It sounds funny, doesn’t it? It’s even stranger than “righteous anger,” yet it’s equally real. Consider how important names are to God and, even more so, the names He ascribes to Himself! In Exodus 34:14 God tells us, “…for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Christians casually say Adonai, Jehovah, Almighty God, etc., but when is the last time you heard someone refer to God by the name “Jealous”? Upon closer examination, we learn that God takes this very seriously indeed.
The Adversary is crafty and from the beginning has been striving to garner God’s glory for himself. He is a manipulative counterfeiter and among his schemes is the revision of history to redirect worship due to God. To that end, think back to when the nation of Israel initially divided after the reign of Solomon. The first king of the northern kingdom (that seceded) was “Jeroboam, son of Nebat.” Perhaps that phrase rings a bell. That’s because his sin is referenced over and over again in the subsequent line of kings of the northern kingdom. Each of the kings that came after Jeroboam perpetrated their own sins against God and, in many cases, sins that appear much worse than Jeroboam’s. Yet we repeatedly read verses like 1 Kings 16:26, “For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in the sins that he made Israel to sin, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.”
There are many more references to the transgressions of Jeroboam that “made Israel to sin.” So what was the parent sin of all of the subsequent transgressions? The short answer is the formal establishment of idol worship, but it’s how he got there that is of particular interest. He used historical revisionism to hijack the glory due to God. Here’s how that happened.
Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, took power and made unwise decisions that led to a rebellion and the division of the kingdom. The division created the opportunity for Jeroboam to take power of the half that broke away. The division, however, did not appear to be permanent as prophets called for unity. Jeroboam, looking to stay in power, took one of the most significant events in biblical history, the Exodus from Egypt, and credited it to false gods.
1 Kings 12:26–28
And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
Just like that Jeroboam created an alternate Exodus account that called for false worship to false gods. He put the idols in places convenient for the people and made it appealing by instituting a feast to be enjoyed when they went to the altar to make offerings. The political maneuver worked in spades. “Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one” (1 Kings 12:30).
The establishment of false worship was backgrounded by a conspiracy to rewrite truth and was effectively executed by making the lie convenient and comfortable. But our God shares glory with no one. “I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols” (Isaiah 42:8). It is for this reason that every authority figure that did not direct glory to its rightful recipient was found guilty by the Supreme Judge. And for this reason He fittingly gives Himself the name Jealous. May God help us to rightly attribute the glory due to His name at all times!