Knowing God: Chapter 17 - The Jealous God

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Chapter 17 of Knowing God focuses us in on God as the jealous God. To describe God as jealous may sound odd, even pejorative, to the modern ear. But the Bible repeatedly describes and proclaims God as “jealous.” Note the second commandment in which God self-proclaims “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God” (Exod 20:5) and Exod 34:14’s declaration that “the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” It is not often we hear that one of the names of God is “Jealous.”

To help us understand what it means that God is jealous, Dr. Packer points out two key truths:
  1.  Biblical statements about God’s jealousy are anthropomorphisms, “descriptions of God in language drawn from our life as humans.” And it is important to remember that in using such language of metaphor and analogy so that we might have some understanding of God that “those elements in human qualities which show the corrupting effect of sin have no counterpart in God.”
  2. There are two sorts of jealousy among humans, and only one of them is a vice. That is, there is a negative (“vicious”) jealousy and a positive jealousy (“zeal”). The “vicious jealousy” is self-centered in pride and covetousness and expressed in “envy, malice and meanness of action.” (cf. Prov 27:4) But zealous jealousy is “zeal to protect a love relationship or to avenge it when broken...it is the fruit of marital affection.” Godly jealousy is the fruit of God’s covenant love for His people. It is this zealous jealousy which Scripture identifies God with: “...[God] demands from those whom he has loved and redeemed utter and absolute loyalty, and he will vindicate his claim by stern action against them if they betray his love by unfaithfulness.” God’s jealousy must be understood within the context of “God’s ultimate [threefold] objective—(1) to vindicate his rule and righteousness by showing his sovereignty in judgment upon sin; (2) to ransom and redeem his chosen people; and (3) to be loved and praised by them for his glorious acts of love and self-vindication.” God’s jealousy is “‘the zeal of the Lord Almighty’ (Is 9:7; 37:32; compare Ezek 5:13) for fulfilling his own purpose of justice and mercy.”
The quintessential description of God’s jealousy is found in Isaiah: “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols...For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another” (Is 42:8; 48:11). 

The jealousy of God requires two responses from those of us who follow Christ:
  1. The jealousy of God requires us to be zealous for God. Simply put, jealousy = zealousy. As J. C. Ryle put it, “Zeal...is a burning desire to please God, to do His will, and to advance His glory in the world in every possible way.”
  2. The jealousy of God threatens churches which are not zealous for God. Therefore, we must repentof our apathy and complacency and be zealus for God and doing His will. (cf. the church at Laodicea; Rev 3:15-16, 19)


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