OUR JEALOUS GOD
Exodus 34:14
(for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord God, a jealous name, is a jealous God),
Encouraging Words
How can our God who is sinless and passionless be given a characteristic such as being a jealous God? It is because human language is too constrained to be able to fully describe God. We are finite and limited in our ability to describe things and He is infinite and unlimited. So this is an attempt by the writer to describe God metaphorically so that we get the picture. This parenthetical verse falls in the middle of a passage where the second set of commandments written on stone tablets is given to the Israelites. These are to replace the ones destroyed by Moses when he found the people worshiping idols. The metaphor is that of a father who is jealous, or zealously protective, of his child who is making a wrong decision because he knows the consequences that they will suffer for their choices. This father wants his child to make the right choices so that they will be blessed in their consequences. This is how God is jealous for us so that we will remain close to Him and flee from idolatry. Glory be to God.
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