God being Jeaolous

Exodus 34:14 says that God is jealous. However what does this mean? If you were listening to the first session of Oprah Winfrey's webcast on Eckhart Tolle's New Earth, you'll remember that one of the things that caused her to start searching for something was when she was in church and that pastor said that God is jealous. Her take of this was that God was jealous of her.

This view is off the mark of what that passage says. If you take into context the whole passage, God is telling Moses to destroy the idols that the Hebrews had been worshiping. He wanted to enter into a covenant with the Hebrews, but wanted their loyalty and faithfulness, much like a husband or wife wants loyalty and faithfulness from their spouse. So God told Moses that He is a jealous God, meaning he doesn't want His people to run after other so-called gods.

Again, it's important to take things in context of what's being communicated. If I just said "Cut her open", that sound absurd and violent. But taken into context of a surgery, now it makes sense. As you read and hear of things, I pray that you'll be wise enough to actually explore what's going on, to look at the context of things people quote, and be fully informed.