ENVY.
Let us now consider briefly the examples of this dangerous sin, that have been recorded for our instruction. I say dangerous because we shall see that such is its character.
The First Example
is that of Cain. He, seeing that his brother’s offering was accepted (being with blood), while his was rejected, became envious of his brother, this led to anger, this to hatred, and this to murder, and in 1 John 3:12 this case is given as an express warning to us as Christians.
The next illustration we may take is in Genesis 26:14. The Philistines envied Isaac’s earthly prosperity, just as Cain envied Abel’s spiritual prosperity. (See Eccl. 4:4.) Their envy was shown by maliciousness (Gen. 26:15).
We next pass on to Laban’s sons, (Gen. 31:1,) who became envious of Jacob; Laban also became full of anger against him, though God did not permit him to show it (Gen. 31:2, 24). It is worthy of note that, though Isaac and Jacob were both envied for their riches, and we do not find that Abraham (although equally rich) ever was, a fact that says a great deal for his character. The next example is that of Joseph’s brethren in Genesis 37:11, and the result is, first they stripped him and threw him into a pit to perish, and next sold him into slavery for twenty pieces of silver, acts which we can only characterize as intense cruelty, springing solely from envy.
Envy in a Child of God
Joshua is one of the last we should have expected to find this evil in, but the seed is alas! in all our hearts; and we actually find Joshua (Num. 11), trying to hinder God’s work, led on by this fearful and dangerous spirit. It is, however, only just to add that it is possible that the envy was not for his own sake but for Moses’, whose servant he was. We have only, however, to go on to the very next chapter to find an undoubted instance of envy, no less an one than Aaron, the high priest, and in Miriam also. They did not like the growing nearness of Moses to God, and the difference of the way in which the Lord spoke to him and them; and envy led them to despise God’s servant. The Lord, however, did not leave Moses to fight his own battles, for Miriam became leprous, white as snow. The sin of Korah which follows closely in Numbers 16. was entirely prompted by envy (Psa. 106:16,), and led to still more awful consequences. Envy in this case led Korah, Dathan, and Abiram into fearful lying against and reviling of Moses and Aaron (Num. 16:13, 14), and brought upon them a most appalling death (Num. 16:32), so swift was God to visit their sin upon them.
Envy Leads to Murder
Let us now pass on to Saul in 1 Samuel 18:8-11. Envy here seems to possess Saul so fearfully that it obtains a complete mastery over him, leading him three times to attempt to murder David. To one who does not know how rapidly and fatally the poison of envy works, it seems almost incredible that for such a trivial reason (ver. 8) Saul could have sought to kill the very one who had just delivered Israel. Yet I am sure that there is not one of us who knows anything of his own heart, but can trace the seeds of great crimes in the feelings prompted by envy.
In Ezekiel 35:11 we find in the case of Edom that envy leads to hatred. In the case of Daniel 6:3, 4 it is, I think, clear, that envy prompted the presidents and princes to their cruel course; which cannot be called anything but wicked and unscrupulous. We now pass on to the most fearful thing envy ever accomplished, in Mark 15:19. Jesus, the son of God, was delivered up to Pilate, from the wretched miserable feeling of envy, that had eaten away all that was even human in the hearts of God’s professed servants, the chief priests. Here envy led them to crucify Christ.
In Acts 13:45, we find the same horrible sin, leading the Jews through hatred of the success of the gospel to lying and blaspheming; and in 17:5, a similar company led away by the same feelings were guilty of rioting and violence!
(Continued and to be Continued).