God? Jealous? Nahum & Deuteronomy 4-6

As I was playing catch up there were several passages in Nahum and In Deuteronomy, that pointed to God and his jealousy. I had no problem with it, but wanted to look up the word jealous. Here it is as it appears in Merriam webster:


Main Entry: jeal·ous
Pronunciation: \ˈje-ləs\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English jelous, from Anglo-French gelus, from Vulgar Latin *zelosus, from Late Latin zelus zeal — more at zeal
Date: 13th century
1 a : intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness b : disposed to suspect rivalry or unfaithfulness
2 : hostile toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage
3 : vigilant in guarding a possession
I looked at the words from which "jealous" derived, "zelus" and looked that up as well:

Main Entry: zeal
Pronunciation: \ˈzēl\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English zele, from Late Latin zelus, from Greek zēlos
Date: 14th century
: eagerness and ardent interest in pursuit of something : fervor
synonyms see passion

So God is passionate about pursuing the relationship with us he had only once, in the Garden. God is vigilant in guarding us, for we belong to him, and yes, he is intolerant of unfaithfulness, spiritual idolatry/adultery, because he SO LOVES US. Everything about God stems from his character of LOVE.

Deuteronomy 6:23 says that "He brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land [the promise].

God is calling those lost in the world of hopelessness and the downward spiral of sin, out of there. He calls us out, not to leave us hanging, but to bring us in, to the family he created with his own hands, so that we can ejoy the promise. The promise is eternal righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, for that is the kingdom of God.

And yes, God is jealous of his family, so much so that He took on the shell of flesh, to experience, like us, pain, joys, sadness, temptations, betrayal... then Hung on a cross he had the power to avoid. He shed untainted blood that he created for this purpose, to give us the oppurtunity to come back to HIM ( for without blood there is no remission of sins, Matt. 26:28,Heb. 9:22)

Thank God for his passion and his jealousy over me. It feels good to be wanted, enough to die for. * Heart flutters