Jealousy

VIEW:38 DATA:01-04-2020

JEALOUSY.?The law of the ?jealousy ordeal? (in which a wife suspected of unfaithfulness had to prove her innocence by drinking the water of bitterness [?holy water? mixed with dust from the floor of the Tabernacle]) is found in Num_5:11-31. The conception of idolatry as adultery and of Jehovah as the Husband of Israel led the OT writers frequently to speak of Him as a jealous God (Exo_20:5, Deu_5:9, Jos_24:19, 1Ki_14:22, Psa_78:58, Eze_36:6, Nah_1:2). This jealousy is the indication of Jehovah?s desire to maintain the purity of the spiritual relation between Himself and His people. Extraordinary zeal for this same end is characteristic of the servants of Jehovah, and is sometimes called jealousy with them (2Co_11:2, Num_25:11; Num_25:13, 1Ki_19:10). A few times the word is used in a bad sense (Rom_13:13, 1Co_3:3, 2Co_12:20, Gal_5:20, Jas_3:14; Jas_3:16).
D. A. Hayes.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

There are two aspects of jealousy in the Bible, one bad, the other good. Jealousy in the bad sense is envy – the feeling of resentment or hate that people have towards those who have more influence, power, ability, status, fame or possessions than they (Gen_30:1; Gen_37:11; 1Sa_18:8-9; Job_5:2; Psa_106:16; Mat_27:18; Act_5:17; 1Jn_3:12). Such jealousy is a characteristic of sinful human nature, but the Spirit of Christ and the power of love in a person’s life can overcome it (Pro_27:4; Rom_13:13-14; 1Co_13:4; Gal_5:21; Jam_3:14-16).
Jealousy in the good sense is the desire a person has for the well-being of someone he or she loves. It is a desire so strong that it demands faithfulness and opposes all that would tempt to unfaithfulness (Num_5:12-15; Pro_6:32-35). This is what the Bible means when it speaks of God being jealous for his people. He desires their faithfulness and has a deep concern for their well-being (Exo_20:4-5; Deu_6:15; Jos_24:19; Psa_78:58; Zec_1:14; 1Co_10:21-22; Jam_4:5).
Likewise the godly leader who is concerned for the spiritual progress of God’s people may speak of himself as being jealous for them (2Co_11:2). In the same way the person who is concerned to uphold the honour of God’s name is jealous for God (1Ki_19:10; Eze_39:25). Jealousy may therefore include the idea of zeal for all that is right and opposition to all that is wrong (Num_25:11-13; Deu_4:24; Nah_1:2; Joh_2:17; 2Co_7:11).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

jel?us-i (קנאה, kin'āh; ζῆλος, zḗlos): Doubtless, the root idea of both the Greek and the Hob translated ?jealousy? is ?warmth,? ?heat.? Both are used in a good and a bad sense - to represent right and wrong passion.
When jealousy is attributed to God, the word is used in a good sense. The language is, of course, anthropomorphic; and it is based upon the feeling in a husband of exclusive right in his wife. God is conceived as having wedded Israel to Himself, and as claiming, therefore, exclusive devotion. Disloyalty on the part of Israel is represented as adultery, and as provoking God to jealousy. See, e.g., Deu_32:16, Deu_32:21; 1Ki_14:22; Psa_78:58; Eze_8:3; Eze_16:38, Eze_16:42; Eze_23:25; Eze_36:5; Eze_38:19.
When jealousy is attributed to men, the sense is sometimes good, and sometimes bad. In the good sense, it refers to an ardent concern for God's honor. See, e.g., Num_25:11 (compare 1Ki_19:10; 2Ki_10:16); 2Co_11:2 (compare Rom_10:2). In the bad sense it is found in Act_7:9; Rom_13:13; 1Co_3:3; 2Co_12:20; Jam_3:14, Jam_3:16.
The ?law of jealousy? is given in Nu 5:11-31. It provided that, when a man suspected his wife of conjugal infidelity, an offering should be brought to the priest, and the question of her guilt or innocence should be subjected to a test there carefully prescribed. The test was intended to be an appeal to God to decide the question at issue. See ADULTERY; SACRIFICE.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Jealousy
(קַנְאָה, ζῆλος), properly the feeling of suspicion of a wife's purity (Numbers 5, 14); often used of Jehovah's sensitive regard for the true faith of his Church (Exo_20:5, etc.; 2Co_11:2). SEE MARRIAGE. The same term is sometimes used for anger or indignation, or an intense interest for the honor and prosperity of another (Psa_79:5; 1Co_10:22; Zec_1:14; Zec_8:2). Conjugal jealousy is one of the strongest passions of our nature (Pro_6:34; Son_8:6). When God is said to be a jealous God, or to be moved to jealousy, or when the still stronger expression is used, “Jehovah, whose name is Jealous” (Exo_24:14), we are to understand this language as employed to illustrate, rather than to represent, the emotions of the divine mind. The same causes operating upon the human mind would produce what we call anger, jealousy, repentance, grief, etc.; and therefore, when these emotions are ascribed to the mind of God, this language is used because such emotions can be represented to us by no other. Thus God is represented to us as a husband, related to his Church by a marriage covenant that binds her to be wholly for him, and not for another. The more sincere and constant the love, the more sensitive is the heart to the approach of a rival and the thought of such affection being alienated or corrupted fills the soul with grief and indignation. So God commends the purity, the fervency, and the sincerity of his love to his Church by the most terrific expressions of jealousy. SEE IDOLATRY.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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