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Bible Dictionaries
Jealousy
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or JEALOUSY . The law of the ‘jealousy ordeal’ (in which a wife suspected of unfaithfulness had to prove her innocence by drinking the water of bitterness [‘holy water’ mixed with dust from the floor of the Tabernacle]) is found in Numbers 5:11-31 . The conception of idolatry as adultery and of Jehovah as the Husband of Israel led the OT writers frequently to speak of Him as a jealous God ( Exodus 20:5 , Deuteronomy 5:9 , Joshua 24:19 , 1 Kings 14:22 , Psalms 78:58 , Ezekiel 36:6 , Nahum 1:2 ). This jealousy is the indication of Jehovah’s desire to maintain the purity of the spiritual relation between Himself and His people. Extraordinary zeal for this same end is characteristic of the servants of Jehovah, and is sometimes called jealousy with them ( 2 Corinthians 11:2 , Numbers 25:11; Numbers 25:13 , 1 Kings 19:10 ). A few times the word is used in a bad sense ( Romans 13:13 , 1Co 3:3 , 2 Corinthians 12:20 , Galatians 5:20 , James 3:14; James 3:16 ).
D. A. Hayes.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Jealousy'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/j/jealousy.html. 1909.
