Why is God a jealous God? | GotQuestions.org

Today's question is, why is God a jealous God?

In this video I'll answer that question from a biblical perspective.

Then afterwards, as always, I'll share some helpful resources, so stick around until the end.

It is important to understand how the word jealous is used.

Its use in Exodus 20, verse 5 to describe God is different from how it's used

to describe the sin of jealousy in Galatians 5, verse 20.

When we use the word jealous, we use it in the sense of being envious of someone who has something we do not

have.

A person might be jealous or envious of another person because he or she has a nice car or.

Home.

Or a person might be jealous or envious of another person because of some ability or skill the other

person has, such as athletic ability.

Another example would be that one person might be jealous or envious of another because of his or her beauty.

In Exodus 20, verse 5, it is not that God is jealous or envious because

someone has something He wants or needs.

Exodus 20, verses 4 and 5 says, "...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.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous.

God.".

Notice that God is jealous when someone gives to another something that rightly belongs to

Him.

In these verses, God is speaking of people making idols and bowing down and worshiping those

idols, instead of giving God the worship that belongs to Him alone.

God is possessive of the worship and service that belong to Him.

It is a sin, as God points out in this commandment, to worship or serve anything other than God.

It is a sin when we desire, or we are envious, or we are jealous of someone because he has

something that we do not have.

It is a different use of the word jealous when God says He is jealous.

What He is jealous of belongs to Him.

Worship and service belong to Him alone and are to be given to Him alone.

Perhaps a practical example will help us understand the difference.

If a husband sees another man flirting with his wife, he is right to be jealous, for only he has the

right to flirt with his wife.

This type of jealousy is not sinful, rather, it is entirely appropriate.

Being jealous for something that God declares to belong to you is good and appropriate.

Jealousy is a sin when it is a desire for something that does not belong to you.

Worship, praise, honor, and adoration belong to God alone, for only He is truly worthy.

Of it.

Therefore, God is rightly jealous when worship, praise, honor, or adoration is given to

idols.

This is precisely the jealousy the apostle Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 11, verse 2,

"...I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy.".

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