A Jealous God?

‘For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.’ Deut 4.24

‘…for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God…’ Ex 34.14

Have you ever wondered - why is God (who is all good) a jealous God? When we think of jealousy, we usually think in the negative. For example we see in the movies that when a girl’s boyfriend talks to another girl, the girlfriend gets jealous.

So how can the Bible say that God is a jealous God? And even to go so far as to say that God’s name is Jealous!! The answer lies in the fact that there is a good jealousy. For instance, it is bad when a husband is jealous of his wife when she speaks to another man in a neutral, platonic manner. That harms the relationship; it gives the wife no freedom.

But there is also a good jealousy - the husband can expect his wife to treat him and only him as her husband (and vice versa). It is a unique relationship only allowed between them. Nothing and no one should come between them.

In a similar way, we can see how God can be a jealous God. He is jealous for us when we start treating anything or anyone else as ‘god’. It is a relationship that should only exist between us (the Bride) and Jesus (the Groom). That is the reason behind the passages that speak of God as a jealous God - Israel was worshiping other gods. It was idolatry!

And what about us? In what ways have we let things, situations or people take the place of the One and Only True God? What has become our ‘god’? Money, success, career? Relationships, family, spouse? Gifts, abilities? Ministry, vision? God is a jealous God - He wants us alone!

‘For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.’
2 Cor 11.2-4