Meaning of JEALOUSY

The Greek word "zelos" comes from a root that means "to be hot, to boil"; It translates well the Hebrew word "Quin-ah", whose root designates the red that appears on the face of a passionate man. This passion, often similar to anger (Deut. 29:19), makes us think of fire (Is. 26:11).

It can come from various feelings, from disinterested love to sordid envy, love, hatred, jealousy (Eccl. 9:6), fury, confusion, vehement passion, zeal for the well-being of the people, for the honor of God (Num. 25:11; 2 Cor. 11:2): all these feelings can invade the heart of man and lead to anger (Prov. 27:4) or a man's death (Gen. 4:5, 8; Num. 25 :7 ss).

This violence is not in itself condemnable; Its value depends on the motive that inspires it, whether it is disinterested or not. There are indeed selfish motives.
We must recognize, with the wise, that envy, like "a cavity in the bones" (Prov. 14:30), ravages the heart of man.

Arises:
between brothers (Gen. 4:5-11; 37:11),
between women (Gen. 30:1),
between spouses (Prov. 6:24; Num. 5),
among peoples (Gen. 26:14; Is. 11:13),
and even between righteous and wicked (Ps. 37:1; 73:3; Pr. 3:31; 23:17);
disunites Christian communities with quarrels (Rom. 13:13),
disputes (1 Cor. 3:3; 2 Cor. 12:20),
with bitterness and entanglements (James 3:14-16).

From this picture we should not conclude, with Ecclesiastes, that every effort and every passion of man comes from envy (Eccl. 4:4).

If well-intentioned zeal can hide a real narrowness of spirit (Num. 11:29), however, there is also a very pure flame of love (Song 8:6) that must be recognized, above all, through the jealousy of God.

God's jealousy has nothing to do with human pettiness. God is not jealous of some "other" if he could be equal to him, but he demands exclusive worship on the part of man, whom he has created in his image; This translates into jealousy with the "other gods" (Ex. 20:5; 34:14; Deut. 6:l4 ff.).

This intransigence, without analogy in pagan religions, reflects the ancient and recent texts of Scripture; is equivalent to “devouring fire” (Deut. 4:24).

Idols make God jealous (Ps. 68:58; Deut. 32:16-21; 1 Kings 14:22), which are easily designated as “idols of envy” (Ezek. 8:3-5). ; 2 Kings 21:7). In short, if God is jealous, it is because he is holy and cannot tolerate his honor being attacked, nor those he loves being diverted from Himself.

God has different means of arousing in Israel a zeal in the image of his own; for example, he excites the jealousy of his people by bestowing his favor on the nations (Deut. 32:21).

He ordinarily communicates his own ardor to this or that chosen one. Phinehas, son of Eleazar, is thus "possessed of the same jealousy as I," says the Lord, appeased by such jealousy (Num. 25:11); the prophet Elijah, despite the uniqueness of his case, feels burned by divine zeal (1 Kings 19:14); the Psalms, finally, can proclaim: “Zeal for your house devours me” (Ps. 69:10; 119:139).


The followers of Christ will frequently be exposed to the attacks of jealousy from enemies who want to exterminate them (Acts 5:17; 13:45; 17:5); the same authentically religious but unenlightened jealousy (Rom. 10:2) animated Saul when he persecuted the Church of God (Phil. 3:6; Gal. 1:14; Acts 22:3).

Christians cannot be contaminated by this zeal, but its spirit can survive in some “zealous adherents of the law” (Acts 21:20).

Christ, however, had nothing of the party of the zealots. He refuses to justify rebellion against Caesar (Mt. 22:15-21); Yes, he counts Simon the Zealot among his disciples (Mark 3:18; Luke 6:15), but he condemns the reactions of the "sons of thunder" (Mark 3:17; Luke 9:54), even accepting that they profess readiness for martyrdom (Mt. 20:22).

Finally, on the occasion of his arrest he refuses to resist with weapons in his hand (Mt. 26:51 ff.), since he is not at all a "bandit", that is, a "gang leader" (Mt. . 26:55).
If Jesus rejects every zealot spirit, he preserves his passion for the kingdom of heaven that "suffers violence" (Mt. 11:12) and demands the renunciation of everything, including life (Mt. 16:24 ff.).

The followers of Christ see in the expulsion of the sellers from the Temple the righteous gesture, to which zeal for his Father's house must lead to death (John 2:17).

There is, in fact, a Christian zeal, which Paul shows towards the churches that he has founded, as a friend of his husband (2 Cor. 11: 2).