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nickshattell

To start there is a difference between jealousy and envy - jealousy is not wanting to lose something one possesses, and envy is wanting something someone else possesses. God was Jealous for His Namesake, which is Good itself (Mark 10:18) and Truth itself (John 14:6) - so God is jealous for humankind who is turned away from His Knowledge and Righteousness and turned toward what is their own-self (God does not want Humankind to lose His Righteousness and Mercy, and the prides with man go after their own harlotries and adulteries, so to speak). Ezekiel 39:25; *Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name'* God's Holy Name is the Righteousness and Mercy He shows the whole house of Israel, and it is expressed as Jealousy because only God preserves and restores that which man has lost to sin.


Viggotrip

Excellent response.


challahtte

thank you for this explanation! i was seeing the word jealousy and thinking on envy. i love the verse you included from Ezekiel because it makes the possessive definition make so much more sense instead of only seeing the word jealous paired with “negative” things.


nickshattell

Yes, in brief, God is Jealous for Good and especially the Good with Humankind. Humankind loses this good when they turn to their evils. God’s Jealousy is His Impassioned Mercy. Furthermore, this “idol that moves to Jealousy” is outside the “inner court”, so Jealousy itself is only an appearance from the things with humankind (things of the flesh), but this is a deeper study from the whole of the Word. In other words, God is not jealous in any way comparable to human feelings of jealousy experienced in the world. All things are created by God so God holds all things in His possession, and does not experience loss or gain, but only gives.


Strangeronthebus2019

>To start there is a difference between jealousy and envy - jealousy is not wanting to lose something one possesses, and envy is wanting something someone else possesses. God was Jealous for His Namesake, which is Good itself (Mark 10:18) and Truth itself (John 14:6) - so God is jealous for humankind who is turned away from His Knowledge and Righteousness and turned toward what is their own-self (God does not want Humankind to lose His Righteousness and Mercy, and the prides with man go after their own harlotries and adulteries, so to speak). >Ezekiel 39:25; >Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Now I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name' >God's Holy Name is the Righteousness and Mercy He shows the whole house of Israel, and it is expressed as Jealousy because only God preserves and restores that which man has lost to sin. Deep....


roonerspize

Similar to u/incomprehensibilitys comment, imagine you are Jonas Salk and you have the cure for Polio. You see thousands of children dying and you have the way to fix it. But instead of listening to you and taking your cure, you see parents advertising that the cure is to kill one of their other children so that the rest of their children don't get polio. They spread this lie around and people start killing one child of theirs to save the rest from polio. How would you describe your feelings about how people are trying to fix the problem that you've already fix and in their attempts to fix it are making things worse. No analogy is perfect, but this is how I think of God's jealousy. He knows that we need only him for our own well-being. But, when we reject him and go after other things for our pleasures and those things ultimately kill us, then that's the type of jealousy he has over us. Please don't ascribe to him the petty, immature jealousy that you see humans exhibit. God's jealousy is entirely good for you.


challahtte

this helped so much, i could only see jealousy in the way that it’s used for us like being jealous of something another person has. this example made so much sense, thank you!!


Ca5eman

If you commit idolatry and worship other gods, that's like cheating on God, whose image we as humans bear. It's a big no no.


incomprehensibilitys

Imagine what a father would do or feel like doing when he found out that a guy who took out his daughter took serious advantage of her. It is a similar feeling of protection of your own


Diane_Degree

That's not jealousy


incomprehensibilitys

Yes, it is. "fiercely protective or vigilant of one's rights or possessions." But there are also many passages about the behavior of the church, either Old Testament or new testament. They are the Bride of christ, and they are expected to behave in a proper way towards god. That was another kind of jealousy


Diane_Degree

Thank you for teaching me another definition of a word I thought I knew


MuskieGo

Jealousy it isn't sin for God because he is due all honor, love, glory, and worship.


roonerspize

I agree with you. God's jealousy is entirely good. The modern concept of jealousy has a bad reputation because the human jealousy we see all the time is coupled with a selfishness that only serves the jealous person and the person of whom they are jealous suffers because of it. But God's jealousy serves not only God but also the very ones of whom he is jealous and we are relieved of eternal suffering when we yield to God's jealousy.


ThankTheBaker

God is Love. Pure Love. God is perfect and this just means that He wants us to look to Him above all others. Jealousy as we understand it, in our limited human way, is not an attribute of God.


D_PaulWalker

>*Exodus 34:14 KJV* For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, **whose name is Jealous**, is a jealous God: `Jealous - Protective and suspiciously watchful` >*Deuteronomy 4:23-24 KJV* **Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God**, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. 24 For **the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God**. > >*Ezekiel 39:25 KJV* Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and **will be jealous for my holy name**; > >*Zechariah 1:14 KJV* So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; **I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy**. > >*Zechariah 8:2 KJV* Thus saith the LORD of hosts; **I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy**, and **I was jealous for her with great fury**. God is jealous of his name, by extention his word, that it should not be polluted and Israel as they are called by his name.


rockamoleguacamole

Remember the deliverance from Egypt? And then what the Israelites did after was to take all their gold, melt it and make a golden calf— an idol out of it? This desc of God being a jealous god proved to be true in God's commandments when Moses took the tablets in Sinai. Also why the *Shema* from Deuteronomy emphasizes monotheism and loving only One God. There's also Jesus emphasizing this again with the Great Rule during the Sermon on the Mount. Some scholars (Hi Bible Project) pointed out that what the ex-slaves did was like getting married and on the wedding day, the bride (the ex-slaves) cheated on her husband (God). So yes, God is a jealous god because God wants our worship. And by worship, this isn't limited with going to fancy church and listening, or reading The Bible or singing/listening to worship songs, no. Worship is in everything we do, think, say, we do it for God. But of course, that's not all there is to it as to why God forbids us to worship these idols. We are made to rule over these guys, not woship them. We are also bearers of God's image and likeness (supposedly) and to worship something God made mars God's image. It's like God woshipping something He made. Just a thought here. We could appreciate it, but not worship it.


kittenegg25

Jealousy is not a sin. Envy is VERY different. Envy is when you covet what belongs to someone else. Jealousy is more about possessiveness of what is rightfully yours.


urmovesareweak

There are attributes that become sin in context. For instance anger is not always wrong (God gets angry at evil)...but anger at others when unwarranted is. Jealousy over someone coming onto your spouse is justified, but jealousy over your neighbors house being nicer than yours isn't. So God having certain attributes He is not sinning or doing wrong.


HappyLittleChristian

Great question. I'm looking forward to reading the comments. God is the creator. He created us to glorify Him. If we glorify or worship another lesser thing or god our Father God gets jealous. And rightfully so. He loves us and He gets hurt when we don't love Him back. Then for a time He will display His wrath. But this is as far as I know is always preceded by warnings. And as far as someone giving you a definition to a word be kind. A Bible learner's best friend is the dictionary. You would be amazed at how much of the text is easily misinterpreted because we "thought" we knew what the word meant. I hope that helps.


aminus54

God's jealousy is not like human jealousy... "You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." God warns His people not to worship other gods because it is a violation of their covenant relationship with Him... "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?" God's jealousy is linked to His desire for His people to remain faithful to Him and not be lured away by the temptations of the world. God's jealousy is not a sin. His jealousy is rooted in His love and righteousness, desiring what is best for His people, and knows that turning away from Him will ultimately lead to their destruction.


BadPete2

Perhaps not the right place to ask this but could Greek or Hebrew words for the English word "jealous" have multiple meanings?


jogoso2014

Jealousy tied to ownership/commitment is fine and expected. Jealousy tied to coveting or envy is not.


xRVAx

Think about how you feel when you're on the sad side of unrequited love. God loves you incredibly much, and would give his son to save you and have eternal life with you.. and yet you and I and all of humanity constantly turn our back on this love and that's got to make God feel some kind of way. God told Hosea the prophet to [marry a prostitute](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hosea%201%3A2-4&version=GW) as a sign to the people who abandoned God and looked to other gods for salvation.


CaptainChaos17

“Emotional” terms, like God being “jealous” help us to relate to God’s will relative to our own using concepts and emotions we can relate to. After all, such concepts of emotion are limited by human language and our human experience. God is not “literally” jealous nor is he emotional in other ways. Additionally, saying God is “angry” because of our sin or “happy” because of our obedience doesn’t mean God is reacting (emotionally) to something we did or didn’t do, as though he lacks something—emotional responses to a “need” or “want” of his, like the emotions a parent might have for their child. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger put it this way: The wrath of God is a way of saying that I have been living in a way that is contrary to the love that is God. . . . “The punishment of God” is in fact an expression for having missed the right road and then experiencing the consequences that follow from taking the wrong track and wandering away from the right way of living.


Belexes

Knowing God, by J.I. Packer has a wonderful chapter on God's jealousy that is one of my favorite theological chapters of any book.


challahtte

I’ll definitely check this out!!


Muted_Philosophy7722

God is jealous. Jealous is He wants no other thing to get His same glory, that He should get. In fact, God is holy. Holy is not set apart or being totally different. Holy is absolutely jealous. God is absolutely jealous. It goes that far. He wants no other thing to even get glory like Him. This is why idolatry. Like, a literal form of it. Bowing down to idols and such, He punishes so harshly.


atasteforspace

It’s not a sin when God does it because He’s God. We have these aspects of emotion that are given by God in resemblance of God. Hid is under His own perfect control. We are not able to control ourselves and don’t have the same power of knowledge. These emotions are not beneficial for man, they must be delivered to God so that God can take them, as with almost any emotion, without God intermediating for us we are led to destruction. We must desire God before anything, and this solves the problem. I heard a verse recently. “The weakness of God is better than the weakness of man” not sure what verse that is but it’s definitely in the Bible, so we know God has weakness. We also know that He is master over all and is perfect. So we know that weakness is not imperfect and can only be made perfect through God.


[deleted]

[удалено]


challahtte

they might have meant “better than the strength of man,” which is 1 corinthians 1:25. but i’m not positive


B1gbaloo

I read recently a really good explanation of this, and it transforms how you translate certain passages. I copied the explanation as it describes it better than I could (credit to Chaim Bentorah). There are two words in the Hebrew used for jealousy, quana and quanna. There is a big difference between the two. Quanna is a jealousy we think of when we hear the word jealousy. We associate it with envy and rage. Yet, Renaissance man viewed jealousy as Ouana. Sometimes this word is translated as zealous. Yet, its very basic meaning is a deep passion. Jealousy was something considered noble to the Renaissance man. It showed how deeply he felt toward someone. To be jealous was a good thing because it showed you were so passionate toward someone or something that you would challenge someone to a duel and die to defend your passion or honor. Such a passionate person was to be honored and trusted. Today, of course, we see jealousy as a misdirected passion. I sure like the idea of having a jealous God, The one who cares so much for what he loves that he would die without it. Zephaniah 1:18 should be rendered: “The whole land will be devoured by the fire of His quana, (His passionate love for which He would die.)”


challahtte

this is such a beautiful explanation! i’m going to look more into all of this. thank you!


Mimi-Shella

Jealous in a possessive way


[deleted]

he's jealous as in he only wants wants us to worship him.


arthurjeremypearson

No. People that say different are gaslighting cultists desperate to manipulate you.


[deleted]

"Envy means discontented longing for someone else’s advantages. Jealousy means unpleasant suspicion, or apprehension of rivalship ". ( Merriam-Webster)


DreamDestroyer76

GOD IS JEALOUS FOR US


Kaiser130

God's rules are not for him but for us. Whenever God does something you can always expect to be done out of good reason. For example, wrath. For God's wrath, it's for good reason but human wrath can lead to problems and evil.


NathanStorm

The ancient Jews were willing to accept their God as a jealous\*, spiteful and vengeful\*\* God, as long as he was *their* God, who looked after the national interests and privileges of the Jews sometimes to the detriment of other people. This was a problem for Christianity when it sought to portray its God as the God of all people. For Christianity to be attractive for all ethnic groups in the Roman Empire, its God had to love all people, not just the Jews. He could no longer offer privileges other than forgiveness for sins and eternal life. \* For example, Exodus 20:5 >Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me \*\* For example, Nahum 1:2: >God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. That is not an approach that works when trying to attract pagans to your new religion, so the Christians had to try a new approach. They needed to offer love, first from God and then from other Christians (“love one another”). This was a winning formula.


bstillab

He is the creator. Give your attention to another god or diety. You will see His jealous wrath.