Envy

By Alethia McBrayer

The Oxford dictionary describes envy as: the feeling of wanting to be in the same situation as somebody else; the feeling of wanting something that somebody else has.

The first time envy is used in the bible is in Genesis chapter 4.

The story of Cain and Abel

*This is an insert from the Gospel Broadcasting Network’s Daily Lift

“Biblical history teaches us that there has never been a time when sacrifice was not offered unto God. Cain and Abel, sons of Adam and Eve, are recorded as offering sacrifices unto the Lord. God, however, found Abel’s sacrifice acceptable while rejecting that of Cain. The Eleventh of Hebrews tells us that it was by faith that Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice.”

Cain was envious because his brother’s sacrifice was accepted and his was not.

1 John 3:10 - 12 says: “10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. 11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brothers righteous.”

Examples:

What are some ways someone else is just living a Christ-like life, but it angers someone else and makes them envious? You may answer most of the questions in your Bible class and then the teacher might begin to rely on you. The other kids might see that and become envious and call you names like goody two shoes or teacher’s pet.

Abel was just doing what he was supposed to, and Cain chose to be angry. When others see people living the way they should when they know that they are not living that way or doing a good job they may get envious. Christians should not be envious of others. Do we envy others for any reason? How do we respond? We can work on our attitude, or we can take it out on others. Cain chose to take it out on his brother who had done nothing wrong.

Now let’s look at another example of envy

Rachel

We all know the story. Jacob must leave his home and go to his uncle. When he arrives, he meets Rachel, he falls in love with her and works seven years to marry her. When the time comes for him to marry her Laban (his uncle) gives him Leah. When Jacob finds out he is upset. So, he works for seven more years for Rachel (Whom he loved more than Leah.) when God saw that Leah was unloved, he opened her womb; but Rachel was barren (Genesis 29:31).

“Now Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said to Jacob, ‘Give me children, or else I die!’” (Genesis 30:1)

“Childlessness was a major threat to a marriage in biblical times. If a couple was unable to conceive a child, they looked upon their problem as a chastisement from God. Despite his continued love for his wife, a childless man sometimes married a second woman or used the services of a slave to conceive children. Some men divorced their wives in order to do this. While this practice solved the problem of childlessness, it created many other problems. There was continuous domestic strife when two women shared a husband in old times. The Hebrew word for second wife literally meant “rival wife.” This suggests that bitterness and hostility usually existed between polygamous wives. Nevertheless, polygamy was customary, especially in the time of the patriarchs. If a man was unable to raise the marriage money for a second wife, he considered buying a slave for that purpose for using one he already had in his household. This marriage, the husband invariably favored one wife over another. This caused complications, such as deciding whose child to honor as the first-born son. Sometimes a man wanted to give his inheritance to the son of his favorite although it was actually owed to the son of his Moses declared that the firstborn son had to be rightly honored, and the husband could not shortchange the firstborn’s mother to diminish her food her clothing or her marital right. Politics was also a motive for polygamy. Often the king sealed a covenant with another king by marrying his ally’s daughter. When scripture speaks of Solomon’s large Heron, it points out that “he had 700 wives, princesses” left (1 Kings 11:3). This indicates that most of his marriages were of a political nature. Probably the women came from small city States and tribes surrounding Israel. After the exodus, most Hebrew marriages were monogamous; each husband had only one wife (Mark 10: 2- 9). The book of Proverbs never mentioned polygamy, even though it touches on many aspects of people’s culture. The prophets always use monogamous marriage to describe the words’ relationship to Israel. Such a marriage was the ideal family life” (Manners and Customs of the Bible).

This is the reason Rachel was upset.

“Then Leah said, ‘I am happy, for the daughters will call me blessed.’ So she called his name Asher” (Genesis 30:13).

How awful would it be to be the one who was unloved? How awful would it be for two sisters to share the same husband?

How do we respond when we feel someone else has been blessed in a way we want to be blessed? Like maybe you and someone else are out for the same job and the other person gets it how should you respond? Would you be resentful and irrational or are we grateful for what we have and happy for them?

The same is true today for women. There are some who can not bear children and have to deal with envy any time they see a birth announcement. They can choose to rejoice for that mother or they can allow their envy to take hold and resent the expecting mother, although she has done nothing wrong.

*Can you think of a situation where one person is just living life for God and someone else is envious?

On the other hand, some people are envious of the world and the sins that they partake in.

The people of the world do things that might seem fun for a time but is it worth it? Is eternal punishment worth the few moments of so-called “joy”?

Hebrews 11;24-25: “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.”

Proverbs 24:1: “Do not be envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them; for their heart devises violence, and their lips talk of trouble making.

The Bible also explains that these people will be punished.

God says we are to love one another (1 John 3:11). In 1 Corinthians 13:4 Paul says, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up.” Paul tells us what love is, and what it is not. So, if envy is not love and God says that we are to love then, we should not be envious.

God also says those who envy “will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21).

If we envy, we will not go to heaven.