Divorce… a common place event
1) A stress on rights not duties.
2) Unrealistic expectations of easy and sustained happiness
3) The emancipation of women
4) A loss of parent support
5) The wider acceptance of divorce and remarriage
6) A decline in religion and the wide rejection of what God’s word says even among those who claim to follow Jesus
7) Earlier remarriage results in more divorce since issue not worked through or acknowledged
The cost of divorce
…as little as $432 “if you play your cards and your pre nup right”.
God says Divorce is possible when …
1) ‘Something indecent’ happens
Deut 24:1
“ervat” = nakedness
2) More biblical reasons for divorce
Ex 21:7-10
“deprives her of the marital rights of food, clothing and sexual love”
An OT example
Jeremiah 3:8, Israel given a certificate of divorce and sent her away
Jer 3:8 – “adulteries” = “hardness of heart”.
see Mat 19
Hosea 2:2, “She is not my wife and I am not her husband”.
Isaiah 50:1 “where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away?”
Ezekiel 16:10-20 God’s generous provision
Malachi 2:16, “God hates divorce”
… the pain of the broken covenant
Divorce in the NT
Matthew 19:3 a specific question
“Is it lawful for a man to divorce a woman for any and every reason?”
Twisting Deut 24:1…”anything” and “naked or indecent”.
Reason one = adultery
Reason two = “anything”
Jesus answers – NO to Anything and Yes to Adultery
The Pharisees respond v 7 …Moses commanded
Jesus replies v 8
Only permitted… hardness of heart
For us today
Next week part 2