Justice and the Prophets
God Requires Justice
Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5)
Leading Justly
Malachi 2:10-16 New International Version
Breaking Covenant Through Divorce
10 Do we not all have one Father[ a]? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?
11 Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob[ b]—even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty.
13 Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask,“Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
15 Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.[ c] So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.
16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”[ d] says the Lord Almighty.
So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful.
For Reflection
There is no justice in unfaithful relationships. It's not just that one has married a non-believer. It is that the God-fearing person who married outside his faith is swayed into disobedience by his wife. I suppose if his wife were converted to the husband's faith, there would be no issue.
There are other ways one divorces oneself from his faith. In those times one could divorce a wife for any reason justified or not. God seems not as upset by the act of divorce as God is about the man's behavior which initiated a divorce. His unfaithfulness to his wife is not a just cause for divorcing her and leaving her destitute.
Pray
Pray and contemplate your faithfulness in your relationship with God and with the people with whom you interact. Ask yourself, are you divorcing yourself from God when you do not treat others with honor and grace?
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