What does the Bible say about jealousy?
Jealousy runs in two directions in Scripture. God calls Himself jealous and makes it part of His name, while in people the same feeling turns into envy — the root of the first murder and of the death of Christ.
God's Jealousy Is the Jealousy of Love
When God forbids images in Exodus 20 and repeats the warning in Deuteronomy 4, He gives His own jealousy as the reason. Commentators read this not as a flaw in God but as the natural shape of love that refuses a rival.
C. H. MackintoshHe is jealous because He cannot bear any rival to have a place in the hearts of those He loves. He must have the whole heart, because He alone is worthy of it, and He alone can fill and satisfy it forever. And if His people turn away from Him and go after idols of their own making, they must be left to reap the bitter fruit of their own doing.
That name — "the LORD, whose name is Jealous" (Exodus 34:14) — is read as the closest the older Scriptures come to the full revelation of love.
W. H. WestcottLove takes the form of jealousy if there is the smallest rival to it. The nearest revelation to the Christian one of love that could be given in Old Testament times is that God is a jealous God. You remember Solomon's Song says that love is as strong as death. Do you know what follows? Jealousy is as cruel as the grave.
In Man the Same Word Becomes Envy
Genesis 4 gives the first case, and 1 John 3:12 explains it: Cain killed Abel "because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous."
George C. WillisYes, it was envy at the root of Cain's murder. It is envy that makes us seek a higher place in the world than the one God gave us. So, my dear ones, earnestly take heed to lay aside all envy (1 Peter 2:1).
Trace the same motive through the Bible's stories and the tally is grim.
A. T. SchofieldChrist was crucified. Abel was murdered. Joseph and David almost murdered. At different times it led to hatred, wicked and unscrupulous conduct, lying and blaspheming, rioting and violence, hindering God's work, despising God's servants, lying and reviling, maliciousness, anger, and intense cruelty.
Saul's Eye and Pilate's Verdict
1 Samuel 18 records the song of the women and then the sentence, "Saul eyed David from that day on." One writer locates the cause in Saul's inability to be second.
C. H. MackintoshHe had not learned to forget himself and rejoice to see the work done by another. It is the work of grace to be able to do this... Saul could not bear the idea of being second. He forgot how he had trembled at the voice of Goliath; though cowardly, he wanted to be counted brave and valiant. "And Saul eyed David from that day and forward." Terrible eye! — the eye of envy and bitter jealousy.
Mark 15:10 says Pilate saw the motive behind the trial. One commentator connects it to Nazareth's rejection of Jesus: the flesh dislikes superiority in someone like itself.
J. N. DarbyThey may not and cannot deny the wonderful things the Prophet may do, but they do not like the superiority. This was the secret of the position of the Jewish nation: "he knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up." He was the carpenter, the Son of Mary. Why should He be so distinguished?
Why the Warnings Are So Severe
James 3:16 and Proverbs 27:4 are the two texts commentators return to. Schofield gathers the New Testament evidence into a chain:
A. T. SchofieldJames does not hesitate to say that envy is a root of every evil work (ch. 3:16). It is worse than wrath or anger; none can stand before envy (Prov. 27:4). It hinders growth in grace (1 Peter 2:1-2); it is a proof of being carnally minded (1 Cor. 3:1-3); it is one of the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:21)... produced by the prosperity and good deeds of others (Eccles. 4:4), and also by arguments and disputes (1 Tim. 6:4).
Division among God's people is traced back to the same hidden source.
Hamilton SmithNever has there been a scene of confusion and strife among the people of God that has not had its hidden root of envy and strife in the heart.
Envying the Wicked — Psalm 73
Asaph admits he was envious of the arrogant when he saw the prosperity of the wicked, and Psalm 37 tells the reader not to fret. The cure was a change of vantage point.
F. B. HoleA few moments before he had been near to falling himself because he had been consumed with envy at the prosperity of the wicked; now he exclaims, "How they are destroyed in a moment!" ... Yet in the sanctuary he lifts his eyes to God with joy and confesses, "You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory."
The Cure
1 Corinthians 13 puts it in one clause: love does not envy. Commentators make that positive — rejoicing in what another has.
A. T. SchofieldSeek to rejoice in the prosperity of others; seek to be unselfish, for, after all, envy is only a form of selfishness. Seek the good of others, not your own.
And the deeper displacement:
A. T. SchofieldReal occupation with Christ's glory and interests instead of our own effectively, though unconsciously, checks not only this but many other sins. It is only the self-seeker who is envious.
Summary
- Jealous — God names Himself jealous (Exodus 34:14) because love will not share the heart it has won; commentators call this the nearest thing to the full revelation of love given in Old Testament times.
- Rivalled — what is right in God turns poisonous in us the moment another person becomes the rival: Saul could not bear being second, and eyed David from that day on.
- Rooted — envy is named as a root of every evil work (James 3:16); Cain's murder, Joseph's pit, and the cross all grew from it.
- Unmasked — its worst form hides under zeal for the Lord, and it feeds on the prosperity of others, which is why Asaph nearly slipped until he saw their end in the sanctuary.
- Displaced — envy is a form of selfishness, so it dies where the heart is taken up with Christ's glory: only the self-seeker envies.