THE JEALOUS GOD

The Jealousy of God

“I will not give my glory to another.”  Isa 42:8  

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Deuteronomy 4:24

1 a : intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness  b : disposed to suspect rivalry or unfaithfulness. Merriam-Webster, 1996

That’s a wild concept - God being jealous. But isn’t that a bad thing? We no doubt have images in our mind of a jealous person who clings, oppresses, acts out in rage, suspects continually and only wants things and people for their own cause. They are jealous because they need the things or the people to make them happy and secure. That’s the ugly and down side of jealousy. There is however a beautiful upside to jealousy. Think about it. Wouldn’t we be upset if one we loved was not jealous for us? Don’t they care that their relationship with me may be taken away? Am I important enough for them to be upset if they lost me? Their jealousy would show us that they want us and us alone. They want to do all to protect our relationship. They will not allow another to steal us away. They will defend our cause, our reputation, our very life. It all comes down to the fact that they desire us.  

What makes God’s jealousy different from ours is that He does not need us or our love. He can exist perfectly well without it. He would not be any the lesser without us. But the fact does remain that the Lord wants us. It is the choice He makes from His loving nature. The Christian life is a lot about intimacy. We were made to be intimate with the Lord. 

Here is a small example of how part of His jealousy works. I would be mortified if another man ran off with my wife. (I’ve seen it happen to many others and it is devastating.) All that I have given, invested, care for, entrusted myself towards, taken pleasure in, given my heart towards, cherished, and sacrificed for only to be stolen by another. What would be my reaction? Anger. Hurt. Pain. Betrayal. But also deep concern for my beloved. Scripture tells us that there is no more rage than that of a jealous lover. Who against?  Mostly towards the one who stole my wife. But also, if she willingly went – I would be hurt by her. Spurned and rejected. Yet I would do all to get her back. I would do all to restore our intimacy. How much more is this true for our God. 

The Lord is strong in His love for His beloved. Christ has offered His own life to save us from one who would steal us. He has bought us with His own blood. 

Jealousy is indeed not a sign of weakness but of strength. A weak, self-preserving and miserable person would surrender their beloved. One who is strong in love would readily do all to keep their beloved and not let another steal them away. What love would there be if one did not fight for their loved one? The beloved has been deceived and led away. Should not the lover sacrifice much to retrieve and capture back the one they care so deeply for? Rightness must prevail. The relationship must not be violated.  

And yet, there is another and more dominant form of jealousy revealed in scripture. It is where one’s reputation is at stake. A jealousy comes about when another is made superior to you or has an advantage over you. You will not have something that is rightfully yours taken away. That which you own and possess is not to be stolen. God reveals from the outset to humanity that He is a jealous God. The story of God’s jealousy towards us may make for a wonderful love story.  However, the context of jealousy in regard to God appears to have more to do with His reputation. The first statement God makes of Himself in the Ten Commandments is that He is a jealous God.  

Exodus 20:4–6  ⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below.⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me,⁶ and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

His name is Jealous! Imagine serving a god who did not defend their name. If the god didn’t defend their name then it means their authority is in question and able to be usurped. But God does jealously defend His name, His sovereignty and His glory. 

Isaiah 48:11  For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.  How can I let myself be defamed?  I will not yield my glory to another. 

It gives us, those who have committed their lives to Christ, a deep sense of security when God our Father defends His holy name. 

In the first instances of God describing Himself as jealous He uses a Hebrew word which has the root idea of “becoming red faced”. The word for jealousy in the New Testament is where we get the word, “zeal” or “envy”. Oh, how I would love to soften and pretty up the jealousy of God. It almost seems primitive that God is portrayed as jealous, let alone having jealous anger. But I find it difficult to counter who He reveals Himself to be in scripture. The problem lies not with Him, by rather my lack of understand and misconceptions. I want Him to be a jealous lover – which indeed He is. Yet He is also jealous for His glory. His jealousy burns like a raging fire. And my response is simply to yield to that. It is well deserved. Who am I to question? Who am I to get bent out of shape because God gets upset and He doesn’t fit in the pretty little nice box I put Him in. He is wonderfully jealous.  

God’s jealousy will also protect that which is His own – His people, His name, and His fame. He is standing for what is rightfully belongs to Him. He will not allow anyone to run over Him and take away what is duly His. He will not give His glory to another. He will not allow His name to be dishonored. He will not allow His reputation to be negated. For Him, acting jealousy is the right thing to do.  It is for our best interest as that the Lord acts in jealousy. When seeing the Lord’s house being misused, Jesus Himself acted in great zeal (Mk 11:12). The scriptures says that this zeal consumed Him. The Lord does care greatly for His reputation. So must we.  

Digging Deeper:

Deuteronomy 4:23²³Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that He made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. 

Nahum 1:2  ²The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on His foes and maintains His wrath against His enemies. 

Joshua 24:19 ¹⁹Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 

Isaiah 42:8  ⁸“I am the Lord; that is my name!  I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. 

Joel 2:18  ¹⁸Then the Lord will be jealous for His land and take pity on His people. 

Psalm 79:5  ⁵How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?  How long will your jealousy burn like fire? 

1 Corinthians 10:22  ²²Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than He? 

Exodus 34:13-14  ¹³Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.   ¹⁴Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 

2 Corinthians 11:2²I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 

Deuteronomy 32:21  ²¹They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols.    I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding. 

1 Kings 14:22²²Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than their fathers had done. 

Isaiah 31:1  ¹Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord. 

Zephaniah 1:18  ¹⁸Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath. In the fire of his jealousy the whole world will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live in the earth.”