The men of Judah were intermarrying with the women of foreign nations surrounding Judah. This in itself was a serious breach of God’s expressed prohibition. But their sin was compounded inasmuch as it was not merely the unwed men of Judah who took foreign wives for themselves. Even older men of Judah, who in their youth had married the women of Judah, were divorcing their godly wives in order to marry pagan women. By so doing, they not only broke the covenant of the Lord, but they also broke the covenant of marriage, which the Lord had created as a reflection of the covenant between him and his people. A grave injustice was committed against these godly wives, for they were left without protector and provider. Furthermore, these godly wives who served their husbands as spiritual helpmeets in the service of God were being rejected in favour of pagan wives, who would becomes “a snare and a trap for [them], a whip on [their] sides and thorns in [their] eyes” (Joshua 23:12), and who would turn these men away from following the Lord, to serve other gods (Deuteronomy 7:4).
14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was 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.