Tag-Archive for » Exodus 34:14 «

“Till Death Do Us Part”

Friday, October 12th, 2012 | Author:

for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God  Exodus 34:14 NASB

Jealous – Out of all the names of God given in the Tanakh, this one is perhaps among the least understood. YHVH, God – His name is Jealous. That word carries with it all sorts of negative connotations in this day and age but, of course, Moses didn’t write it in English or for the 21st century church. In fact, according to the Scriptures, Moses was only recording what God told him to say so what was it that God was saying about Himself?

The word is qanna. In this form it is used only of God, but it describes the type of jealousy that a husband has for his wife.

It is used elsewhere for the jealousy of a husband who suspects his wife of being unfaithful. In the context of Exodus 34, it is using that to liken God’s relationship with His people with that of a husband and wife, and He is warning his people to remain faithful to Him.

It also has another meaning – ardent zeal. In fact, Young’s Literal Translation renders it as zealous (instead of jealous) in this verse. The TWOT [1] suggests that zeal can be characterised in two ways – zeal for one’s own property (jealousy – positive) or zeal for another’s property (envy – negative). In this sense, perhaps the YLT has it right. God is zealous for His people. Zealously loving, zealously desiring, zealously protecting and zealously correcting when necessary.

Those familiar with the work of teachers such as Dr. Frank Seekins will be aware that every Hebrew letter is a picture with a specific meaning. Therefore, every Hebrew word is a comic strip, which tells a story in pictures. The root word for qanna is qana – quph nun alef. The word picture for this is “the strong giver of life” or “the first giver of life.” A very apt description, I’m sure you’ll agree. But as used in this verse, the letter nun has a dot inside it called a dagesh. This dagesh has a couple of specific grammatical functions; in this particular usage it doubles the consonant in which it appears, hence qanna instead of qana. Since the pictorial meaning of the letter nun is life, the dagesh modifies the word picture to “the giver of abundant life” and in this specific form it is used only of God.

God is zealous – He is the giver of abundant life. That is an essential part of His nature. That is His name. He is zealous for His bride, even to the point of death. How will you respond to His plea?

Topical Index:  qanna, jealous, zealous, Exodus 34:14

Rodney Baker, Adelaide

And a note from Skip:  When Yeshua says that He has come to bring abundant life, speaking in Hebrew, he would have used the same word, implying that He is God.  All of that is absent when the message is translated into Greek.


[1]            Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, ref 2038b

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A Revelation of Worship

Friday, August 06th, 2010 | Author:

“For you shall not worship any other god, for YHWH, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” Exodus 34:14

Worship – In order to avoid idolatry, we must know what it means to worship.  This might seem like a fairly simple thing, but we soon discover that it isn’t.  One problem is our rationality paradigm.  In this Greek-based culture, the question of idolatry has been limited to the proper object of worship.  We think that as long as we are worshipping the one true God rather than some false god we are worshipping properly.  We think that as long as we are worshipping the one true God it no longer matters how we worship.  We are free to express our religious devotion to God by whatever means we wish, just as long as the object of our worship is the right God.

But this fixation on the philosophical issue of the correct God bypasses another Hebrew concern.  From an Hebraic perspective, no worship is proper worship unless it is in accordance with God’s instructions for worshipping Him.  And His revelation is the  only way we can know what proper worship is.  In other words, we are not free to make up any approach we wish to worship.  We must worship as He specifies.  Anything else, even if is directed toward the one true God, is still idolatry.  In Hebrew, it is not simply the object of worship.  It is also the method of worship.

The Hebrew verb, shachah, means “to bow down, to prostrate oneself.”  It is universally regarded as a sign of worship.  But I don’t recall ever being in a church service where the congregation was prostrate on the floor.  We rarely even bend the knees.  Why?  No modern believer intends to be idolatrous.  But almost all modern believers have accommodated themselves to the Greek-based rationality paradigm.  Without realizing it, they have drifted toward a cognitive and intellectual view of idolatry.  They don’t pay any attention to the method of worship that God reveals to His people because, as far as they are concerned, they are worshipping the correct God.  So, as you attend one church after another, you will find a wide variety of worship expressions.  You will discover that worship as we know it is the invention of human minds.  From choreographed stage performance to well-crafted sermons, from stirring anthems to rocked-out decibels, today’s worship format is the product of centuries of tradition and innovation.  But it barely resembles the instructions given by the God who is worshipped.  Have you ever wondered why?

Because we accept the philosophical approach to the question of God, we no longer consider the fundamental concern, “What does God demand of me?” when it comes to worship.  But worship isn’t for us.  It is for God.  How can we worship Him if we are the ones making up the program?  Do we make up the commandments and instructions in the rest of our lives?  Don’t you suppose that God intended us to follow His directions in honoring Him too?

Topical Index:  worship, shachah, bow down, Exodus 34:14

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His Other Name

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 | Author:

“for I, YHWH eloheikha, am a jealous God.” Exodus 20:5

His Other Name

Jealous – The Hebrew word qanna is exclusively God’s word.  This adjective is never applied to any person.  It is only used to describe God.  In fact, in Exodus 34:14, this word is part of God’s name (“the Lord whose name is jealous”).  What we know about naming in Semitic cultures should cause us to gasp when we read this.  Jealousy is an essential attribute of the Lord.

If you don’t take some time to reflect on what this means, you simply won’t understand just how serious His claim is on us.  And you probably won’t understand why He demands exclusive devotion, or why He expects our marriages to reflect the same quality.  Jealousy is right at the heart of who God is.

I know.  You and I have been trained to believe that God’s heart is a heart of love.  Because we have a fuzzy, self-centered, possessive-desire kind of definition of love, we tend to imagine that God is an always-forgiving, generous, kind Father who overlooks His children’s mistakes and rebellion, holding His breath until we eventually stop acting like idiots and return to His care.  Sorry.  That isn’t what Scripture tells us.  If one of the names of God is jealous, then we better make sure we have this imagery well in mind before we go off acting as though our behavior doesn’t matter.

The other side of love is jealous wrath.  The two come together.  God is compassionate.  He says so (Exodus 34:6).  It is the first attribute of His self-identity.  But it’s not the only one.  He is also immeasurably possessive of what belongs to Him.  He will not tolerate any duplicitous or deceitful intentions.  He will never countenance spiritual adultery.  You and I belong to Him and He will never permit us to wander in our affections toward another.  He owns us.  He is not going to let us run away.  Any gospel of love, grace and forgiveness that does not include ownership, jealousy and fidelity is like a wedding ceremony attended by the mistress.

What does this mean for us?  After all, we all know that God demands exclusivity in worship and we don’t offer our obeisance to idols.  Wait!  Let’s look again.  When God describes Himself as a jealous God, He often associates the behaviors of infidelity with serving false gods.  We should not think of this as bowing down in some pagan rite.  This is the equivalent of making a covenant with a false god.  In other words, we allow the false god to dictate the terms of our living.  The worship of false gods may be disguised in the way to work.  If we are not spending our efforts and time according to His commands, then we are entertaining mistresses or paramours.  Graphically depicted, we are having an affair with another lover, provoking God’s jealousy.

Now it begins to sink in.  If what you do in this world is not what God directed you to do, then you are probably serving another god.  It might be the god of security or wealth, of pleasure or passion, but it will not be YHWH elokeikha, for He will tolerate no rivals.  Maybe it’s time to take a serious look at your employment, your priorities and your plans.  Are they the result of listening to the King and serving only Him?

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