All of God’s attributes are equally true, so God is never unjustly or unfairly jealous but always righteously jealous. God is a good and holy God who not only deserves all praise and honor but who also cares that people have what is best for them—and he knows that he is what is the very best for people.

We often think of jealousy as a bad thing, something we should avoid because our sinful hearts covet what others have. God’s jealousy, however, is appropriate and good. God’s jealousy is in regard to idolatry, which is worshiping anything other than the one true God of the Bible. God is jealous for people to acknowledge him as the only real and true God and worship him as such (Ps. 78:58).

1. God’s jealousy is proper to who he is.

God is not only described as jealous, but “Jealous” is given to him as a name (Exod. 34:14). This shows that to be jealous is one of God’s attributes and is, in fact, an outworking of his being. All of God’s attributes are equally true, so God is never unjustly or unfairly jealous but always righteously jealous. God is a good and holy God who not only deserves all praise and honor but who also cares that people have what is best for them—and he knows that he is what is the very best for people.

Throughout the Old Testament, various analogies were used to describe God’s relationship with his people. One of the images used is that of marriage. Marriage demands faithfulness from both parties. God would be faithful to his people while his people would be faithful to God. As we see God’s story unfold, however, we find out that his people are anything but faithful, turning instead to other gods and inciting God’s righteous jealousy.

He is the one true God who created the world to be in fellowship with himself. He is the only one who can satisfy the longing of our souls. All other gods are fake, useless, and powerless, unable to hear or help the people who worship them (Hab. 2:18–19; Deut. 4:28). God pursues us and desires us to be reconciled to himself so that we might worship him and he might care for our every need (Matt. 6:25-33).

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