THEISM
God
Is Jealous
When the Ten Commandments were
given at
Merriam-Webster Online Collegiate Dictionary defines jealousy as “intolerant of rivalry or
unfaithfulness; disposed to suspect rivalry or unfaithfulness; hostile toward a
rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage; vigilant in guarding a
possession.” This definition of jealousy aptly indicates God’s intolerance of other
gods. God is exclusive! He tolerates no other. “You shall have no other gods
before Me” (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 5:7). This commandment applies to both
nations and individuals. Israel was instructed many times not to depart from
God (Exodus 34:12; Deuteronomy 4:23; Deuteronomy 6:12; Joshua 24:20) and not to
follow other gods (Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 6:14; 7:16; 11:16; 28:14; Joshua
23:7), but to remain faithful to God (Deuteronomy 6:13, 18). God warned Israel
not to make molded images of false gods (Exodus 20:4; 34:13-17; Deuteronomy 5:8; 7:4; 8:19;
12:30-31; 28:36, 64; 30:17-18; Joshua 23:16; 24:20; 1 Kings 9:6-9). Moreover, images of false gods were to be destroyed
(Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 6:14; 7:25; 12:2-3).
God is jealous in that he
is “vigilant in guarding his possession”
God is jealous in that he
is “hostile toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage.” God’s
hostility is like “a consuming fire” (Deuteronomy 4:24). He himself said that
he visits “the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to
those who love Me and keep My commandments” (Exodus 20:5-6; Deuteronomy 5:9-10).
Although God is “slow to anger and great in power . . . he will make an utter
end . . . of his enemies” (Nahum 1:3, 8) just as he was furiously jealous
against Assyria because it had opposed Israel.
In
spite of God’s reminders, promises, warnings, and commandments, Israel forsook
God and turned to other gods periodically throughout the periods of the judges
(Judges 2:12-13; 10:6) and the kings (1 Kings 9:9; 2 Chronicles 7:22; 2 Kings
21:22), provoking God to jealousy (1 Kings 14:22). Whenever they did, God
allowed them to be conquered by other nations (Judges 3:12; 6:1; 13:1). Serving other gods was considered as “evil in the
sight of the Lord” (e.g., Judges 3:7; 4:1; 10:6; 1 Kings 11:6; 15:34; 16:30; 22:52; 2 Kings 3:2;
8:18).
As God was jealous then, so
also is he now. As Israel was told that if they forsook God he would forsake
them, so also Jesus told his disciples “whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is
in heaven” (Matthew 10:33, see also Luke 12:9). Paul wrote that “if we deny
him, He also will deny us” (2 Timothy 2:12). The Israelites provoked God to jealousy
whenever they turned to false gods who were in the land. What about us? Do we
not also provoke God to jealousy whenever we turn to false gods in our culture?
Many contemporary false gods are known by their philosophical terms, such as
naturalism, materialism, secularism, statism, feminism, hedonism, relativism,
etc. Whenever we turn to evolutionism, we have surely replaced the God of
creation with the god of naturalism. Whenever we trust in material possessions,
we turn away from God, just as did the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-24; Mark
10:17-25), and the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21). When in the name of secularism,
we fail to apply God’s word to education and politics, or any other segment of
life, we make secularism our God and thereby turn away from God. Whenever we
think and act like civil governments have final authority in determining
behavioral standards, we turn away from God to the god of statism. When in the
name of feminism, we substitute gender equality for God’s desire that man be
head over woman (Genesis 2:18; 21-23; 3:16; 1 Corinthians 13:3; 1 Timothy
2:8-14), we turn away from God. Whenever our goals are personal pleasures
rather than service to God and fellow men, we turn away from God (Luke 8:14).
When in the name of relativism, we act like there are no absolute values and
that everyone’s behavior must be tolerated as equally valid, we deny God’s word
as the law that must be obeyed.
Whenever we thus turn to false
gods of our age, do we not also act like the ancient Israelites and provoke God
to jealousy? Just as the ancient Israelites sometimes performed their
sacrificial rituals to the true God yet were at the same time guilty of
worshipping false gods (Zephaniah 1:5), so we can also be guilty of attending Christian
worship assemblies yet at the same time devoting ourselves to current
philosophical gods. Such synchronizing practices are just as unacceptable now
as they were to God then (Deuteronomy 6:13-14; Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8). Faithfulness to God does not permit service to other
gods.
Whenever people turn away
from God, they lose their knowledge of God (Judges 3:7; 1 Samuel 12:9; Galatians
4:8) and fail to govern themselves by the word of God (Hosea 4:1-6). Turning
away from the God is not just a matter of changing religious rituals. Since God
is the foundation of law, turning away from God means turning away from God’s commandments
and replacing them with ordinances of false religions. Laws are meant not only
for individuals but also for communities. Whenever a nation’s laws are in the
process of changing, as ours now appear to be, then that nation is also in the
process of changing its God and its religious practices. Such changes, unless
reversed, can only bring the nation to ruin because God turns against those who
turn against him. However, a nation that returns to God will be forgiven (2
Chronicles 7:14). Although individual citizens may personally remain faithful
to God, as Jeremiah did, still, whenever a nation forsakes God, individual
citizens of that nation share consequences of God’s judgment against it. Godly
citizens should work to make their nation’s laws conform to God’s statutes for
many reasons, one of which is that God is jealous – a consuming fire – intolerant
of faithlessness.
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Copyright ©, June, 2006, by
Robert L. Waggoner. Permission is granted to copy and distribute this document
for non-profit educational purposes if reproduced in full without additions or
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