This is a fascinating article...full of references from scrpture to study...I was especially interested in his interpretation of the Malachai passage where God says He hates divorce yet He divorced Israel.

http://www.tyndalehouse.com/staff/Instone-Brewer/index.htm

THREE WEDDINGS AND A DIVORCE:
GOD’S COVENANT WITH ISRAEL, JUDAH
AND THE CHURCH
David Instone Brewer

Summary
God is described in the Old Testament as married to Israel and Judah, and in the
New Testament the church is described as the Bride of Christ. The marriage to
Israel ended in divorce and the marriage to Judah suffered a period of
separation. Paul suggests that this marriage ended when Christ died, in order
that Christ would be free to marry the Church with a better marriage covenant.
These marriage covenants are detailed by several authors in the Old and New
Testaments. These several accounts are consistent with each other and
demonstrate that God subjects himself to his own law in the matter of marriage
and divor

Sorry for all the typos. My computer is very slow today and posting anything is a chore!

DIB is one my favs.  I love this article.

A lot of Christian teaching on divorce can be summed up as: "Heap big bad.  God hates.  Stay away from."

This is a short teaching that shows that the Bible teaches that God got a divorce, which is not taught very much in some circles.

The article points out what is meant in Mal when God says He hates Divorce. He hates the breaking of the covenant. The sin involved. It is not how we think of God hating divorce as we have been taught: The actual process for gaining a divorce decree. It is before that. The breaking of the vows or covenant through sin.

So when churches tell men or woman getting a divorce is sin, they are ignoring the sin leading to the breaking of the vows.

YES!

God is against the breaking of ANY covenant vows. 

DIB has a rare gift of being a scholar and at the same time being able to communicate academic subjects in every day language we can all understand.

This is another way of looking at it from his blog...

Thirdly, the whole idea of divorce as a sin is based on a misunderstanding of scripture. Breaking up the marriage by breaking the marriage vows is a sin, and this leads to divorce. Think of it like a murder of marriage. Murder is the sin, death is the result, and the death certificate (like the divorce certificate) simply records the fact. Malachi records God's anger against those who break their covenant with their bride, by being unfaithful. He doesn't hate the divorcee, but the cause of divorce.

He has this listed but I cannot find the pre pub  anywhere:

1992: "1 Corinthians 9.9-11: A Literal Interpretation of 'Do Not Muzzle the Ox'" (New Testament Studies 38 1992 p554-565). (pre-pub version)

I would love to read that.