[Heath]

VERY good question! Let’s go to the Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary (1991). To covet is to ‘desire greatly (esp. something belonging to another person)’ parentheses theirs. Jealous, if we go by the first definitional entry is to be ‘fiercely protective of.’ When God says he’s a jealous God, it is in response to people worshipping other gods before him. If one believes that God wants only what is best for them, it goes to figure that he would be extremely protective of his children and wouldn’t want them to fall under a ‘bad infuence,’ if you will. Remember the Bible sets the relationship between God and His people as a parental relationship. It’s easy to see how some parents are jealous parents who only want the best for their children and not have them hanging out with Jerry Springer folks. As for coveting, looking back to the definition, it implies desiring something that is not yours. In the Bible, whether folks are being refered to as God’s ‘chosen people,’ ‘His children,’ ‘sons and daughters of the Father,’ etc., the implication is that we are His property. He can’t covet something that is by rights his anyway. Of course you first have to believe that we are His property for this to work, and then you could still make a strong case out of using some of the suplementary definitions of jealous, but that’s just this little believers humble attempt to answer your question. Keep questioning, it’s a good thing!

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Name : Heath, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Methodist, Age : 28, City : Bowling Green, State : OH, Country : United States, Occupation : Student Affairs/Grad. student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

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