Are you a jealous person?

It is little wonder that jealousy is known as "the green-eyed monster", for it is indeed a dangerous and sinister force that can damage and weaken the testimony of the Lord's people. As we read through First Samuel we can see that Saul himself seems to have fallen victim to its destructive influence.



Notice how that in 1 Samuel 13 that the victory that Jonathan had won over the Philistine garrison at Gera quickly becomes Saul's victory:

"And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.

And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten a garrison of the Philistines..."

How easy it was for Saul to twist the message so that the people were under the impression that it was his hard-fought victory! We see this again of course, famously in chapter 18 after David had defeated Goliath:

"And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?

And Saul eyed David from that day and forward"

Saul's attitude seems churlish and petty, but I think this is perhaps more common than we think amongst the people of God today! I know this because I have witnessed it myself, whether it be a spirit of bitterness or a sly comment that is meant to take away from a fellow brother or sister's good work. At the heart of it is jealousy, that someone else should be progressing and being used of God instead of us! Our pride and flesh puffs up and we feel aggrieved and sorry for ourselves, and just like Saul here our thoughts turn dark and destructive as the flesh takes hold and gets the better of us.

Just look at how this unsavoury part of Saul's character festers and takes root, soon he is hurling javelins at David in fits of rage and experiencing wild mood swings. I'm not sure a true believer would go this far (!) but it surely shows us the ultimate end of such an unhealthy attitude! God give us the necessary grace in our lives to have a right outlook and right relationships with our fellow believers.

Remember that Paul speaks much about pride and jealousy in his letter to the Corinthians:

Paul warns - "that no one of you be puffed up for one against another"

And again he exhorts the believers - "Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things..."

I think these verses are most challenging, may God help us to realise their import in our own lives!

Yours in Christ, Mark

Nehemiah - the villains of the piece

The title refers to those three villains of the piece, the opponents and enemies of the work for God in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. In the largely positive book of Nehemiah it should come as no surprise to learn that there is a lot of opposition to the work. In turn there is much that we can learn from the behaviour and strategies employed by the enemies of this work, as their methods haven't fundamentally changed! But first let's look at the three main ringleaders first of all.

Sanballat the Horonite - Factfile:

• He was installed as the Governor of Samaria under Persian rule, Samaria being in the north of the country


• He emerges as the prominent ringleader and spokesperson of the three


• He is a Moabite (from Horonaim in the land of Moab) and this says a lot! Moab of course came from Lot's incestuous union with his oldest daughter and in the scripture speaks of the flesh. The children of Israel never fully dealt with Moab, they never fully subdued or defeated them. The same is true of the believer and the flesh, we will never be truly free of the trappings of the flesh until we get to heaven!

Geshem the Arabian - Factfile:

• Arabia was the land south of Palestine


• The Arabians were descendants of Abraham, either from the wife of his old age Keturah or more likely from Hagar, Sarah's bond servant (Ishmael was the son born of this relationship).


• God promised Hagar that from Ishmael would also come a mighty nation, innumerable as the sand.

Tobiah the Ammonite - Factfile:

• His name ironically means "the goodness of Jehovah" but names can be deceiving!


• He was an Ammonite, a descendant of Ammon who was the product of Lot's other incestuous relationship with his younger daughter. Again this is another bad sign, and would again speak to us of the flesh.


• Later on in the book it would appear that he befriended Eliashib the High Priest, so much so that he had a room prepared for him in the courts of the temple. This is a solemn reminder how easy it is to harbour a fondness and a place for the flesh in our lives.

One thing we learn is that all 3 of these men were the result of failure among those who should have known better, and those failures were to return to plague the children of Israel time and time again. Sometimes this is the case that mistakes in the past continue to plague our spiritual progress in the present and this is unfortunate. But however, we don't give up and stop fighting!

These 3 rogues employ 5 main strategies as they seek to disrupt and destroy the work:

1. Mockery (2:19 - 4:1)


2. Intimidation (4:7-8)


3. Diversion and Distraction (6:2-4)


4. Slander and Lies (6:5-9)


5. Deception (6:10-13)

We will look at these in more detail another day.

Yours in Christ,

Mark