by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Nahum 1:2-8<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. In describing love – Song of Solomon 8:6-7<\/p>\n A. The Hebrew word is qin’ah<\/i> means to be jealous, to be envious, or to be filled with\nzeal. \n 1. The root is from a word that means “to become red,” as in a person’s face\nturning red when angry. \n 2. It is also associated with fire. When you get angry, you feel hot under the\ncollar. Hence, flames and heat is associated with the word jealousy\n B. The Greek word is zelos<\/i>. It literally means “heat” and is translated as jealousy,\nenvy or zeal.\n
C. Jealousy means “vigilantly guarding your possession.”<\/p>\n
1. It is the desire to hold on to what is yours for your own personal use.<\/p>\n
D. Notice that the same word in both Hebrew and Greek is used for envy. <\/p>\n
1. Envy is wanting what someone else has.<\/p>\n
2. While it is the same burning desire, envy is a misdirected jealousy.<\/p>\n a. Sometimes we wrongfully believe that what someone has should be\nour own exclusive possession\n b. For example, a girl becomes envious of another because she goes\nout with her boyfriend. \n (1) Dating doesn’t creating an exclusive relationship, though\nmost want it that way.\n
c. Marriage does create an exclusive relationship – Matthew 19:4-6<\/p>\n
(1) But sometimes man takes it too far.<\/p>\n
(2) A husband demands all of his wife’s attention.<\/p>\n
(a) He becomes angry if she talks to someone else.<\/p>\n (b) We call him a “jealous husband,” but in truth he is\nenvious of the attention given to another.\n (c) He is claiming an exclusive possession that is not his\nto claim.\n E. This is why I Corinthians 13:4 says love does not envy (or is not jealous). It is the\nsame Greek word.\n 1. At first it seems to contradict Song of Solomon 8:6-7, but it is the other\nside of the same coin.\n 2. It is right to have a burning desire to hold on to what is yours, but too\nmany claim more than is their right to claim. Hence, jealousy becomes\nenvy.\n
II. God bluntly declares that He is a jealous God – Nahum 1:2<\/p>\n A. God does not have the problem of claiming more than what belongs to Him,\nbecause everything is His already – Psalm 24:1\n B. Though this is truth, the unfortunate thing is that most people refuse to\nacknowledge God’s ownership.\n
C. Still, some willingly and openly accepted God’s claim<\/p>\n 1. Israel entered into a covenant with God. But Joshua warned that it was\nmore than the people would be able to handle – Joshua 24:19-21\n
2. The covenant reserved an exclusive relationship between God and Israel<\/p>\n
a. They were to make no other gods – Exodus 20:4-6<\/p>\n
b. They were to worship no other gods – Exodus 34:14<\/p>\n c. To do so would bring out God’s consuming fire – Deuteronomy\n4:23-24\n
3. Even through they willingly entered into a covenant, Israel provoked God<\/p>\n
a. They moved God to jealousy by carved images – Psalm 78:58-59<\/p>\n b. They provoked Him with things that weren’t real – Deuteronomy\n32:16, 21\n
c. God will not give His praise to carved images – Isaiah 42:8<\/p>\n
D. In a marriage, a wife has the right to expect faithfulness by her husband.<\/p>\n 1. She would be right to be jealous if her husband was sharing his body with\nanother woman because their marriage covenant made their relationship\nexclusive of all others.\n 2. But how would she feel if she found out the other woman, was not a\nwoman at all, but a store dummy?\n 3. This is sample of why God was angry with Israel. They shared His worship\nwith things that weren’t even divine!\n E. Paul warns Christians not to follow the path the world walked – I Corinthians\n10:20-22\n
III. The strength of God’s jealousy<\/p>\n A. The bride in Song of Solomon 8:6-7 said that love’s jealousy is strong as the\ngrave.\n
1. Have you known many people who came back from the grave?<\/p>\n
2. The grave doesn’t willingly let go of its possession.<\/p>\n B. How strong is the anger of a husband who finds out his wife has been cheating on\nhim? – Proverbs 6:29-35\n
1. Solomon says that a husband’s anger is so strong that it cannot be stopped.<\/p>\n 2. And you certainly can’t buy your way out because what was damaged was\nbeyond value.\n
3. God said the same thing applies in His jealousy – Zephaniah 1:17-18<\/p>\n
C. Recall that Joshua warned that God would not forgive – Joshua 24:19-21<\/p>\n 1. While God is willing to forgive sins, that doesn’t mean He is willing to\naccept partial service or enter into a compromise.\n
a. Matthew 6:24 – Cannot serve two masters<\/p>\n b. John 2:13-17 – “Zeal” is that word for jealousy. The Jews were\n“two-timing it” in God’s own house!\n 2. Imagine an unfaithful husband asking his wife for forgiveness while saying\nhe will continue to spend time with the other woman.\n a. When God’s anger is aroused, it would not be quenched –\nZephaniah 3:8\n
b. The guilty will not be cleared – Exodus 34:7<\/p>\n
c. He will not spare punishment – Deuteronomy 28:20<\/p>\n
d. There would be no mercy, no favor – Isaiah 27:11<\/p>\n
e. There would be no pity – Ezekiel 8:18<\/p>\n D. As Christians, we willingly become a people for God’s own possession – I Peter\n2:9-10\n 1. But we cannot keep visiting sin and expect God to be happy with it –\nRomans 6:1-2\n
2. Cannot look back – Luke 9:62; Hebrews 10:38<\/p>\n 3. Worse are those who accepted salvation and then walked away – Hebrews\n6:4-6\n 4. We have to understand the seriousness of our covenant with God –\nHebrews 10:26-31\n
IV. The terror of God’s anger – Psalm 90:11<\/p>\n A. As the Hebrew writer mentions, a primary cause of people straying from God is\ntheir lack of fear. They don’t believe the consequences of their misdeeds will be\nmet with all that great of a punishment, if punished at all – Ecclesiastes 8:12-13\n B. Matthew 10:28 – God’s anger is real. While we should seek God’s love, we should\nbe terrified of facing God’s wrath – Isaiah 8:13; Psalm 119:120\n
C. The ignorant and the rebellious will face the wrath of God – II Thessalonians 1:6-10<\/p>\n
D. The forgetful – Psalm 50:22<\/p>\n
E. God should be feared – Psalm 76:7<\/p>\n
F. It is the point Jesus was trying to get across – Mark 9:43-48<\/p>\n
V. Serve God with fear – Hebrews 12:28-29<\/p>\n A. Some might not understand the seriousness of their plight. But Christians do – II\nCorinthians 5:10-11\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Nahum 1:2-8 I. In describing love – Song of Solomon 8:6-7 A. The Hebrew word is qin’ah means to be jealous, to be envious, or to be filled with zeal. 1. The root is from a word that means “to become red,” as in a person’s face turning red when angry. 2. It…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[90,875],"class_list":["post-63035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-god","tag-jealousy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55357,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-did-you-find-that-jealousy-in-hebrew-carries-the-idea-of-becoming-red\/","url_meta":{"origin":63035,"position":0},"title":"Where did you find that “jealousy” in Hebrew carries the idea of becoming red?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was reading the article titled The Lord is a Jealous God. In the second paragraph, the author explained the Greek and Hebrew words. I enjoy studying etymology and such things, so especially I loved this section. The explanation of the Hebrew word reads: The Hebrew word is based\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29490,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-jealousy-always-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":63035,"position":1},"title":"Is jealousy always wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Doesn't the Bible say not to be jealous? But then in more than one place, it says God is a jealous God. Answer: Jealousy means \"Vigilant guarding of a possession.\" It is the desire to hold on to what is yours for your own personal use. Sometimes we wrongfully\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51971,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jealousy\/","url_meta":{"origin":63035,"position":2},"title":"Jealousy","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We started this morning trying to understand the concepts of envy and jealousy II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What is jealousy? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cVigilant guarding of a possession.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Zelos - It literally means \u201cheat\u201d (Deut 4:24), sometimes translated as zeal. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The desire to hold on to what is yours for your own personal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83679,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/in-defense-of-a-jealous-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":63035,"position":3},"title":"In Defense of a Jealous God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Richard Blackford Several times, the Bible states that God is a jealous God. One of those is in the Ten Commandments: \"Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image\u2026\u2026Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":67961,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-red-heifer\/","url_meta":{"origin":63035,"position":4},"title":"The Red Heifer","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton The Muslims have occupied the place of the Jewish temple with the Dome of the Rock for centuries. There are Jews who want very badly to remove the Muslims and the Dome of the Rock so that the Jews can rebuild a temple in that place.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63138,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-not-do-things-that-might-make-others-jealous\/","url_meta":{"origin":63035,"position":5},"title":"Should I not do things that might make others jealous?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 7, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have read through your site on a number of occasions.\u00a0I have some questions regarding jealousy. When my husband proposed to me, a girl at church seemed very upset because her boyfriend had not proposed to her yet. I was concerned that she may have been jealous of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63035\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}