God’s Jealousy
Why is God jealous but not envious? According to Lama Ole Nydahl’s article “Questions to Lama Ole,” envy and jealousy are closely related. Nydahl says that a jealous person “ believes that they need the other person,” but envy is when a person “doesn’t like someone, and that’s why they don’t want that person to be happy.” Also, according to Justin D’Arms’ article on plato.stanford.com when “distinguishing envy from jealousy there is a difference between them even when the good that the rival has is the affection of another person.” This is a good article because they notice the differences between the two words. According to Diffen.com in “Envy vs Jealousy,” there are differences between the two words and they are related to God. Diffen.com states “jealousy is a somewhat more acceptable emotion in Christianity, probably because it is considered justified for a spouse to be jealous.” God can get jealous if you believe in another God, but he cannot become envious. God cannot become envious because he would never have the desire for us to fail. According to Richard Smith Ph.D. in Psychology Today, “envy is a two-person situation whereas jealousy is a three-person situation.” This is because envy is the “reaction to lacking something” and jealousy is “a reaction to the threat of losing someone.” (Smith). Finally, according to Leah Baugh in her article “Why You Want a Jealous God,” the reasons God is aloud to be jealous is because “God’s jealousy is proper to who he is,” “God’s jealousy is dangerous,” and “God’s jealousy pursues us.” According to the Bible, there are many examples of why God’s jealousy is good but dangerous. The Bible shows us that jealousy is a sin for us humans but for God it is always justified.
In Lama Ole Nydahl’s article she states that jealousy and envy are close together because a jealous person “ believes that they need the other person,” but envy is when a person “doesn’t like someone, and that’s why they don’t want that person to be happy.” These two meanings are similar, but you can tell that jealousy can be good and envy is bad because God can be jealous if your attention has been taken away from him but God will never be envious of anything because envy deals with harsh anger, and God only has righteous anger. Then, in Justin D’Arms’ “envy is centrally focused on competition with the rival, the subject might well be equally bothered if the rival were consorting with a different (appealing) person, but would not be bothered if the ‘good’ had gone to someone else.” Also, Justin D’Arms states that a jealous person “would be equally bothered if the beloved were consorting with someone else, and would not be bothered if the rival were.” (D’Arms). Finally, in Richard Smith’s article he states that “envy occurs when we lack a desire attribute enjoyed by others,” but “jealousy occurs when something we already possess (usually a special relationship) is threatened by a third person.” This is a great way to describe the differences between the two because it shows that envy is when you want something that you do not have but jealousy is wanting something more because it is being threatened of being taken away from you.
I am very interested in focusing on the jealousy side of things. I am drawn to this because God is the only one who you want to be jealous. According to Leah Baugh there are three main reasons why you want God to be jealous: “God’s jealousy is proper to who he is,” “God’s jealousy is dangerous,” and “God’s jealousy pursues us.” Leah Baugh says His jealousy is “proper to who he is” because He “not only deserves all praise and honor but… also cares that people have what is best for them — and he knows that he is what is the very best for people.” God gets jealous when His children drift away from him and decide to take a different path than His. Also, His “jealousy is dangerous” because “his jealousy is what brings about his wrath, punishment for idolatry.” (Baugh). Idolatry is loving anything other than God and this makes him jealous. God will not put up with us worshiping any idols; otherwise, his jealousy and his wrath will be brought out. Finally, the third reason God is aloud to be jealous is because “God’s jealousy pursues us.” Us as humans are “selfish creatures who desire to be autonomous in the way God is, but doing so only leads to our destruction.” (Baugh). We tend to worship idols rather than our own God. Even Though we decide to worship idols and not Him, He continues to not be content with it. Instead, “he sent his own Son, Jesus Christ, to bear the burden of our unfaithfulness and to provide reconciliation between God and humankind.” (Baugh). God will not give up on us because he loves us and will continue to want us to be the people he had created us to be.
In the Bible when Miriam and Aaron get jealous that God reveals himself to Moses and not to them God becomes unhappy. The Bible says “The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them. When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous— it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease, and he said to Moses, ‘Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed’ ” (Numbers 12: 9–11). These verses are a great example of how God can be dangerous when we commit the sin of jealousy. I can relate this to me very well because there have been a handful of times that I have become jealous of someone because they were getting more attention from a loved one than I was. It was hard to realize that sometimes it is okay for others to get more attention from a loved one because sometimes they need it more than I do. Every time I start to become jealous I just remember what God told me after the first time I remember getting jealous. He told me “be jealous, but be gracious. Do not be envious, for you have been chosen to be you for a reason.”
Throughout my research and writing this I had learned that no matter what happens that I know I can be jealous but cannot act on it. If God has a plan for it then He will be the one to act. I cannot be jealous or envious of someone else because I need to happy with the person God has created me to be. He made me who I am because He knew I would be the only one who could handle the conflicts that would come my way. Also, I need to realize that there are others out there that are jealous or envious of me. I need to be that person who accepts my roll and fulfill it the way God intended me to be.