If you are married, it is likely that the most solemn, official commitment you have made in your entire life was when you stood before a minister of the gospel and promised to take your spouse as husband or wife in plenty or in want, in joy or in sorrow, in sickness or in health as long you both shall live.
The teaching of Malachi 2:10-16 contains some of the most forceful teaching in the Bible on divorce and remarriage. This is why so many contemporary books on marriage, which want to move the church to a more permissive attitude in this area, ignore the passage.
The first point Malachi makes in this passage is that God has created marriage. It is his idea. It was God, not man, who made the race male and female (Gen. 1:27).
The marriage of Olivia L. Langdon to the American writer Mark Twain is a tragic case in point. Olivia Langdon had been raised in a Christian home by devout parents and she professed Christianity. But when Twain, an open critic of religion, came calling, she eventually accepted his proposal, no doubt secretly cherishing the hope that he might in time be converted to Christ by her example.
God hates divorce because it is harmful. It is harmful to the couple involved, generally leaving scars that never truly heal. It is harmful to society. Above all it is harmful to whatever children may be involved.
Canadian Committee of The Bible Study Hour
PO Box 24087, RPO Josephine
North Bay, ON, P1B 0C7