Malachi 2:15

"And did he not make one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? And wherefore one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore, take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth."

As this verse stands in our version, the thought is that God had made man and his wife to be "one flesh," with the purpose of their bringing forth "a godly seed." Since the marriage of foreign wives who were also pagan would not have achieved such a purpose, God sternly forbade dealing "treacherously with the wife of thy youth." In this verse, the remaining clause, re: "the residue of the Spirit" is not clear. Robinson's comment on this was, "In any case, Malachi was a Christian on the subject of divorce; for, `No higher word on marriage was ever spoken except by Christ himself' (G. A. Smith)."[25] "This verse (in the Hebrew) is hopelessly obscure";[26] and there are a number of efforts to translate it, all with different results. Baldwin thought that, "Perhaps it suffered at the hands of the scribes who objected to its teaching,"[27] nor can such a possibility be safely ruled out. Certainly, the passage is not absolutely clear, no matter which rendition is followed.

It is definitely known that polygamy was an accepted institution among the Jews until after the exile. The Old Testament references to the polygamous marriages of Abraham, Jacob, and the kings of Israel are numerous.

The institution of polygamy was recognized in the Talmud, in which is recorded, "Its prohibition of a larger number of wives than four to the ordinary Jewish citizen and eighteen for the king himself."[28] One may only imagine, therefore, how vigorously some would have opposed the stern words of Malachi on marriage. It was the prophet, however, who carried the day on that subject. "After the exile, it is quite clear that monogamy was looked upon as the ideal state of marriage."[29] When the Pharisees, therefore, brought their question to Jesus re: divorce, they thought they had him trapped. They knew that his teaching would not contradict that of the holy prophets, and that it would doubtless contradict the loose and sinful practice of which many of them were guilty. Their purpose was not that of learning anything, but that of trying to embarrass the Lord.