During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. . . . I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries.” (Jeremiah 3:6, 8)
DIVORCE AND REDEMPTION. Marriage is meant to be permanent and so divorce is a very solemn decision. This might lead divorced people to feel they have been permanently disgraced. But in this text God has the audacity to call himself a divorced person. The self-righteous who want nothing to do with divorced persons will have to avoid God! But, you might ask, what if I was the one at fault in my divorce? Nothing in the Bible calls divorce the unforgivable sin. And never underestimate the redemptive power of God to work in an evil situation. Through David and Bathsheba’s child, Solomon, God brings Jesus Christ into the world—out of a relationship that began as an illicit affair and led to murder. It’s as if God is saying, “I love bringing good out of the hardest cases.”
Reflection: Consider how different the Bible’s attitude is toward divorce from Western cultures (where divorce is taken lightly) and traditional cultures (where it is a permanent disgrace). Why would the Bible be so balanced and different?
Prayer: Lord, I praise you that you are both holy and merciful, and therefore you both warn us strongly against divorce yet are gentle with those who have experienced it. Amen.