Malachi 2:14

"Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because Jehovah hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant."

"Yet ye say ..." See introduction for discussion of this arrogant rejection of the prophet's words recurring again and again throughout the prophecy. To every charge of evil, they had a stock reply "Where's the harm in it?"

The harm in it derived, first of all, from the sacred nature of marriage itself, in which the partners of the marriage relationship, since they sustain a religious relation to each other, are also viewed as co-partners with God Himself, the third member of the union, and "a witness between thee and the wife of thy youth."

Evil husbands who marry the young and the beautiful, and then, when the bloom of life has faded, shamefully and heartlessly divorce their wives to marry younger women do indeed deal "treacherously" with their wives. We can thank God that Malachi in this prophecy pours out the wrath and displeasure of the Almighty God Himself upon such selfish and evil men. Any fair appraisal of the conduct of such wicked husbands must indeed find it most reprehensible.

"The wife of thy covenant ..." One must deny all relationship to God Himself in order to do the wicked thing in view here. When one deals thus treacherously with his wife, who has been his companion throughout life, he is automatically, of course, a traitor against God and every holy obligation connected with religion. The fact of our current godless society's tolerance and even approval of divorce is an evil blight upon mankind. Men do not have the right to allow what God has forbidden that they should do. Marriage is "a covenant to which the Lord was witness (Genesis 31:50; Proverbs 2:17)."[23] Therefore, "Marriage is not simply an individual matter, or even a social institution; rather it is a divine ordinance, the Lord himself being the chief witness at the wedding ceremony."[24]