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 pp
Matthew 19:7The certificate of divorce was a legal document ending the marriage.See alsoLeviticus 22:12-13Divorce ends the restrictions on a priest's daughter which were the result of her marriage; Numbers 30:9Following divorce a husband is no longer responsible for his wife; Deuteronomy 24:1-2Divorce properly entered into allows the parties to remarry; Hosea 2:2;
Matthew 5:31
Divorce was not God's original intention
Malachi 2:10-16God'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 pp
Mark 10:5-9The Law of Moses did not command divorce, but regulated an existing practice, particularly to protect the wife.See alsoGenesis 1:27; Genesis 2:24
Deuteronomy 22:13-19where a husband makes false accusations about his wife's virginity; Deuteronomy 22:28-29where the marriage is contracted following the rape of a virgin
