Since God hates divorce, it is not surprising that there are remarkably few examples of divorce in his book. In the Old Testament there are in fact only a handful of references.

CASE 1 -- A PARABLE OF THE CHURCH
A parable which uses the imagery of divorce is contained in Jeremiah's writings. The word is used by Jeremiah, in a spiritual sense, to describe the separation imposed on Israel for continued wilful idolatry and disobedience, described as "fornication" and "adultery".

Some have seized on this to justify divorce and then remarriage on these grounds.

However, a careful reading of these passages will show quite clearly that the theme of the prophet is not freedom to remarry, but reconciliation and unchanging faithfulness to a covenant which cannot be broken while the parties live.

It is quite clear that God considers himself bound by a covenant in which nothing short of final judgement and death can ever close the door for reconciliation. God continues to plead for his estranged wife to return to him. When she does, all the blessings and privileges of a favoured wife will be restored.

Although Jeremiah uses the word "divorce" (Jer 3:8) when using the parable of an estranged wife to describe God's dealings with Israel, other prophets who use the same parable either do not mention "divorce" at all (Ezekiel 16) or else specifically exclude it. (Isaiah 50:1 and Isaiah 54:5-8).

The clear message of Isaiah is that, in spite of Israel's many sins and the separation which then exists, God still continues to regard himself as husband to his faithless wife.

Even though he has been angry for a brief moment, everlasting compassion will prevail to restore the relationship between them. God's faithfulness to his marriage covenant guarantees forgiveness and reconciliation when Israel returns to him.

If God so uses the parable of the marriage covenant in this way to describe his relationship with his people, how much more is it necessary that in the realm of human marriage the same attitude should prevail towards the sacred covenant between a husband and wife.

Once a marriage has been joined by God, not even "adultery" or "prostitution" can provide an excuse for a man to walk away from his obligation to his wife in order to marry another.

"Until death do us part" is a promise which commits a man to love his wife and to seek for reconciliation with a long suffering compassion as great as that shown by God towards his church.

CASE 2 -- A FORBIDDEN MARRIAGE
In the historical books of Ezra and Nehemiah, we find the sorry story of Jews who had married foreign wives, contrary to the law of Moses, whilst living in exile.

Since these marriages were illegal they could not be recognised as joined by God and it was necessary to dissolve them. Even though some of these unions had produced children, that did not alter the primary requirement of a return to obedience to God's law.

There is another facet to this story in the book of the prophet Malachi. (Malachi was a prophet whose ministry took place at about the time of this incident).

Malachi was constrained to speak out forcefully against those Jews who had taken foreign wives. Some of them had cruelly divorced their first wives to marry these idolatrous foreigners. (Mal. 2:10-16)

In God's view of the matter, these marriages with foreigners were invalid on two counts. It was bad enough that the Jews had married foreigners, but it was also unacceptable to God that these men had been faithless to their first wives. The marriages were adulterous.

On both counts, these marriages needed to be undone.

The value of this record, for our purpose, is to show that a second "marriage" which is not recognised by God ought to be undone. The faithfulness of those Jews who discovered their mistake and then took the costly steps necessary to put things right with God is a compelling example of the obedience which puts God first and wife and children second. (Luke 14:26-33)

This sacrificial obedience is, Jesus says, an essential element of being a true disciple. (Luke 14,26).

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26)