Friday, November 25, 2011

Jesus and Divorce.


"It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you, any man who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery."

God allowed divorce in former times, but men abused it. They decided they were permitted to divorce their wives for any reason. This led to women being thrown out and left in poverty. If they had children, they most likely stayed with the man. What a tragedy and abuse of women. Many became prostitutes to earn a living.

Palestinian Hebrew women were among the poorest in the world in Jesus' day. This was probably because they had no inheritance rights and could be divorced for the flimsiest of reasons. Hebrew men could divorce their wives for anything from burning the dinner (Hillel) to adultery (Shammai). Yet Hebrew women were not allowed to divorce their husbands. In a culture in which women did not survive unless they were linked to the patriarchal household, it was disastrous to be divorced. Seen in this light, Jesus' proscription of divorce is markedly protective of women. The raising of the son of the widow of Nain is another example of Jesus' compassion for the poverty of women entrapped by patriarchy.
 http://www.cta-usa.org/wicl/4jesusandwomen.html

Josephus, the celebrated Jewish historian, in his Life, tells us, with the utmost coolness and indifference, "About this time I put away my wife, who had borne me three children, not being pleased with her manners." http://bible.cc/matthew/5-31.htm

 "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel." Malachi 2:16


Divorce brings pain and poverty to men, women and children. God hates anything that hurts people. He wants us to love each other, have happy homes and children. 



5 comments:

betty said...

I so agree with what you wrote, Belle. I know God hates divorce. I think he hates it for what it does to people, how it destroys families, etc.

betty

Anonymous said...

Matthew 19:7-8"They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to giving a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses becuase of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put aways your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

Divorce is always from the hardening of our hearts! This is what God hates.....and does "hardness" not mean "bitterness" ...we fail at giving or operating in His Forgiveness! Divorce is but the results of the hardening of our hearts...due to unforgiveness.

This is such a deep subject my friend, I'm thankful this morning for His Mercy and Grace, how about you?

Hope your Thanksgiving was one of the best!

Anonymous said...

Hey Belle, I'm having problems with my blog ..would you mind to run over and check it out and see if you can leave a comment please

betty-NZ said...

This is a subject that most of us don't want to acknowledge.

I am divorced and I have asked forgiveness. I also know that God chose me to come to NZ so I guess His Grace is the important thing in my situation.

Belle said...

Betty- My first husband fooled around and we divorced. It broke my heart and my oldest daughter's heart too.

Rhonda- I did email you about your blog and I hope you got it. I see it is all fixed now and I'm glad. Yes, I agree that most divorce is caused by our hard hearts as Jesus said.

Betty- The woman at the well was married 5 times and then was living with a man when Jesus talked with her. He spoke to her and told her he was the Messiah. He knew she was ready for him and the truth.

He accepts us just as we are and where we are in our life and forgives all our mistakes. I have made so many in my life and I'm glad God forgives us over and over again.