What about Divorce for a Christian? Part 1

What the scriptures begin to say:
This is not an easy topic to cover. Even when Jesus was asked about divorce there had to be a bit of clarification that he had to do. It is clear that divorce just because my spouse doesn’t make breakfast right or some other self-serving reason is not a good thing. But, it is also clear to me that there are many more reasons to allow divorce than just sexual adultery.
Divorce is discussed in six places in the New Testament. Matthew 1:19 discusses the possibility of Joseph divorcing Mary because she had become pregnant in their betrothal. In Matthew 5:31-32, we have a short, clear statement in the Sermon on the Mount about divorce. Matthew 19:1-9 and Mark 10:14-18 seem to be accounts of a similar time when the Pharisees were trying to test Jesus by challenging him on the issue of divorce. Luke 16:18 just seems to be a self contained statement on divorce that doesn’t really fit the context of the scripture around it. First Corinthians 7:10-16 gives an account from Paul on divorce, especially concerning divorce between a Christian spouse and a non-believing spouse.
The Old Testament is not real cohesive on its discussion of divorce. In Malachi 2:16 we are told, “God hates divorce.” But in Ezra 10, the people seem to be honoring God by divorcing their wives that are not Jewish. There are a number of discussions about how a divorced woman should act and how the rest of the people should act toward the divorced woman. In many ways, she would be treated as a widow, thereby recognizing divorce as probable. There are some key statements in Jeremiah 3 where it begins with statements concerning a man divorcing his wife and then talks about the people of Israel and Judah acting like “whores” because they broke the covenant of relationship with God.
The problem with the Old Testament discussion is that it is based in a patriarchal society and only allows the man to divorce the woman. It seems that Jesus’ statements and the New Testament as a whole counteract these patriarchal understandings of life in general and divorce. “there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)