848
JEALOUSY
JERICHO
heart,' etc. (Dt 6'^); 'I am the Lord, that is my name ; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images' (Is 42*). Tliis exclusiveness or intolerance of God — His jealousy _/br Himself, as it may be called — pervades the OT. It is the source of that compulsion which He puts upon the human race to learn the most important lesson which the mind is capable of re- ceiving, that there is one only, the living and true God. This is the presupposition not only of all uplifting religion, but of all science, and of all morality which rises above caste and convention ; and what we see in the OT is the jealousy of God working monotheism into the constitution of a race wlio .sliunld impart it to the world. In this sense tlie jealousy of God is represented in the mind of Chri^^t by tlie e.xclusive claims which He makes for Himself, and in the rest of the NT by the reitera- tion of these claims through the lips of His dis- ciples. Sometimes the expression of it is informal : e.g. ' He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me ' (Mt 10") ; or, ' Blessed is he whosoever shall find none occasion of stumbling in me' (11''). Sometimes, again, it is quite explicit: ' No one knoweth the Son save the Father ; neither doth any know the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him' (11"'). In the Fourth Gospel this tone predominates, and there could not be more precise and formal expres- sions of the jealousy of God, as God is revealed in Christ, than are found, e.g., in Jn 1'^ 8^ 14* (.see art. Preaching Christ). This jealousy of God for Himself is echoed in passages like Ac 4'- (' There is none other name,' etc.), 1 Co 3" (' Other foundation can no man lay,' etc.). Gal 1*'- ('Though we or an angel from heaven should preach unto you any other gospel,' etc. : the peculiarity of the Pauline as opposed to the Judaizing gospel being that it ascribed the whole of salvation to Christ alone, and did not share His glory with the Law), and 2 Jn "'•.
The second way in which the jealousy of God expresses itself in the OT is in God's unreserved identification of Eitmelf with His people. It is a jealousy for them, in which their cause is His, in which His honour (if such a word can be used in such a connexion) is touched if tliey are wronged, in which His love rises into passion, and takes on itself responsibilities for them of %\ hitli they would not have dared to think. Sometimes this, too, is informally expressed : e.g. ' He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye' (Zee 2*). Some- times it is quite explicit : e.g. the great Messianic promises of Is 9'"- are sealed in v.' by ' The jealousy of Jahweh of hosts shall do this'' Cf. also the .striking passage Zee 8-^- All this is reproduced in the mind and words of Jesus. He is jealous for His people, especially for 'the little ones' (who, liowever, are not so much a class of Christians, as Christians generally — a weak and inconsiderable folk in ordinary eyes), and nothing that concerns them is alien to Him. The very slightest service done thera has a reward solemnly assured to it (Mt lO'^) ; the sin of causing one of them to stumble is denounced -vrith a passion which startles us still as we read (18'*) ; cf. art. Anger, 2 («)• The most thrilling illustration of this jealousy of Jesus for His 'little ones' is given in the Final Judgment : ' Inasmuch as ye did it (or, did it not) to one of these least, my brethren, ye did it {or, did it not) un^o me ' (25'"'- ^). Jealous love can go no further than this.
2. Since God, especially God revealed in Christ, is in this twofold sense a jealous God, it is clear that there niu.st be in the Christian religion and c-haracter a corresponding intensity and passion. Christians ought to be jealous for Christ, sensitive to all that dishonours Him, and especially to all that degrades Him from the place which He claims.
and which belongs to Him alone. The NT gives Him what He demands, the name which is above every name ; and it is inconsistent with jealousy for Him to give Him only a name alongside of other names — to classify Him, as is often done, with prophets or religious heroes or founders of religions. Jealousy, no doubt, is apt to be a turbid virtue ; the OT examples of it — Phinehas, Elijah, and Jehu — all illustrate this ; and even in Christian history jealousy for Jesus as sole Lord and Saviour has often been confounded with zeal for a definition of one's own making, or for the predominance of one's ovra ecclesiastical or political faction. Of all vir- tues, it is the one which most readily calls the old man into the field to reinforce the new, a process which always ends in disaster. Nevertheless, it is the primary virtue of a Christian, just as the keep- ing of the first commandment was the primary virtue of a Jew.