Defensible Divorce? – Part 2
Among the sons of the priests who had married foreign wives were found of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers: Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah. They pledged to put away their wives, and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their offense [Ezra 10:18-19].
For I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel [Malachi 2:16].
The Israelites were dispatched to Babylon as slaves in exile. It was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Their crime? Spiritual adultery, sleeping with the enemy, worshiping the gods of the heathen peoples around them, with its concomitant religious sex with the female devotees.
From the first chapter of the Bible to the last, the Lord teaches the “doctrine of separation”. It teaches that what is unclean makes what is clean to become unclean, and what is profane defiles what is holy so that the holy becomes profane too. Ergo, the people of the Lord (the holy) must not forge binding ties with the people of the devil (the profane). This is especially true of marriage ties.
Consequently, when the Lord insisted His kids in Ezra’s day divorce their heathen wives, two sins were involved. One was the violation of His Law, the other divorce. Separation was mandatory, which compelled the divorce. God’s kids had no right to marry heathen women to begin with. That had to be set right, which required the divorce.
So the Lord didn’t change His mind and suddenly “like” divorce. He ALWAYS HATES divorce. But it is non-negotiable that the Lord’s kids cannot have binding ties with the devil’s kids, so divorce was a necessary evil to set aright the wrong of intermarriage with unbelievers, a worse evil.
In Malachi’s day the situation was very different. Many Jews were divorcing their Jewish wives in order to marry heathen women! Even a blind man can see the difference between Malachi’s situation and Ezra’s. Let’s itemize it for clarity.
• God’s kids can marry only God’s kids
• God’s kids cannot marry the devil’s kids
• God’s kids divorcing the devil’s kids makes right the wrong of marrying the devil’s kids
• God’s kids divorcing God’s kids makes wrong what was right
Now remember the context, please. This applied to the Israelites in Old Testament Israel under the Law of Moses. It was the Law of the land, their legal code. It was never given to the Gentiles or the Church. (That’s us.)
What is applicable to the Christian is the “doctrine of separation” (cf., 2 Corinthians 6:14-18). Christians are not to marry unbelievers. However, if a Christian is wrongly married to an unbeliever, and if that unbeliever doesn’t prevent the Christian from practicing his/her faith, then the Christian is to remain in the marriage (cf., 1 Corinthians 7:12-16).
So it is, you see, that apparent contradictions in the Bible are just that, apparent! They are contradictions in appearance only, not in reality. We must always read the Bible in context, dear friends. God does hate divorce. He established marriage as the foundational institution of society.
Contrariwise, the devil loves divorce. He wants to destroy society and render futile everything God builds. This serves as an indisputable symptom in diagnosing whether I am walking in the Spirit or walking in the flesh. Do I approve of divorce, or do I hate divorce?
Divorce is pandemic in today’s society. This should tell us what type of society we live in. I’ll give you a hint: the word christ is in it, but the word is preceded by a prefix spelled a-n-t-i. We must choose sides, and not in word only but also in deed. What say ye?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
For I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel [Malachi 2:16].
The Israelites were dispatched to Babylon as slaves in exile. It was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Their crime? Spiritual adultery, sleeping with the enemy, worshiping the gods of the heathen peoples around them, with its concomitant religious sex with the female devotees.
From the first chapter of the Bible to the last, the Lord teaches the “doctrine of separation”. It teaches that what is unclean makes what is clean to become unclean, and what is profane defiles what is holy so that the holy becomes profane too. Ergo, the people of the Lord (the holy) must not forge binding ties with the people of the devil (the profane). This is especially true of marriage ties.
Consequently, when the Lord insisted His kids in Ezra’s day divorce their heathen wives, two sins were involved. One was the violation of His Law, the other divorce. Separation was mandatory, which compelled the divorce. God’s kids had no right to marry heathen women to begin with. That had to be set right, which required the divorce.
So the Lord didn’t change His mind and suddenly “like” divorce. He ALWAYS HATES divorce. But it is non-negotiable that the Lord’s kids cannot have binding ties with the devil’s kids, so divorce was a necessary evil to set aright the wrong of intermarriage with unbelievers, a worse evil.
In Malachi’s day the situation was very different. Many Jews were divorcing their Jewish wives in order to marry heathen women! Even a blind man can see the difference between Malachi’s situation and Ezra’s. Let’s itemize it for clarity.
• God’s kids can marry only God’s kids
• God’s kids cannot marry the devil’s kids
• God’s kids divorcing the devil’s kids makes right the wrong of marrying the devil’s kids
• God’s kids divorcing God’s kids makes wrong what was right
Now remember the context, please. This applied to the Israelites in Old Testament Israel under the Law of Moses. It was the Law of the land, their legal code. It was never given to the Gentiles or the Church. (That’s us.)
What is applicable to the Christian is the “doctrine of separation” (cf., 2 Corinthians 6:14-18). Christians are not to marry unbelievers. However, if a Christian is wrongly married to an unbeliever, and if that unbeliever doesn’t prevent the Christian from practicing his/her faith, then the Christian is to remain in the marriage (cf., 1 Corinthians 7:12-16).
So it is, you see, that apparent contradictions in the Bible are just that, apparent! They are contradictions in appearance only, not in reality. We must always read the Bible in context, dear friends. God does hate divorce. He established marriage as the foundational institution of society.
Contrariwise, the devil loves divorce. He wants to destroy society and render futile everything God builds. This serves as an indisputable symptom in diagnosing whether I am walking in the Spirit or walking in the flesh. Do I approve of divorce, or do I hate divorce?
Divorce is pandemic in today’s society. This should tell us what type of society we live in. I’ll give you a hint: the word christ is in it, but the word is preceded by a prefix spelled a-n-t-i. We must choose sides, and not in word only but also in deed. What say ye?
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
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