- Name 28 of 70Jealous
- HebrewEl Qanna
- In plain wordsThe God who loves His people too much to share them
- Where to find itExodus 34:14, on Mount Sinai after the golden calf
The Bible calls Him a jealous God, and in one verse it goes further: God says His very name is Jealous. In Hebrew the title is El Qanna, the jealous God, and it comes from Exodus 34:14, where God renewed His covenant with Israel on Mount Sinai. It surprises many readers, because we usually think of jealousy as a weakness. To understand why God claims it, you have to see what had just happened.
Broken tablets and a second chance
Only weeks earlier, God had given Israel the Ten Commandments. The first two were plain: have no other gods, and make no idols to bow down to. Then, while Moses was still up on the mountain, the people handed their gold earrings to Aaron, and he shaped them into a calf for them to worship (Exodus 32:2 to 4). When Moses came down and saw them dancing around it, he threw the stone tablets to the ground and broke them (Exodus 32:19).
That should have been the end. A covenant is a binding agreement, and Israel had broken theirs almost as soon as they made it. But Moses pleaded for the people, and God called him back up the mountain with two new tablets (Exodus 34:1). There God passed by and announced His own character in some of the tenderest words in the Old Testament:
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Exodus 34:6
Longsuffering means patient for a very long time. This was God forgiving a people who did not deserve it. And in that same conversation, a few verses later, He told them something else about Himself.
For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
Exodus 34:14
The language of a marriage
God was about to lead Israel into a land full of other gods. In the very next verse He warned that if they made deals with the people there, they would go a whoring after their gods
(Exodus 34:15). That is blunt language, and it is the language of a marriage betrayed. Worshiping an idol was not a small religious mistake. It was like a wife leaving her husband for someone else.
Seen that way, the name makes sense. Imagine a husband who did not care at all if his wife ran off with another man. Nobody would call that a calm, healthy love. They would say he did not really love her. Jealousy, in this sense, is what real love feels when the one it loves is being pulled away. God had just forgiven Israel for running. Now He was telling them, plainly, that He would not share them.
What qanna means in Hebrew
The Hebrew adjective is qanna, which simply means jealous. It comes from the verb qana, a word with a wide range. It can describe sinful envy: when young Joseph told his dreams, his brethren envied him
(Genesis 37:11). It can also describe holy zeal, meaning a burning devotion to what is right. God praised the priest Phinehas because he was zealous for my sake
(Numbers 25:11). Same root, two very different results. The heat is the same; what it is aimed at makes it good or bad.
Here is the striking part. The adjective qanna is used only of God in the Old Testament. It never describes a human being. A close form, qanno, appears in Joshua 24:19 and Nahum 1:2, and it too is about God. Scripture keeps this word for Him.
That makes sense when you think about it. If a person demanded your total loyalty and worship, that would be controlling and wrong. When God asks for it, He is simply telling the truth: He made you, He alone is worthy of worship, and anything else you bow to will let you down.
Key King James verses about the jealous God
The idea first appears in the Ten Commandments, tied directly to the ban on idols.
Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exodus 20:5
Iniquity means wickedness. Read the next verse too, because it changes the balance: God shows mercy unto thousands of them that love me
(Exodus 20:6). The warning reaches a few generations. The mercy reaches thousands.
For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
Deuteronomy 4:24
Moses linked jealousy to fire. Both are pictures of a love that is intense and cannot be ignored.
And Joshua said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.
Joshua 24:19
Near the end of his life, Joshua refused to let the people make an easy promise. He wanted them to understand that serving this God is all or nothing.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.
Zechariah 8:2
Here the jealousy turns toward rescue. Zion is another name for Jerusalem, and God's burning love for her is the reason He promises to bring her people home.
What a jealous God means for your life
In a world where people are easily replaced, ignored, or used up, this name says something comforting: you are worth being jealous over. God is not indifferent about where your heart goes. He cares enough to fight for it.
It also asks a hard question. What is taking the place that belongs to Him? Idols today rarely look like golden calves. They look like a phone you cannot put down, a relationship you would choose over God, money, popularity, or the need to always be in control. Anything you trust to save you, other than God, is competing for the spot He claims.
This is not about God wanting a bigger slice of your schedule. A husband does not want to be one of three men in his wife's life. God wants all of you, because all of you is what He made and loves.
- Read Exodus 32 to 34 in one sitting and watch how quickly Israel fell and how fully God restored them.
- Ask yourself honestly: what do I run to first when I am stressed, scared or bored?
- See God's commands as a guard rail put up by love, not a cage.
Jealous is name 28 of the 70. Moses joined it with a picture of fire, and that picture is the next name: A Consuming Fire. Before that, you can look back at The LORD of Hosts, or browse the names of God and their meanings.
