Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the Bible: Jealousy
Subjects in this Topic:
JEALOUSY.—The law of the ‘jealousy ordeal’ (in which a wife suspected of unfaithfulness had to prove her innocence by drinking the water of bitterness [‘holy water’ mixed with dust from the floor of the Tabernacle]) is found in Num_5:11-31. The conception of idolatry as adultery and of Jehovah as the Husband of Israel led the OT writers frequently to speak of Him as a jealous God (Exo_20:5, Deu_5:9, Jos_24:19, 1Ki_14:22, Psa_78:58, Eze_36:6, Nah_1:2). This jealousy is the indication of Jehovah’s desire to maintain the purity of the spiritual relation between Himself and His people. Extraordinary zeal for this same end is characteristic of the servants of Jehovah, and is sometimes called jealousy with them (2Co_11:2, Num_25:11; Num_25:13, 1Ki_19:10). A few times the word is used in a bad sense (Rom_13:13, 1Co_3:3, 2Co_12:20, Gal_5:20, Jam_3:14; Jam_3:16).
D. A. Hayes.