When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.
2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife;
4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
-Deuteronomy 24:1-4, KJV
Always married while living?
Clearly, Moses understood some people as being legitimately divorced while former spouses were still living. If he didn’t, then this passage out of Deuteronomy would make no sense.
Now, I am not saying that we live under this law today.
My point is to undermine those interpretations of Malachi 2 that suggest God never sees divorce as ever valid while both partners are living.
The Old Testament clearly teaches that divorce is valid in some cases here in Deuteronomy 24. If the divorce was invalid, then the whole prohibition or even the need for remarriage would not make sense.
It is interesting how God writes His Word into the hearts of men, then give us a choice to follow or not.
Without knowing the verse you referenced, I instinctively felt my ex-wife had been defiled and that I could never touch her again.