A JEALOUS GOD?

A Jealous God? When we speak about God we generally mention Exodus 34:5-7: “The Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the Lord. Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” There are nine attributes that God uses in his self-description (cf. Psalms 86:5, 86:15, 103:8-13, 111:4, 112:4; 116:5, 145:8 etc). These are good attributes, but it would be a mistake to think of God as only gracious and loving. Earlier in Exodus, we saw that God had given himself a different attribute “אָֽנֹכִ֞י יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֨יךָ֙ אֵ֣ל קַנָּ֔א” - “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:5). We think of jealous/ jealousy as suspicion or mistrustful, but when this is used of God, we should not see it in the negative. The Hebrew word קַנָּ֔א (qanna) can be translated as zealous or jealous. God is zealous for His holiness and yet is not tainted by sin, as He is Holy in His jealousy and does not sin in His anger, or even when He takes vengeance upon His enemies. The word qanna, when translated as jealous, can be seen clearly when God is described as the husband of Israel, who due to His love for Israel, wants to protect her with a holy protectiveness. And in return wants Israel to be in love with Him. (Other verses that use qanna as a description of God are: Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24; Joshua 24:19; Nahum 1:2). When the authors of the Hebrew Bible use this description of God, it shows God’s concern for His Holy Name (His character and reputation). The word is also used in Psalm 69:9 “For zeal (קִנְאַ֣ת) for Your house has consumed me…” In this prophetic word, we read that the zealous love which Messiah will have for God’s house (that is the Temple), its service, glory, has consumed, eaten me up. The disciples later recalled this in John 2:13-22, and attribute this to Messiah Yeshua’s action, because of His concern for the purity of God’s House and worship. This was the first of two cleansings by Messiah of the Temple; the other time is mentioned in Matthew 21:12-17. And so, I wondered about my own zeal? What about your zeal, what are we zealous for? Sumo, rugby or watching TV? There is nothing wrong with watching these, but if we spend all our time on these things, then we have lost our first love. I was shocked when I read about a survey done in one mainline church. It found that 10% of the members had moved away or died and yet were still listed as members, 20% never prayed, 25% did not read their Bibles, 30% did not attend anywhere, 40% did not contribute to the church, 80% had never attended a prayer meeting and 90% felt uncomfortable talking about the gospel, sin and salvation. While I recognise that we have different gifting's in our fellowship, we are not all intercessors or evangelists, but our doing of these and many other things shows our zeal for the LORD and His Messiah. Friends meditating on His name, ‘jealous God,’ has caused me to reflect and pray that we all may have zeal like Messiah Yeshua, who was willing to lay down His life. May we have such qanna, such zeal in our lives for Messiah, His community and His people. May we burn brightly for His Holy Name! Yours in Messiah Yeshua Paul & Sue