In an era plagued by consumerism, personal gain, and comparison of self, experiencing jealously seems like second nature to a lot of us. I find myself having thoughts like this all the time before realizing it: spotting a nice new car on the road, or viewing a friend’s new house; experiencing the knowledge and expertise of a coworker or being flooded with the talents and gifts of people on social media and wanting that for myself. I hear a lot of people dealing with similar feelings, stemming from an uncountable number of all sorts of little things. It pushes people around me to resent each other, feel inadequate about themselves, and helpless at their own lot in life. Honestly, it’s exhausting to endure the jealousy that 21st century life feels to be relentlessly trying to push onto us.
Which is what makes it initially jarring to read passages like Exodus 34:14: “for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” I feel so conditioned to think about jealousy from the perspective of my own selfish & flawed human nature, to think about God experiencing anything similar seems… odd. Well, yes, that is a very wrong way to think about His jealousy. We know God acts on our behalf (Isaiah 64:4), out of true kindness and selflessness. We know God wants us to share in His eternal life, but our sin removes us from His sanctified presence (Romans 6:23). Which it reasons would lead to a just, righteous jealousy when God sees us, His precious beloved people, choosing to devote our worship to the idols of our own design.
This distinction between righteous and unrighteous jealousy is exemplified earlier in Exodus, in chapter 20 when God gives His commandments to Moses. In Exodus 20:4-5, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”
Compare this to just a bit later in Exodus 20:17: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” God describes two very different types of jealousy here: the former, one desperate for that which is good and holy to be upheld, and one pursuing selfish ambition and personal gain.
God can absolutely be called jealous, and for that we should be thankful. We are His children, and it is only natural that God would want what is rightfully His. For He loves us and pursues us in our iniquity; as our hearts wander away from Him and build idols of yearning out of the possessions of those around us, He wants us to share in His ultimately more fulfilling love. When we can’t help but yearn for things of this world, our God knows only things not of this world will satisfy. In His jealous and relentless chase of us amidst our sinful meandering, He proves that He will never leave nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). How will you respond to your own unrighteous jealousy when it suddenly appears? Will you let your heart idolize the things of this world you see and want, or will you focus your mind on the God who brings satisfaction and contentment? Praise be to God that He would so jealously want to bring His children into eternal life with Him.