And did not he make one?— Houbigant renders the passage, And hath he made thee one flesh and one spirit with her? And what does he require but a godly seed, and that you may mutually keep your spirit, and not deal treacherously? &c. Malachi 2:16. For whoever putteth away his wife through hatred, saith the Lord, hideth iniquity in his garment: therefore, &c. Among the various interpretations of these words, this seems the most probable, says Lowth, that the prophet puts the Jews in mind of the first institution of marriage in paradise, as Christ did afterwards upon a like occasion, Matthew 19:3-5 and tells them, that God made but one man at first, and made the woman out of him, when he could have created more women if he had pleased; to instruct men that this was the true pattern of marriage, ordained for sincere love and undivided affection, and best served the chief end of it; namely, the religious education of children. (Dr. Pocock tells us, that the Easterns frequently call a wife by the name of a garment. See Deuteronomy 22:30.) According to the interpretation given above, the meaning of the 16th verse will be, that God hates divorcing a former wife to take in one of a strange nation, or that any should bring into his family an illegitimate wife, over and above that whom he had legally married.
Related Commentaries of Malachi 2:15
Malachi 2:15-16
15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residued of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.