It goes without saying that divorce is a problem for us today, just as it was for Israel then. While the statistics seem to indicate a slight decline in our divorce rate, none can deny that Americans still have a strong tendency to dissolve their marriages rather than work them out. But the text from Malachi indicates what God's attitude has always been toward the severing of marriages. At the very least, the marriage vow involves a promise of trustworthiness and commitment.
Spouses ought to be able to rest their complete confidence in the other's constancy.
When one betrays that confidence by divorce, he commits the sin of betrayal and treachery. To divorce is to perpetrate an act of injustice and violence against one's mate. It is an injurious harm inflicted on one who has a right to expect safety and support. Nothing that one human being can do to another is more hurtfully selfish. It may well be that the prevalence of divorce is but one symptom of a breakdown of our willingness to show fidelity to our commitments in general.