Jealousy is a feeling. An intense and severe feeling. A burning desire. Can be a good feeling or an unbearable one.
Three kinds of Jealousy
First, in the context of someone you love cheating on you. The feeling would be severely painful. Yet there is another Jealousy that I believe is most often illustrated throughout nearly the whole love poem Solomon wrote.
This jealousy has to do with the lover wanting and desiring the good of the beloved. The lover having an ardent affection and raised feelings for the beloved to such a decree that they will do love more and more in every way.
Second, Jealousy is also wanting something that is not yours.
Third, the third form of jealousy is illustrated all throughout Solomon’s Song of songs. It is a jealousy or burning zeal for the glory of God and the good of others. It is an intense fire that is for everyone and everything that glorifies or pleases God. It is a vehement affection that also aims to overcome all obstacles in the way and destroy any enemy (Devil and sin). It is an ardent affection for the good and happiness of those the lover has set eyes on.
Benevolence is a word used to describe a specific kind of love. A love that is unconditional and continues no matter what. It loves in the good and bad times. Even when the bad times mean that the other person isn’t loving or hasn’t loved back in a long time.
All zeal or holy jealousy has benevolence in it. And all true and holy love has a religious zeal that accompanies it.
Benevolent love has in mind the good of the beloved or object of affection. The lovers’ motives are free, selfless and for the glory of God. It could also be said that the good done is not done out of fear of punishment or harm. The good is done for goodness sake. For goodness sake means that just because it is good to do, I will do it. This pure motive takes selfish motives that exclude the good of others out of the equation. If you feel good making the one you love happy then your happiness is not sinful or selfish for your happiness depends on the happiness of another. Whereas true selfishness doesn’t care about others happiness but rather puts self first and its happiness.
In a husband and wife relationship it is still benevolent love when the lover puts their own happiness in the object of their affection. Meaning the husband will be happy when she is happy. His happiness is tied up in her happiness. This is a healthy and proper form of one wanting to be happy because it puts the other persons happiness first. This love is commanded for she is his body. If he loves her and places his happiness in doing her good and making her happy then “he loves himself”. Like anyone takes care of their own body is a form of self-love. Ephesians 5:25ff. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.“
See a man not loving his wife and you witness sinful selfishness or sinful self love. See a man loving his wife and you see holy self-love. Out of a love to his own happiness he makes his wife happy. For he loves to make her happy. And when she is happy so is he for he accomplished his goal of pleasing her. Love.
Loves holy zeal and jealousy has in it right and good motives.
Doing something loving for goodness sake alone is the same as doing it for God’s glory. God’s glory, add extra is the outward display of His character. God is good and does good all the time, sending “rain on the righteous and unrighteous.” Sending rain is God being good. When learn that God is good when we have rain. Matt. 5. When God does good He does it for His glory. The character attribute of God that is on display for us to see and enjoy is His Goodness. God sending rain is God glorifying Himself or Goodness. When we do good we glorify or put on display the goodness of God as well. We glorify God when we do good for goodness sake. For the sake of goodness being put on display. What is the point of doing good? Just because it is good and not for any particular selfish gain. Though doing good for the joy of it is still glorifying for our joy is in God’s goodness being put on display. Which means God is glorified as well for God’s joy is in Himself, or His Son as well. It all comes to the same last or ultimate motive. Meaning that if you do something good with the wrong motive then it is sin. It is not sin to be thinking this is good and therefore I will do it. Or well if I do this, then she will be happy. You don’t necessarily have to have in mind what God’s glory is and know exactly how your act glorifies Him in order to not sin. You could simply think of something good to do and do it just because it is good. If you have a disposition in yourself to selflessly do good, then you have benevolent love in your heart.
The lover is still jealous for the happiness of the object of its affection to such a high degree and strength that nothing can quench their love.
In what ways do we see the Messiah loving his bride? Doing her good. Making her happy.
And vice versa?
We could ask the same question as it relates to all the people in the song in their various relationships.
And the better question may be, “What is God doing for the good of each person in the Love Poem?
Loves flame is the Flame of YHWH. How do the other attributes of God display themselves along with Love?
Immensity. I often like to think of the immensity of God. This has to do with all of God being everywhere at the same time. Not just that God is everywhere which is His Omnipresence but the fact that All of Him is everywhere. God doesn’t have one part of Himself here and another over there. God is Spirit. You can’t have part of Him in one heart and another part in another person’s heart. But you can have all of Him everywhere yet in varying degrees of influence or communication. So that no all of God is acting in every degree for some of His attributes are incommunicable like immutability and immensity.
How is it possible that a burning desire to do good will increase in degree forever in the heart of every believer of all time? The soul that feels this love is renewed in the image of God. That image of God in the soul goes from one level of glory to another forever.
All of His love and presence would have to be in every heart. The indwelling Holy Spirit.
So, let us look at that burning desire to do good to others illustrated in the words, actions, thoughts and feelings of the bride, bridegroom, God’s people, watchmen etc in the Love Poem so that we could get a better idea of love. Not only that love has a superlative strength but also that loves jealousy is as vehement as the fire of hell!
I will bet that whoever reads this has a very low and base idea of love as I am learning my idea of love is so far beyond my understand. I pray the Lord to help me.
Song 8:6 “Love is strong as death, its jealousy as severe or vehement as the fire of hell!”
Yeah, we don’t feel it to that degree but the source of Love, God who’s nature is infinite, immense and all powerful can communicate to our hearts a flame of love more vehement than any other flame.
This flame puts God first in our hearts. This pure enlightening flame give us an idea of God in the mind and bends our will to love, obey and choose Him.
Love is a flame above all others, enlightening the mind with truth and rouses up a holy sweet feeling in the heart that makes us jealous for the glory of God and the good of others.
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