A Jealous God

A Jealous God
Exd 20:2-6 NIV - [2] "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. [3] "You shall have no other gods before me. [4] "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. [5] You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, [6] but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

When most of us think of jealousy, we are actually thinking of envy. The Greek and English have two words for it, but the Hebrew interestingly uses similar words: quanna and quana. Both come from the root word qinah, which can mean "ardor, zeal, or jealousy." The origin of the word jealousy means "to become intensely red." It "seems to refer to the changing color of the face or the rising heat of the emotions which are associated with intense zeal or fervor over something dear to us" (http://bible.org/seriespage/jealous-god). Perhaps a better term in today's terms is "zealous." Zeal is the sort of thing which makes a man red in the face when he sees a man coming onto his wife. It is an intense, principled passion for someone or some idea held dear to oneself. In this sense, jealousy is perfectly applied here in Exodus 20. When God instructs the Israelites on only worshiping Him, he is incredibly clear that they "shall have no other gods before [Him]." They must not "make for [themselves] an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below." They "shall not bow don to them or worship them." The reason, God explains, is that "the Lord your God [us[ a jealous God." God is passionate that we worship Him, for He is worthy of praise. Some wonder if this isn't a bit conceited of God. It is, of course, conceited. Is not conceit perfectly natural for a Being who has created everything and holds infinite power? Possession of such power would generally make one want to be praised, especially if one's creation is in error of praising some other god who does not hold infinite power. We have likely felt a similar way when we have seen others turn away in a direction we know is not correct. When a Christian sees a man protest Christianity as rubbish because of his perceived flaws, we burn inside with passion to correct him. This is, in a much more minor sense, zeal.

While zeal is most dependent on the conceit of an idea or person, such as God's zeal to have others worship Him just because He is who He is, it is also indicative of love. God's love is manifested through zeal. It seeps through, like the sun through a crack in the blind, revealing itself openly and unashamedly. We see it even in the Ten Commandments when God lays the foundations for worship of Him. In the midst of His stern commandment not to make idols, we hear Him saying something rather unexpected: that he "[shows] love to a thousand generations of those who love [Him] and keep [His] commandments." Thus, when we follow after God with all of our heart, just as He commands us to, His zeal is at the same time coupled with love. It does not morph into love, as if one state becomes another; it is both at the same time: zeal and love existing dually and being manifested on us. I think of that law of quantum mechanics: that an electron does not alternate in different orbits, but that it exists in different places at the same time. That is how zeal and love operate. God at the same moment loves us and desires us to worship Him. When we do not, neither the love nor the zeal disappears. And when we do, neither does one appear where it never existed.

To the Christian, zeal represents a passion of God not only for us to worship Him, but a passion for us simply because we were made for Him. A jealous man who has just seen someone coming onto his wife burns with passion not only that his wife is his own, but also that he loves her. God, upon seeing us turn from Him and go to the many idols of the world, wishes us to worship Him not simply because we are supposed to or were created to, but because He desires us. He, in a more liberal term, chases after us. He would not leave Samuel to his sleep, nor David to his flock. He pursues us, whispers to us, yells at us, haunts us until we follow Him. He is zealous of you. He desires you as a man desires his bride, or as a father desires his son. This jealousy ought to have a significant impact on the way we define our relationship with God each day. Our prayers to Him, His Biblical instruction to us, the way we treat others--all of these ought to be done to run into the arms of a jealous God who desires us and will do anything to have us. A God so desperate to have us that He should manifest Himself in a weak, lowly state and crucify Himself to death all that we might be with Him. That's zeal! Follow a God so zealous of you! Amen.

With love in Christ,



Austin Aldrich