When we apply this to God’s jealousy, we can say that it’s aroused not just to protect a relationship. God seeks to protect his creatures from profound self-harm. We can deeply damage ourselves by running after gods made in our own image. God’s jealousy is other-centered. As we saw with God’s humility, divine jealousy reacts to the human denial that God is God, to the false idea that a relationship with him isn’t really needed for ultimate human well-being (John 10:10).
