|
Question #15: Malachi 2:16 is usually quoted as saying that God hates divorce, but it's just not true. The Hebrew word shalach means “putting away” - a separation, as correctly translated in most Bibles. However, the King James and a number of newer versions have incorrectly translated shalach as to mean: divorce. It never meant divorce and it doesn’t mean divorce. The word was most likely translated as “divorce” to fit what was taught in the church. Shalach is just a common word used throughout the Old Testament which means to: go, separate or to send.
The Law specifically stated that when a man got a divorce from his wife that he was to write “...her a CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE, put it in her hand, AND [shalach] send her out [put her away]...” (Deuteronomy 24:1). Instead, men separated from their wives without ever giving them a Certificate of Divorce and then illegally married someone else. God hated that the husbands were separating from their wives without giving them a certificate of divorce which would enable them to get remarried. THIS is what God hates! I've seen one form or another of this argument brought up several times but it really doesn't hold water when examined. In reality, no word in Hebrew means divorce. The word "divorce" doesn't exist anywhere in Scripture, just like the word "adultery" doesn't exist in Scripture. In the Hebrew, there are two terms we need to understand: keriythuwth (Strong's #3748): cutting off from marriage (from the root karath, Strong's #3772, meaning to cut off, to behead, to destroy, to permit to perish) shalach (Strong's #7971): putting away, sending away Just as the closest word for na'aph in English is "adultery", so also the closest word for keriythuwth in English is "divorcement", but the Hebrew term isn't the same as how it is commonly used today in our culture. Deut. 24:1-4: "When a man takes a wife and shall marry her, then it shall be, if she finds no favour in his eyes because he has found a matter of uncoveredness in her, and he shall write her a certificate of KERIYTHUWTH (cutting off from marriage), and put it in her hand, and SHALACH (send away) her out of his house, and if she left his house and went and became another man’s wife, and the latter husband shall hate her and write her a certificate of KERIYTHUWTH (cutting off from marriage), and put it in her hand, and SHALACH (send away) her out of his house, or when the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, then her former husband who SHALACH (sent away) her is not allowed to take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled, for that would be an abomination before Yahweh. And do not bring sin on the land which Yahweh your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance." The clear understanding of this passage, setting aside the uncoveredness clause for the moment, is that the husband writes his wife a certificate of cutting off, gives it to her, and then sends her out of his home. The certificate is his intention to release her ("cut her off") from her covenant contract to him. Remember, the wife is bound to the husband like a branch is bound to a vine. The husband is already permitted to marry another, so this certificate of cutting off is the wife's proof of the husband's termination of the marriage covenant, allowing her to remarry once cut off. A wife couldn't write herself a certificate of cutting off, nor could she write him a certificate of cutting herself off from him. Mal. 2:14-16: "And you said, "Why?" Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have acted treacherously, though she is your companion and the wife of your covenant. And did He not make one? And He had the remnant of the Spirit? And what is the one alone? He seeks a seed of Elohim. So you shall guard your spirit, and let none act treacherously against the wife of his youth. "For I hate SHALACH (sending away)," said Yahweh Elohim of Yisra’el, "and the one who covers his garment with cruelty," said Yahweh of hosts. "So you shall guard your spirit, and do not act treacherously." It seems clear that it is the acting treacherously against the wife of one's youth that is the subject of objection here. God says He hates "shalach" here in Mal. 2:16, yet it is the same word He uses in Jer. 3:8 when He Himself "shalach"'s Israel. The difference is not merely a certificate of cutting off, but rather the treacherous act the husband is committing against her without cause. When the husband SHALACH (sends away) his wife, it is supposed to be a punishment; a necessary consequence of marital unfaithfulness on the part of the wife. Without the required "matter of uncoveredness", the SHALACH (sending away) is unwarranted, despite any certificate of KERIYTHUWTH (cutting off from marriage). This was precisely why the Pharisees asked Jesus the question about whether it was lawful to "put away" one's wife for any reason, and His response was that, outside the "matter of whoring", to do so would be adultery. Matt. 19:3-9: "And the Pharisees came to Him, trying Him, and saying to Him, "Is it right for a man to put away his wife for every reason?" And He answering, said to them, "Did you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So that they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what Elohim has joined together, let man not separate." They said to Him, "Why then did Mosheh command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?" He said to them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts, Mosheh allowed you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever puts away his wife, except on the ground of whoring, and marries another, commits adultery. And whoever marries her who has been put away commits adultery." We can see that the certificate of divorce was brought up and refuted by Jesus Himself. What God hates is unjustified divorce, being treacherous to the wife of one's youth, not simply a missing certificate of divorce. |
 Back |
 Home |
 Next |
"...In essentials we maintain unity, in opinions liberty, and in all things love..."
webmaster@righteouswarriors.com