Eastertide
May 30, 2017
Scripture Reading: Numbers 11:24-30
Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, ‘My lord Moses, stop them!’ But Moses said to him, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!’ And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp. –Numbers 11:26-30
My ageless but withered landlord years ago, described jealous as the green-eyed monster. I did not know from where the phrase derived, but it seems appropriate. As it turns out, William Shakespeare penned the green-eyed part in The Merchant of Venice in 1596. Much earlier than that Exodus 20:17 states: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
The Hebrew word for coveting is chamad and means to desire, to take pleasure in*. There is nothing wrong with taking pleasure in a beautiful sunset, a loving spouse, the first word or steps of your child. The problem arises when we go beyond our boundaries and desire something that is not ours to have. Jealousy is our unhealthy response to not having what is not ours. It is a destructive disposition that sometimes hurts others but most often eats holes in our souls.
Inappropriate in our personal life, jealously regarding our and others’ relationship to God breaks God’s heart and hinders our mission to be the whole Body of Christ. In the cynical world in which we live it is very hard to trust anything. As people of God, learning to lean on God in absolute faith is the starting point for healing sin-sick souls.
There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole,
there is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin-sick soul**.
Prayer: Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on each of your children enabling us to trust God in all that we do, healing our fractured hearts. Amen.
*http://biblehub.com/hebrew/2530.htm
**Refrain from There is a Balm in Gilead see at http://hymnary.org/text/sometimes_i_feel_discouraged_spiritual and also Jeremiah 8:22
All scriptures are quoted from the new Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.