…for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God…. [Exodus 34:14 (ESV)]
Along with sins of the heart like greed, pride, coveting, anger, and envy, we have jealousy. It’s hard to make a clear distinction between jealousy and envy and, in most cases, the words can be used interchangeably. The difference seems to be that the discontent and resentment of envy is focused outward toward something we desire and the person who has it while the discontent and resentment of jealousy is focused inward toward something we have and want to keep for ourselves. For example, Rachel was envious of Leah because she had given birth to Jacob’s children but both sisters were jealous of one another whenever Jacob slept with the other one. Most often used in the context of romantic relationships and often coming from insecurity, jealousy is a mix of overwhelming possessiveness with a little paranoia on the side.
We think of the excessive vigilance and suspicion of jealousy as bad and, in Scripture, jealousy has a negative connotation. James tells us that ”where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice,” [3:16] Paul chastised the Corinthians for their jealousy and strife and told the Romans not to walk in “quarreling and jealousy.” In his letter to the Galatians, the Apostle listed jealousy (along with things like idolatry, enmity, immorality, envy, and rivalries) as “works of the flesh.”
When jealousy is attributed to God, however, it is being used in a positive sense. In the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures), we find Yahweh described as a “jealous” God. Qanna, the Hebrew word translated as jealous in these five books, is used only when describing God’s passion and zealousness for both His covenant people and His honor and always is found in the context of His prohibition of idolatry. Qanna describes the power and intensity with which God preserves and protects man’s exclusive relationship with Him. It denotes both His love for us and His intolerance of other gods in our lives; he will accept no rivals in His relationship with us!
At the time of the Exodus, the Israelites had been surrounded by polytheistic paganism and idolatry for centuries. The Egyptians had a least nine deities ranging from the sun god Re to Osiris, the ruler of the dead. Once in Canaan, the Israelites would encounter other polytheistic religions. The Canaanites had several gods including El, Asherah, Ba’al, and Moloch. The Babylonians had a host of gods with Marduk reigning over 300 in the heavens and another 300 on earth! It’s easy to see why Israel had difficulty understanding this jealous Yahweh—a God who demanded their full attention and would tolerate no rivals. He was not one god among many nor was the supreme god in charge of other gods; Yahweh was the one and only God—and a jealous, possessive, protective, loving, almighty God at that!
The first commandment recorded in Exodus made it clear: “You shall have no other gods before me.” [20:1] Even though Israel promised “We will do everything the Lord has commanded,” [24:3 ] they quickly grew dissatisfied with a God they couldn’t see and fashioned a golden calf; things went downhill from there! Before Moses died, God told him that Israel would break their covenant and worship other gods, which they repeatedly did!
While we’re not likely to fashion golden calves, erect Asherah poles, sacrifice to Molech, or build shrines for pagan deities, let’s not pat ourselves on the back just yet. John Piper defines an idol as “anything that we come to rely on for some blessing, or help, or guidance in the place of a wholehearted reliance on the true and living God.” We may not bow down to Ba’al, but do we bow down to the gods of self: things like materialism, power, wealth, politics, fame, sex, fitness, fashion, or youth? If anything becomes more fundamental to our happiness that our relation with God, we are worshipping an idol! Let us remember, God is jealous for our affection. Which do we love more? The Creator or the things in the world He created?
Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your God, your functional savior. [Martin Luther]
Devotions of the Heart 