I’m trying to understand what jealousy means as it pertains to God. I think it must mean something completely different from what it means when humans are jealous of each other. God is perfect, so His kind of jealousy has to be distinct from, or even incompatible with human jealousy. God, being God, has an absolute right to expect complete devotion from His children, and should be able to expect nothing less than adoration and worship because of who He is: Master of the universe, Creator of all things, and Lover of our souls, as well as our Savior. And the more you love Him, the more you would want to give your heart, absolute loyalty, and devotion to Him.

You’ve heard of the term, green with envy? That’s what people experience when they’re jealous of other people, but God isn’t like that. There’s a verse in Exodus 34 that says that God’s name is Jealous, and in most translations, the word jealous is capitalized.

¹²“Be very careful never to make a treaty with the people who live in the land where you are going. If you do, you will follow their evil ways and be trapped. ¹³Instead, you must break down their pagan altars, smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles. ¹⁴You must worship no other gods, for the LORD, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you. ~ Exodus 34:12-14, NLT.

And verse 14 is also good in the BBE (the Bible in Basic English), as well as the CSB (the Christian Standard Bible).

For you are to be worshippers of no other god: for the Lord is a God who will not give his honour to another. ~ Exodus 34:14, BBE.

“Because the LORD is jealous for his reputation, you are never to bow down to another god. He is a jealous God.” ~ Exodus 34:14, Christian Standard Bible.

God chose to divest Himself of all His majesty and power, and come to earth as a peeing, pooping baby, so He could experience everything we go through, and be tempted in all the same ways we’re tempted, only He was able to do it without sin.

For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but One who has been tempted [knowing exactly how it feels to be human] in every respect as we are, yet without [committing any] sin. ~ Hebrews 4:15, Amplified Bible.

In addition, Jesus willingly laid down His life for us, suffering the most humiliating of deaths, the death of crucifixion.

¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who by faith have testified to the truth of God’s absolute faithfulness], stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us, let us run with endurance and active persistence the race that is set before us, ²[looking away from all that will distract us and] focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work]. ~ Hebrews 12:1-2, Amplified Bible.

The Amplified Bible provides an explanatory footnote for the phrase, “disregarding the shame” in Hebrews 12:2,

“Sometimes the public shame of the cross is overlooked when one thinks of the pain and agony inflicted by it, but in the Roman Empire crucifixion was a shameful and disgraceful way to die, a form of capital punishment from which Roman citizens were exempt; and in Roman comedy it was used in a curse: ‘Go to a bad cross!’”

It strikes me that when people get jealous, they are expecting the same adoration and worship that God gets, but the only One who is worthy of such treatment, or deserves it, is the Lord. It also makes me wonder if maybe jealousy was originally intended only for God. But the devil wormed his way in and messed everything up, by which I mean that maybe the devil, back when he was still Lucifer, became envious of God and decided to take God’s throne. Of course the idea that he thought he could actually do such a thing is ludicrous, but he tried.

¹²“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! ¹³For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; ¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ ~ Isaiah 14:12-14, NKJV.

¹³You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. ¹⁴You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. ¹⁵You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. ~ Ezekiel 28:13-15, NKJV.

Jesus told the disciples that He saw Satan fall from Heaven,

And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ~ Luke 10:18, NKJV.

So once Lucifer got tossed out of Heaven, he became Satan and brought sin into the world. After that jealousy got perverted and took on the warped, human character that we know it to have today.

These are just some thoughts I’ve had about jealousy that were triggered by my daily Bible reading. I know I don’t usually write about this kind of thing, but I had the thoughts, and I needed a place to put them, so this seemed as good a place as any.

I certainly don’t pretend to have the last word on this. I’d be interested in your thoughts if you’d like to share them. I’m open to any and all comments and interpretations.