Part #1

The first noteworthy mention in this study can be found in Numbers, Chapter 5, verse 14 and again in verse 30.

The Bible calls jealousy a spirit!

For the purpose of this study, I’m going to go out on a limb and call jealousy an “evil spirit.”

Why?

Because lately the Holy Spirit has impressed upon me the absolute evil a spirit of jealousy brings to those who entertain it. Jealousy kills! It kills marriages, friendships, business relationships, and so on, and on. Granted the NIV and other more modern Bible translations speak of a “feeling” of jealousy, however, the King James and most older translations speak of a “spirit of jealousy.”

And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled

Numbers 5:14 KJV

What is the difference between envy and jealous?

Envy means discontented longing for someone else’s advantages. Jealousy means unpleasant suspicion, or apprehension of rivalship.
Envy is most often used to refer to a covetous feeling toward another person’s attributes, possessions, or stature in life. Many people use jealous to mean the same thing.

Envy

“Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner, called Barab′bas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Barab′bas or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up”

Matthew 27:15-18 RSV

The Living Bible says:

• Proverbs 14:30 (TLB)
  A relaxed attitude lengthens a man’s life; jealousy rots it away
• Proverbs 27:4 (TLB)
  Jealousy is more dangerous and cruel than anger.
• Ecclesiastes 4:4 (TLB)
  Then I observed that the basic motive for success is the driving force of envy and jealousy! But this, too, is foolishness, chasing the wind.
• Song of Solomon 8:6 (TLB)
  “Seal me in your heart with permanent betrothal, for love is strong as death, and jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. It flashes fire, the very flame of Jehovah.
• Acts 5:16-18 (TLB)
  And crowds came in from the Jerusalem suburbs, bringing their sick folk and those possessed by demons; and every one of them was healed.
  The High Priest and his relatives and friends among the Sadducees reacted with violent jealousy and arrested the apostles, and put them in the public jail.
• 1 Peter 2:1 (TLB)
  So get rid of your feelings of hatred. Don’t just pretend to be good! Be done with dishonesty and jealousy and talking about others behind their backs.

This study cannot be completed in one post, nor is one dozen posts. When I began to “see” the Biblical truth concerning how very dangerous a spirit of jealousy really is I decided to start putting the data together and simply allow it to run its course.

So far we’ve seen that envy / jealousy was instrumental in the Crucifixion of Christ (Matthew 27:18) and the imprisonment of the apostles (Acts 5:16-18) and those major moments in Biblical history are only the tip of the iceberg. As my study continues there will be more posts, more verses, more testimony . . . because I’m doing this in depth study for my own edification. If someone else has experienced, as I have, the devastation caused by entertaining a spirit of jealousy perhaps something good will come of it after all.