The Second Commandment – Part 2

The Second Commandment – Part 2

Tucked away in the second commandment, about idols, is a description of God that has ruffled a few feathers over the years. Here’s what I mean:

Exodus 20:5

“You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…”

I once read that Oprah Winfrey explained why she no longer goes to church or believes in the Bible. When she was a child, she heard her preacher talk about jealousy as being a sin. A few weeks later, the same preacher said that God is a jealous God. She thought about it and decided it didn’t make sense—that God could sin but people couldn’t. She walked away from church and never went back.

So, what’s going on here? Why can God be jealous but we can’t? Does this mean God is allowed to sin?

Of course not! Let’s look more closely at what jealousy is all about. Jealousy is wanting something you don’t have a right to. We are jealous when we crave what belongs to someone else. In this case, the issue is worship. God desires us to worship Him—and He becomes righteously angry when we give that worship to something else.

He is our Creator. He gave us life and everything we have. When we worship something else, we are giving away what belongs to God alone. As created beings, we own nothing and can lay claim to nothing. Everything we have has been given by God. When we are jealous, we make a false assumption—that we deserve something that is not ours.

Do you see the difference? Jealousy tries to take what rightly belongs to God. For you and me, that is sin. For God, it is perfectly right. Jealousy, for us, comes from pride. It assumes we are entitled to something we want, instead of being content with what God provides.

God is a jealous God because He loves us and wants our love and worship in return. His jealousy is not selfish but holy—it is rooted in His covenant love and His desire for us to walk in truth.

1 Timothy 6:6–7

“But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.”