10:4 parallel Matthew 19:7 The certificate of divorce was a legal document ending the marriage. See also Leviticus 22:12–13 Divorce ends the restrictions on a priest's daughter which were the result of her marriage; Numbers 30:9 Following divorce a husband is no longer responsible for his wife; Deuteronomy 24:1–2 Divorce properly entered into allows the parties to remarry; Hosea 2:2; Matthew 5:31
They answered, “Moses permitted a man to write his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
Divorce was not God's original intention
Malachi 2:10–16 God's displeasure at those of his people who divorced their Jewish wives to marry foreigners, thus breaking faith with their partners and with God; Matthew 19:4–8 parallel Mark 10:5–9 The Law of Moses did not command divorce, but regulated an existing practice, particularly to protect the wife. See also Genesis 1:27, Genesis 2:24
Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then do we break faith with one another so as to profane the covenant of our fathers? Judah has broken faith; an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the LORD’s beloved sanctuary by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. As for the man who does this, may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who is awake and aware — even if he brings an offering to the LORD of Hosts. And this is another thing you do: You cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and groaning, because He no longer regards your offerings or receives them gladly from your hands. Yet you ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. “For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel. “He who divorces his wife covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of Hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith.
Jesus answered, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses order a man to give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hardness of heart. But it was not this way from the beginning.
Circumstances permitting divorce
Displeasure
Deuteronomy 24:1 See also Deuteronomy 21:13–14; Matthew 19:3
If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds some indecency in her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.
Returning exiles were required to divorce their foreign wives
Ezra 10:10–11 See also Ezra 10:2–3
Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful by marrying foreign women, adding to the guilt of Israel. Now, therefore, make a confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers, and do His will. Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from your foreign wives.”
Circumstances where divorce was not allowed
Deuteronomy 22:13–19 where a husband makes false accusations about his wife's virginity; Deuteronomy 22:28–29 where the marriage is contracted following the rape of a virgin
Restrictions on remarriage after divorce
Former partners who marry others
Deuteronomy 24:3–4 See also Jeremiah 3:1
and the second man hates her, writes her a certificate of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house, or if he dies, then the husband who divorced her first may not remarry her after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination to the LORD. You must not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
Priests could not marry divorcees
Leviticus 21:7, Leviticus 21:14; Ezekiel 44:22
The divorce between God and Israel
It was due to Israel's unfaithfulness
Jeremiah 3:6–10 See also Isaiah 50:1; Jeremiah 31:32
Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there. I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well. Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.
God's desire for reconciliation
Isaiah 54:4–8 See also Isaiah 62:4–5; Ezekiel 16:60–63; Hosea 2:14–16
Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; do not be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated. For you will forget the shame of your youth and will remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your husband is your Maker — the LORD of Hosts is His name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth. For the LORD has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one’s youth,” says your God. “For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back. In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.