Tuesday, November 24, 2009

A Jealous God?

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image - any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." - Exodus 20:4-5 (The 2nd Commandment)

So I bring this up to start dialogue. What does God mean when He says He is a jealous God? Jealousy is not a very attractive characteristic especially for a perfect Almighty God. The word "jealous" sounds as if one's self-control has been lost, however we know this isn't the case with the Almighty God so my question again is..... What does God mean when He says He is a jealous God?

-TEvans

3 comments:

Nolan Gottlieb said...

Great question T-Bird...

The best way I've heard this question explained was done using a dating relationship illustration...

There are two types of jealousy...an insecure/sinful jealousy and a secure/righteous jealousy.

If a man who is in a relationship gets upset and angry anytime his girlfriend's phone rings because he wonders who might be calling, or if he doesn't want his girl talking to any other male because he's afraid of the thought of her "getting away" then that would be considered an insecure/jealousy. This type of jealousy doesn't describe our God.

However if that man was married to a woman and noticed another man coming and purposely deceiving her in order to steal her from the husband....then....this man has every right to be jealous for HIS wife.

What differentiates the two?? One is rooted in an insecurity and one is the defense of what is rightfully his.

God is not jealous OF me...he is jealous FOR me. Why?? Because we are his, and he doesn't want someone coming in and deceitfully stealing our affections. God doesn't take lightly the relationship he has between Himself and man...because he has invested infinitely more than we can imagine into this relationship...HIS SON!!

waino said...

Couldn't have said it better myself. So I won't try. I remember seeing the oprah special when she went off on how there cant be just one way to Heaven and that she stopped believing that when someone told her God was a jealous God. She thought that people were saying God was jealous OF her...sorry Oprah...even you don't make God jealous. Good topic. Nolan I think has put this one to rest for me though.

Matt said...

Noloan, Great explanation of God's Jealousy. For me it is much easier to understand when I remember that we are his and that he sacrificed his son for us!