Malachi 2:13-16

"And this you do as well: You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor at your hand. You ask, 'Why does he not?”'Because the Lord was a witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did not one God make her? Both flesh and spirit are his. And what does the one God desire? Godly offspring. So look to yourselves, and do not let anyone be faithless to the wife of his youth. For I hate divorce, says the Lord, the God of Israel, and covering one’s garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless" (Malachi 2:13-17).

Question:

I'm curious about divorce and if it's adultery to date after. 

Comment:

Little is known about this prophet; we may not even know his real name, since 'malachi' means 'my messenger' in Hebrew. His major concern is fidelity to the Sinai covenant between the Lord and His people. Writing sometime between 500 and 450 BCE, he urges the people of the covenant—both those in Israel and those in Judah and, particularly, Jerusalem—to set aside differences and come together in obedience to the laws of the covenant. "Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us?" (Malachi 2:10)  

His specific issues include impure sacrifices and corrupt teachings in the temple described in chapter one. Now he turns to the predominate practice of Jewish men marrying gentile women; even the king of Judah has "married the daughter of a foreign god" (v. 11). This is, to him, diluting and weakening the strength of the covenant, producing 'ungodly offspring' of mixed faiths. Symbolically, then, "the wife of your youth" is the spiritual marriage the people made with the Lord. They are called to renew those vows and return to the spiritual commitment they had made earlier in their history.  

We, too, are often called to remember the spiritual commitment that brought us into human form—our 'first marriage' to our Source. We get distracted, lured away from that commitment by other concerns.  

The passage can certainly be taken literally to condemn all divorce. Even from the narrow perspective, however, I can't see how it concerns dating after a divorce. As long as our choices and commitments are in alignment with our spiritual Purpose, they will support our journey and deepen our realization of Oneness.

Blessings!

Rev. Ed