Exodus 34:10-17
10 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.
11 Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:
13 But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
15 Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
16 And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.
17 Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

The commandments had been given and then broken almost immediately. While Moses had tarried on the mountain, the people demanded the golden calf. Aaron had crafted it, and they had worshiped it. In His mercy, God spared the people. Then new tablets were prepared and the covenant was renewed. The first commandment was first for a reason. There were to be no other gods for this nation in particular. They had been set apart. God was working uniquely through them. They had seen His wondrous works. They were heading to the place He’d prepared for them. And so He warns them ahead of time not to turn away from Him again. In the land they would find these other nations who worshiped false gods, who were being judged for their sins, and who were to be driven out. All remnants of those idols were to be destroyed, and the people were to remain faithful to God no matter what they encountered going forward.

This is where we find Jehovah Kanna. This word translated “jealous” is used only of God and only in a few verses. It is a name of God and a characteristic of a holy God making a covenant with Israel after He had delivered them from bondage and into new life. He is a God who will not tolerate His people worshiping any other god for any reason because they have entered this covenant willingly with Him and have vowed to be faithful to Him and to obey what He had said. It is akin to adultery in a marriage relationship to break that promise, and so there is an intolerance for that particular kind of betrayal.

Exodus 20:1-6
1 And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Deuteronomy 4:23-24
Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 5:1-10
1 And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.
2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
3 The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
4 The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,
5 (I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,
6 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.
8 Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:
9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,
10 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

Deuteronomy 6:13-15
13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
14 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;
15 (For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.

This name is always used of God to guard His special position as the one and only God. It is part of the commandments because He is the supreme God and must be treated as such. There is to be no competition with Him, no rival, no alternative choice, no other who would win the heart of His beloved. The people were to know that He is a jealous God so that they would avoid drawing His anger by turning away from Him in pursuit of another. Because it was a holy covenant, anger, wrath, and judgment are the consequences for any who break that vow in favor of another. The consuming fire completely destroys any who dare to oppose Him with this most provoking of sins. It damages His rightful honor and glory to give that kind of love to any other besides Him.

This name of Kanna is not the same as the human emotion of jealousy, but it’s more of a holy guarding of God’s name, His reputation, and His relationship with His people. His name is above all names. He is the one true God, and none can compare to Him, and so none should compete with Him in our hearts and lives. He wants our true love, our whole heart, a committed relationship where He is the one we worship, the one we adore, and the one we serve, because He is the only one worthy of those things as the supreme God, Creator, and Savior.

The result of God’s jealousy is a protection for His people against an unholy union with the world—false gods, idols, and their ideology, way of life, and values. The nation of Israel was not to ever participate in those sacrifices, eat the food of idols, or marry into families with those who worshiped false gods. God called them to a total separation from all of those other gods and all that was involved in the lifestyle and culture of worshiping them. Serving any other god or image or idol is the same as hating God, rejecting Him and all that He wants to give to us and all that we can offer to Him in return.

Hebrews 12:28-29
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.

Even when we are in Christ, God is still a consuming fire, a jealous God. We are to hold to the same kind of commitment to Him alone as our only God, to love, serve, worship, and glorify Him in all we do, now better enabled by Christ in us to do so. But we must still guard against allowing other things to take His place, to draw us away, to provoke His anger. He is still worthy of the highest place, and our commitment to Him and our relationship with Him should reflect that. It’s not about keeping the law, but keeping ourselves from idols and the dangers that go along with that.

God wants to be the most important person in our lives, always on our minds and the object of our focus—the One we want to do things for out of love and devotion, with pure motives of gratitude and seeking His honor and glory. It is a humble submission of recognizing His role and position over us. It is a deliberate choice of choosing God over all others. And so we should then jealously guard our relationship with Him in the same way, guarding our time with Him, our service to Him, what we give to Him and set aside only for Him. Jehovah Kanna, the jealous God, still seeks to guard His name, His reputation, and His place as the only God. Are we willing to choose Him alone as the God to whom we will be fully devoted?