When we think about “jealousy,” it normally carries with it a negative connotation. You’re not supposed to be jealous of others—it’s a sign of an unhealthy heart and unhealthy relationships. Human jealousy leads to assorted difficulties and complications—personally, emotionally and relationally. Therefore, human jealousies are listed among the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21, and the New Testament teaches that Christian love “is not jealous” (1 Cor. 13:4).
With that common understanding, it is then intriguing that one of the primary qualities of Jehovah is to be called a “Jealous God.” The very first time Jehovah used this word to identify Himself was in the giving of the Ten Commandments. In order to emphasize the holy nature of the first two commandments (have no other gods, make no graven images nor bow down to them), Jehovah proclaimed, “For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” (Ex. 20:5). The following year, when Israel was preparing to depart from Mount Sinai, the Lord reaffirmed His covenant: “You shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images (for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)” (Ex. 34:13-14). Forty years after the covenant was given at Sinai, the Lord reminded the second generation: “Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you. For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deut. 4:23-24). Another generation later (maybe 30-50 years after Moses’ death), Joshua pleaded with Israel to “serve the Lord” and challenged: “You cannot serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good” (Josh. 24:19-20).
Every time a new generation arose in the first 100 years of the history of Israel as a nation, God wanted it fixed in their minds that He is a holy God and that He will not accept any position in His people’s lives other than absolute first nor will He tolerate divided loyalties of any kind. Godly jealousy, then, is that which demands exclusive loyalty, jealous for preeminence in all we do!
Paul said to his brothers and sisters in Christ, “For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy…that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:2-3). Brethren have a right, yea, a responsibility, to yearn for one another to be holy, to be exclusively loyal to the Lord and to put Him first in all things. God is jealous for us! Are we jealous for each other?