Adultery... Jealousy... Feeling dirty yet?

Jealous.
1.Feeling or showing envy of someone or their achievements and advantages.

2.Feeling or showing suspicion of someone's unfaithfulness in a relationship.

Q:  Does God get jealous? 

I have had this question come up before, so I decided to write about it and just point people to this post.  My light bulb finally began to glow about a month ago when after I started explaining the meaning behind "God's Jealousy" the person's forehead started to bleed. It was then that I decided to stop verbally explaining things like this and just jot it down here so that people can read it at their own leisure.

OK?  So Does God get Jealous?  In a word, Yes.

Let's start with a word study:
The root idea in the Old Testament for the word "jealous" is to become intensely red.
It refers to the changing color of the face or the rising heat of the emotions.  The word carries an intense zeal or fervor over something important. In fact, both in the Old and New Testament, the word for jealousy many times is translated as  “zeal.”
The Scripture paints a picture of God's jealousy being synonymous with a zealous / fervor for the things that He loves.

---God is always zealous (eager) to protect what is precious to Him.

One thing that is especially important to Him in both the Old and New Testament is the loyalty he demands from His people.

"For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." (Deut. 7:6)

"But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY."   (I Peter 2:9-10)


We can illustrate this point by just thinking of a common marriage:  
A man with any morals never wants to share his wife with another, in the same way God does not want to share your loyalty with anything or anyone else.
God is not into a divided heart. He expects exclusivity.
By now you should have figured out that this "jealousy" is not the kind that so often is portrayed in our modern, glossy society. 
---There is in fact such thing as a healthy jealousy-- for instance, when a person pursues another lover outside of their marriage, you should expect the spouse being cheated on to become jealous.   

The same can be said about the idols in your own life.  When you worship other gods, you commit spiritual adultery, and God gets jealous.  He gets jealous because He is zealous for your love.  Plain and simple. 

                                                                             

This is why James writes, "You adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."  (4:4)

James is merely highlighting the fact that if you claim that your life is bonded with Christ, then when you go out living like a prostitute, you are committing spiritual adultery.  And God gets jealous because you belong to Him.

So does God get jealous?