The Jealous God

1. The JealousGod– 25th
March 2017
“You shall notbow downto them or worshipthem; for I, the LORD your God,am a jealous
God...”(Exodus20:5).
The Oxford dictionarydefinesJealousyasa feelingorshowinganenviousresentmentof someone or
theirachievements,possessions,orperceivedadvantages. Whenthe word Jealousisusedinthe
Scriptures,itisused inbotha positive andanegative sense.Whenjealousy isusedasanattribute of
God, itis obviouslyusedinapositive sense.Probablythe moststrikingexampleof the anthropomorphic
(humancharacteristics) portrayal of Godisin those passageswhere Godissaidto be jealous.The
language isbaseduponthe relationshipof husbandandwife andisfrequentlyassociatedwithIsrael's
unfaithfulnesstoGod.
It isimportantto understandhowthe word“jealous”isused. The use of thisword inrelationtoGod can
be seenin Exodus20:5, “Youshall not bow downto them or worshipthem; for I, the LORD your God,
am a jealousGod,punishingthechildrenfor the sin ofthe parentsto the third andfourth generation
of those whohate me…”Thisisused to describe thatGod isdifferentfromhow itisusedtodescribe
the sinof jealousy aswe can readin Galatians5:19-21, “The acts ofthe fleshare obvious:sexual
immorality,impurityanddebauchery; 20
idolatryandwitchcraft; hatred, discord,jealousy,fitsofrage,
selfishambition,dissensions,factions 21
andenvy;drunkenness,orgies,andthe like.I warnyou, as I
didbefore, that those who livelike this will not inheritthe kingdomof God.”
Whenwe use the word“jealous,”we use itinthe sense of beingenviousof someone whohas
somethingwe donothave.A personmightbe jealousorenviousof anotherpersonbecause he or she
has a nice car or home or some possessions thatone envies. Ora personmightbe jealousorenviousof
anotherpersonbecause of some abilityorskill thatotherpersonhas forexample asones athleticability.
Anotherexamplewouldbe thatone person mightbe jealousorenviousof anotherbecause of hisorher
beauty. Thenwhatisthe reasoningwhenthe word“jealous”isusedinreferencetoGodas we read
above.
Whenwe come across thisword in Exodus 20:5, we know that it isnot that God isjealousorenvious
because someone hassomethingHe wantsorneeds. We can derive anunderstandingwhenwe read
Exodus20:4,“You shall not make for yourselfan imagein the form ofanythingin heaven aboveor on
the earth beneathor inthe waters below.” Fromthisreadingwe can understandthatthiswordis used
that God isjealouswhensomeonegives ‘toanother’somethingthatrightlybelongstoHim.
In the above verses,Godisspeakingof people makingidolsandbowingdownandworshipingthose
idolsinsteadof givingGodthe worshipthatbelongstoHimalone.Godispossessive of the worshipand
service thatbelongtoHimas ourcreator. It isa sin - as God pointsoutinthiscommandment - to
worshiporserve anythingotherthanGod. Itis a sinwhenwe desire,orwe are envious,orwe are
jealousof someone becausehe hassomethingthatwe donot have.It is a differentuse of the word
“jealous”whenGodsaysHe isjealous.WhatHe is jealousof belongstoHim;worshipandservice belong
to Him alone,andare to be givento Himalone. We can learnfrom Deuteronomy8:19,“ If you ever

2. forget the LORD your Godand followother godsandworshipand bow downto them, I testify against
you todaythat you will surely be destroyed.”
Perhapsa practical example will helpusunderstandthe difference.If ahusbandseesanotherman
flirtingwithhiswife,he isrightto be jealous,foronlyhe hasthe rightto flirtwithhiswife.Thistype of
jealousyisnotsinful.Rather,itisentirelyappropriate.BeingjealousforsomethingthatGoddeclaresto
belongtoyouis goodand appropriate.Jealousyisasinwhenitis a desire forsomethingthat doesnot
belongto you. Worship,praise,honor,andadorationbelongtoGodalone,foronlyHe is trulyworthyof
it.Therefore,Godisrightlyjealouswhenworship,praise,honor,oradorationisgiventoidols.Thisis
preciselythe jealousythe apostle Paul describedin 2 Corinthians11:2, “I amjealousfor you with a
godlyjealousy...”