In Shakespeare’s play Othello, the evil Iago says the line: “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! / It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock / The meat it feeds on.”[1]

Jealousy can be a monster that takes control of us if we aren’t careful, so since at least 1603, people have been describing this powerful emotion as being taken over by the “green-eyed monster.”  What is this emotion?  Merriam-Webster says we are jealous when we feel “hostile toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage.”[2]  Even though jealousy is a hostile emotion, “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,”[3] so He must be able to work through the green-eyed monster.

The first use of the word jealousy in the ESV Bible comes from Genesis 37:11, which begins with: “And [Joseph’s] brothers were jealous of him.”   This jealousy came from the favoritism Joseph’s father Jacob showed toward Joseph over his 11 brothers, but also the dreams Joseph shared where his family was bowing to him.  So, in Genesis 37:19-20, the brothers “said to one another, ‘Here comes this dreamer.  Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.’”  But Joseph was rescued and ended up in charge of Egypt’s food supply during a famine, enabling him, through God’s providence, to feed and save the rest of his family.  Therefore, what started as jealousy resulted in Israel’s deliverance from famine.  Joseph tells his brothers: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”  (Genesis 50:20)

Later, in the New Testament, jealousy was a cause of the persecution of the early Christian church.  Acts 13:44-45 says “The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.  But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him” and Acts 17:4-5 says “And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.  But the Jews were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd.” (Emphases added)

The apostle Paul was quite aware of this fierce jealousy, but instead of getting upset and annoyed about it, he knew that God would use it for the good of His people.  In fact, while Paul knew his ministry to the Gentiles provoked jealous feelings among Jews, he also hoped jealousy would bring some Jews to faith in Christ: “Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.” (Romans 11:13-14)

But the biggest example of God working through jealousy and its relative, envy, can be found at the cross.  Pharisees and other religious leaders of Jesus’ day were jealous of the crowds that followed Him, of the authority He wielded, and of the miracles He performed.  Therefore, they plotted against Jesus to silence Him, and when they finally seized Him and turned Him over to Pilate, the Roman governor of the region, Matthew 27:18 records that Pilate “knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.”  What began as jealousy led to the cross and the only way our sins could be paid for was fulfilled!

Jealousy remains a harmful emotion, and God never creates evil in us, but jealous feelings not only resulted in the temporal salvation of Israel from famine and eternal salvation for some Jews in the New Testament, but jealousy also contributed to the crucifixion of Jesus, which made all salvation possible. When Paul wrote “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,” it included God overcoming “all things.”  Even jealousy, the green-eyed monster.

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[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/top-10-phrases-from-shakespeare
[2] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jealous
[3] Romans 8:28