Before we read those verses it is important to see that the Pharisees “came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it LAWFUL for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” (19:3…NASB). As you may know, the nation of Israel was “under the Law of Moses” and it covered every area of their life, including marriage. Jesus wanted them to be clear that God’s intention was for a man and wife to remain together for life, so He reminds them of God’s word about Adam and Eve’s marriage in Genesis 2:24 and adds a solemn word of exhortation, “the two shall become one flesh…what therefore God has joined together, let no man separate” (verse 6). God states clearly and emphatically in Malachi 2:16, “For I HATE DIVORCE, says the LORD, the God of Israel.” Now let’s quote Matthew 19:7-8, “They said to Him, ‘Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND HER AWAY?” He said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart Moses PERMITTED you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.” So, as we noted God’s INTENTION was for marriage to be permanent (until the death of one’s spouse), but because of Israel’s “hardness of heart” God PERMITTED divorce. Yet in order for the divorce to be valid it would have to go through a “legal procedure” called a CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE.

What exactly is a “certificate of divorce?” It was a legal bill (paper), perhaps similar to a legal document issued today in divorce proceedings. This did not become part of the Mosaic Law as an “official commandment,” but only “a writing giving one permission for divorce.”  The husband had to go through this process to procure the certificate of divorce. The process took time in order “to find a scribe that could write legal documents.” Perhaps this would give the husband time to change his mind and reconciliation could take place.

Another reason (besides it taking time to complete the certificate of divorce) that could “make him think twice” about divorcing his wife is found in Deuteronomy 24:1-4, which reads: “When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he WRITES HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house, and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife, and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, then HER FORMER HUSBAND who sent her away IS NOT ALLOWED TO TAKE HER AGAIN TO BE HIS WIFE, since she is defiled.” In other words, if he had a change of heart towards his former wife it would be too late to remarry her under these conditions. We learn here that though God’s GRACE allowed men to divorce their wives, He did set down CONDITIONS that could prevent the divorce from ever taking place.

I could close here, but I must say that God STILL HATES DIVORCE! His heart must be grieved at the divorce rate today throughout the world and this includes many Christian couples divorcing one another. Jesus did go on in Matthew 19:9 to give believing couples one exception that would allow divorce: “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and married another woman commits adultery.” If one spouse is unfaithful to the other and commits adultery, their union can be broken by this shameful act. Yet today we see Christians adopting the world’s standards and divorcing their spouse for other reasons, some of them being downright petty. It is quite easy to get a “certificate of divorce” from the world’s legal systems and shame on any believer who “conforms to the world” (Romans 12:2a) in this way.  (DO)  (590.5)