Welcome back Fotop, I was starting to wonder what happened to you.
I'm not up to Numbers 25 yet, and from reading this passage, there seems to be more than one issue here, so I'm leaving that alone for now....I will offer an answer regarding the “jealousy of God” though, since that is what you were addressing.
In the past, my response to this issue was “huh?”, because at first it does appear to be a contradiction. My understanding now is that the jealousy of man and the jealousy of God are different. When we (man) are jealous, it is sinful, because there are always negative (sinful) motives behind it.
God is Righteous! His jealously is Divine (as I've read in different commentaries), based on Truth.
In my Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the first definition of jealous is “1 : demanding complete devotion”....GOD ALONE HAS THE RIGHT TO DEMAND OUR COMPLETE DEVOTION, HE IS TRUTH...HE ALONE IS WORTHY...Anything else put before HIM is idolatry , based on lies...I can understand why it can provoke HIS wrath, but thankfully for our sake, HE is slow to anger.....
One example:
Joel 2:11-13(NIV)...11 The LORD thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty are those who obey his command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? 12 "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." 13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
Additional passages regarding our “jealous God” :
Exodus 20:1-6 (NIV)...1 And God spoke all these words: 2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 "You shall have no other gods before me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Exodus 34:12-15 (NASB )...12"Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. 13"But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim 14--for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God-- 15otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and they would play the harlot with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice,
Deuteronomy 4:20-26 (NASB )...20"But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession, as today. 21"Now the LORD was angry with me on your account, and swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. 22"For I will die in this land, I shall not cross the Jordan, but you shall cross and take possession of this good land. 23"So watch yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the LORD your God has commanded you. 24"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. 25"When you become the father of children and children's children and have remained long in the land, and act corruptly, and make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD your God so as to provoke Him to anger, 26I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed.
While researching, I did find something that I was not aware of.
In regards to 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)...4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ;
I checked 7 different translations for this verse, and out of seven, only one version (NAS) used the word “jealous” in place of “envy”. I also checked all the passages from each translation containing the words jealous and envy, and not one passage was found pertaining to an “envious” God.
Note the differences below between “ jealous” and “envy”.
From Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language : (Or any other dictionary)
ENVY
1. (n.) Malice; ill will; spite.
2. (n.) Chagrin, mortification, discontent, or uneasiness at the sight of another's excellence or good fortune, accompanied with some degree of hatred and a desire to possess equal advantages; malicious grudging; -- usually followed by of; as, they did this in envy of Caesar.
3. (n.) Emulation; rivalry.
4. (n.) Public odium; ill repute.
5. (n.) An object of envious notice or feeling.
6. (v. t.) To feel envy at or towards; to be envious of; to have a feeling of uneasiness or mortification in regard to (any one), arising from the sight of another's excellence or good fortune and a longing to possess it.
7. (v. t.) To feel envy on account of; to have a feeling of grief or repining, with a longing to possess (some excellence or good fortune of another, or an equal good fortune, etc.); to look with grudging upon; to begrudge.
8. (v. t.) To long after; to desire strongly; to covet.
9. (v. t.) To do harm to; to injure; to disparage.
10. (v. t.) To hate.
11. (v. t.) To emulate.
12. (v. i.) To be filled with envious feelings; to regard anything with grudging and longing eyes; -- used especially with at.
13. (v. i.) To show malice or ill will; to rail.
JEALOUS
1. (a.) Zealous; solicitous; vigilant; anxiously watchful.
2. (a.) Apprehensive; anxious; suspiciously watchful.
3. (a.) Exacting exclusive devotion; intolerant of rivalry.
4. (a.) Disposed to suspect rivalry in matters of interest and affection; apprehensive regarding the motives of possible rivals, or the fidelity of friends; distrustful; having morbid fear of rivalry in love or preference given to another; painfully suspicious of the faithfulness of husband, wife, or lover.
I hope this helps.
IN HIS NAME,
eoH
Fearful To Fearless | Fear Not - Don't Worry - Fear God brings together almost 400 passages of scripture to demonstrate or direct us to not be afraid, to not worry or be anxious, to look to Christ for strength and comfort, and be transformed to have a worshipful fear and awe of God.
