Qanna
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Greetings…
Tonight we conclude our theme “God By Name” wherein we have been studying through many of the different names of God found in the Old Testament.
Thus far we have covered 15 unique names or characteristics give to God by God through his word.
Last week we discussed Yahweh-Shammah or the “LORD is There” from Ezekiel 48:35 where we find God declaring his existence in, at that point, the church.
Today we will be focusing our attention on “Qanna” or “Jealous.”
14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),
This Hebrew word is found six times in the Old Testament and each and ever time it is used to discuss God as a “jealous God.”
24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
With this in mind let’s examine our lesson for today.
Jealousy
Jealousy
Isn’t This Bad?
Isn’t This Bad?
There is no doubt that jealousy or envy as it is sometimes called can be a very negative character trait for God’s children.
The word “jealous” actually comes from the Late Latin “zelus” or “zeal” and in it’s negative connotation it means to be “hostile toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage.” 1
2 Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple.
30 A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.
45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him.
20 For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.
16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.
So, yes there is no doubt concerning the dangers of God’s children being jealous or envious.
We must guard against such and never be hostile towards anyone who has an actual advantage over us or a perceived advantage over us.
With that said, there is a sense in which we, God’s children, can be jealous and still righteous.
Paul makes it clear that there is nothing wrong with feeling the “jealousy” God feels as long as we feel it like God feels it.
2 For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
Summary
Summary
So in one sense, and the most notable sense, jealousy is wrong for us to engage.
We should never have hostility towards what others have but rather be content with what God has blessed us with.
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
On the other hand, this “divine jealousy” is something we need to look into because it is directly tied to the name given God in Exodus 34:14.
For our God is named there Qanna or Jealous.
So what is…
Divine Jealousy
Divine Jealousy
Based In Idolatry.
Based In Idolatry.
What do I mean “divine jealousy” is based in idolatry?
Again, if we were to go back an look at each instance where the Hebrew word “qanna” is found it is in connection with God as it relates to his feelings toward idolatry.
23 Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
9 You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— 15 for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
As you can clearly see divine jealousy is based on God’s chosen race giving their loyalty to another by honoring and respecting that which has their attention over their God.
Qanna or Jealous as God’s name is to inform everyone that “God will not allow His honor to be given away, or even shared with another.” 2
8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
Now, I can safely say no one here, in the audience, has a problem with worshiping images carved by man.
That doesn’t mean we cannot invoke jealousy in our Creator.
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
The word covet here literally means “a desire to have more.”
We see this definition very easily in Jesus’ words found in Luke 12:15.
15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
When one goes down this path of insatiable greediness, they end up doing the same thing as those in the past that worship the creation rather than the Creator did.
They give their loyalty to something other than their God.
Summary
Summary
It’s during these times in ones life they are in danger of a jealous and avenging God.
2 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
Conclusion
Conclusion
A hostile zeal, or jealousy, toward one with a perceived advantage ought not be in our lives.
This is because our Creator loves us and has given us “all we need.”
Let’s make certain we never deserve the “divine jealousy” or “Qanna.”
Invitation
1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Endnotes
Endnotes
Merriam-Webster, Inc. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003.
WVBS Notes on Exodus pg. 38
