Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife?

This chapter deals with matters concerning the sanctity of marriage, and the protection of children who result from that union. We are living in days when marriage is taken lightly by so many in the world, to the extent that more and more are ignoring the necessity for it, and choosing to cohabit, thus leaving the door open for a quick exit without the complications of divorce proceedings. Also, many who have taken marriage vows do not treat them seriously. At the first indication of marital disharmony, they readily turn to the idea of divorce, rather than to work through the problems with each other. This reflects the way in which society has rejected God’s intention regarding marriage. Marriage was never intended to be a convenience, but a commitment to each other for a lifetime.

It is evident from the passage under consideration, that the marriage problems which plague today’s society were also present, even if on a lesser scale, in New Testament times. The Pharisees tried to put the Lord on the spot regarding the problem of divorce and whether it should be allowed. In those days a man could divorce his wife for some trivial reason - ‘for any cause’. The Lord made it clear that it was God’s intention that marriage should be a commitment for life, as it is God who joins together. He also made it clear that Moses did not introduce the bill of divorcement to accommodate an easy way out of marriage, but ‘because of the hardness of their hearts’, and He follows this by adding, ‘but from the beginning it was not so’, v. 8. In other words, Moses introduced the bill of divorcement as an exception, and as a protection against those who thought they could break the marriage bond for some trivial reason - ‘for any cause.’ The obtaining of a bill of divorcement would demand that ‘just cause’, e.g., fornication, v. 9, be presented, versus ‘any cause’, before it would be granted, thus giving protection to the wife and the children of the union.

In conclusion, marriage is intended by God to reflect that indissoluble eternal union between Christ and His church and this must always be borne in mind within every Christian marriage.