A JEALOUS GOD

Have you ever wondered why jealousy is considered sinful for mankind but not for God. There are many places in the Bible that refer to God being a jealous God. In as much as God has to relate to mankind in a manner that we can understand He uses anthropomorphism's. In other words, he uses phrases such as "the hand of God" etc. that we can relate to. One of the best descriptions of God's jealousy was stated as follows by John Calvin.

"The Lord very frequently addresses us in the character of a husband... As He performs all the offices of a true faithful husband, so He requires love and chastity from us; that is, that we do not prostitute our souls to Satan...As the purer and chaster a husband is, the more grievously he is offended when he sees His wife inclining to a rival; so the Lord, who has betrothed us to Himself in truth, declares that He burns with the hottest jealousy whenever, neglecting the purity of His holy marriage, we defile ourselves with abominable lusts, and especially when the worship of His deity, which ought to have been most carefully kept unimpaired, is transferred to another, or adulterated with some superstition: since in this way we not only violate our plighted troth, but defile the Nepal couch, by giving access to adulterers."