Godly jealousy stems from a protective and not a selfsh, bitter possessive nature. Man, influenced by satan, has injected it with these negative qualities. [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Godly jealousy is not selfish. It is concerned for the self (which is not wrong--love others as you love yourself) and is protective of what belongs to [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]them but not at the expense of what is best for the other party. [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]In one of its definition of jealousy, The American Heritage Dictionary reads, .... "Vigilant in guarding something....." An example of this would be a father watching protectively over his children.
That is precisely the reason He wants our exclusive reverence. He knows He can take care of us better than anyone or anything else. In like manner, you would want your children's exclusive reverence and affinity because you know no one can take care of them better than you can. Right?
With all due respect, you keep comparing qualities of the Divine with that of humans. Your approaches to explaining God's qualities have mostly been with metaphors and analogies based on an all too human percespective.
For example, I have no children, however, if I did and I were being honest, I would have to say there are probably countless numbers of people who are more qualified to raise those children than me. Houseplants routinely die in my care. I certainly wouldn't want to be responsible for the custodianship and care of little humans. Therefore, the answer is, 'no', if it applies to me, I realize there are other people who would make better parents than myself. Conversely, however, there is no one better suited to be God than God. And God knows this, therefore, it appears to me that there is no reason for God to be jealous in this particular context.
Your initial example said nothing about a different definition of 'jealousy' and about it meaning, in other contexts, to 'vigilanty guard something or someone'. You were comparing human jealousy sparked by flirtations and consummated affairs to God's divine jealousy. And my point was, there simply is no comparison betwen those two things. Human jealousy, at least in the examples you provided, stems from fallible human emotional states, things such as fear and possessiveness. Your examples certainly weren't based on a 'vigilance in guarding' one's mate.
You said nothing about one's mate being in danger of attack or assault. Your examples didn't highlight a 'jealousy' that seeks to protect another from undue threats. Your examples stressed a type of jealousy that stems from personal sensitivities, personal fears and personal desires to control another person, specifically one's mate or significant other.
If now you want to claim that 'jealousy' as a divine Godly quality means strictly to 'be vigilent in guarding his human creations and protecting them from harm', or some such, per a particular entry in the American Heritage Dictionary, that is fine. But to me, with all deference and respect to American Heritage, I don't believe that is a commonly used contexts for the word, 'jealousy'. And if that's the way it is used in this thread or any other, I daresay there are far better words to describe 'vigilant guard and protection'. That's not what MOST people think of when they think about the quality of being 'jealous', at least not most people I know.
Now, perhaps that is indeed the way the Bible intended the meaning of the word 'jealous'. But if so, it certainly is NOT comparable to getting upset or possessive when someone is hitting on my girlfriend or if I were to find out she were having an affair. My jealousy certainly wouldn't spark, under these circumstances, because I felt she needed my most vigilant guardianship and protection.
And please forgive me, if you feel I am ranting. I am a writer and far too often I read posts on these threads that engage in fallacious metaphors and flawed analogies that create more confusion than clarifications. It is both fallacious and flawed to compare God's jealousy to that of a human's that is sparked by flirtations and affairs.
Obviously there is a great chasm between our opinions so we'll just leave it at that. We can agree to disagree, right?
