p. 157 | Envy by R. F. Andrews

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 3, 1870

Envy.

By R. F. Andrews

Envy, says Mr. Webster, is, “Pain, uneasiness, mortification, or discontent, excited by the sight of another’s superiority or success, accompanied with some degree of hatred or malignity, and often, or usually, with a desire or an effort to depreciate the person, and with pleasure in seeing him depressed. Envy springs from pride, ambition, or love, mortified that another has obtained what one has a strong desire to possess.”

It is one of the vilest passions of the human heart. It is classed by the apostle Paul, in the first chapter of Romans, with covetousness, maliciousness, fornication, and murder; and the apostle James in speaking of it, says that it “is earthly, sensual, devilish,” James 3: 14–16, i. e., diabolical, partaking of the qualities of the devil. Envy leads man to commit all manner of external crimes. It caused Cain to murder his brother. It moved Joseph’s brethren to slay him. Gen. 37: 11, 20. They were withheld from it only by the power and providence of God, according to Psalms 76: 10. Stephen says, Acts 7: 9, that the patriarchs moved with envy sold Joseph into Egypt. Oh, how cruel! to turn a deaf ear to the earnest cries and entreaties of an own brother. They could not have done it had they not been blinded and urged on by the power of the devil.

Envy moved Saul to try to take the life of David. 1 Sam. 18: 11; 19: 10. But why should he be anxious to take David’s life? God had wrought a mighty deliverance for Israel through him. 1 Sam. 18: 40–54. He was a modest unassuming youth, and had demonstrated his loyalty to king Saul a number of times; especially when Saul was in the cave, 1 Sam. 24: 11, when it was in his power to take his life. 1 Sam. 26: 12. Saul had to confess that David had rewarded him good, while his course toward David was evil. At one time his eyes were so opened that he exclaimed, “I know well that thou shalt surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand.” Saul felt this. It was more than a formal acknowledgment. He was moved to tears. 1 Sam. 24: 16–20.

Surely we might suppose him to be now cured. He had such an evidence of David’s innocence and uprightness of intention, that it would not seem that he could any more rise up against him. But alas, for poor fallen man, blinded by the power of Satan! In a very short time from this, we find him at the head of “three thousand chosen men,” thirsting for the blood of the man that was the means of saving his own life, 1 Sam. 26: 2, ready to hunt him down as a wild beast of the forest. Oh! the power of the devil over our fallen race.

It was envy that moved the presidents and princes of the Medo-Persian kingdom against Daniel, and prompted them to come before king Darius with a base and wicked lie in their mouths. Dan. 6: 7. It lives and grows in the hearts of those in high places, as well as those who are in the more humble walks of life. It is not confined to those who are destitute of wealth, honor, and fame, but may be seen among every class, from the lowest peasant, to the king, president, or emperor.

Haman could boast of “the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children,” his promotion and exaltation over “the princes and servants of the king,” and that he was the favored guest at Esther’s banquet. Yet he was not a happy man. The spirit of envy was in his heart. His testimony was: “All this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai, the Jew, sitting at the king’s gate.” And relief came only as he with his wife and friends plotted the destruction of an innocent man. Esther 5: 11–14.

It was envy that caused Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, to diffuse rebellion throughout the camp of Israel. It is a terrible plague, and will stick like the leprosy. To escape from it, we must walk in meekness and perfect submission to the will of God. It blinds the mind, perverts the judgment, and turns darkness into light, and light into darkness. It holds its devotees as with an iron band. A display of the divine power will hardly suffice to cure it for one night. “Who can stand before envy?” No wonder that James says it is earthly, sensual, devilish.

Envy brings down retaliation and vengeance on its own head. Cain exclaimed, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.” Joseph’s brethren said, “We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.”

Saul’s course brought its just retribution. Daniel’s persecutors were themselves destroyed in the lions’ den. Haman perished on the gallows erected to hang Mordecai on. Little did blood-thirsty Haman think, at the time that he was preparing this instrument of death, that he was to be the victim. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, were signal victims of divine vengeance; and the men that participated in, and sympathized with them in, their rebellion, were accounted guilty in the sight of God, and suffered as incorrigible sinners.

May the Lord help us to be admonished. Oh! the necessity of our guarding our hearts on this very point. Many a bark, that bid fair to reach the heavenly harbor, has been wrecked on this fatal rock.

Envy prevents God’s blessing, and torments the soul where it dwells. Surely Cain did not have the blessing of God, while contemplating the murder of his brother.

Could he enjoy peace after committing the terrible deed? No, indeed; nor could he until an entire reformation should take place in his life, and the spirit of envy be forever banished from his heart. The spirit of grace and the spirit of envy cannot dwell in the same heart. If they can, then there is concord with Christ and Belial, fellowship with righteousness and unrighteousness, and communion between light and darkness; which God’s word positively declares cannot be. 2 Cor. 6: 14, 15.

I would not be understood that men do not feel inspired while having envious and rebellious feelings in their hearts; for I believe they do; but what I claim is, that this inspiration is not from the Lord, but from Satan. Saul was inspired after God had withdrawn his Spirit from him. He changed spirits and was not aware of it. And, oh! how many in these days have been thus deceived by the devil. Envy and rebellion have crept into their hearts, and they themselves have landed on the rocks of universalism and infidelity. If this were all it would not be so bad as it is; but some have been successful in leading others astray from the landmarks of truth; and these are following fast, in the footsteps, of their leaders, to certain ruin. May the Lord open the eyes of those that still remain within reach of salvation. Have such apostates been walking in the counsel of God? Has God’s blessing been resting upon them? The place where they have landed ought to evince to every candid mind that they have been walking in darkness, and were led captive by the devil.

Envy is not merely against our fellow men, but it is against God and his providence. Did not Joseph’s brethren, in striking against him, strike against God? Was it not an invisible hand that raised David to the throne? In Saul’s malice and hatred against David, did he not stand up directly against the providence of God? Those who suffer envious and rebellious feelings to come into their hearts, forget that it is written that “promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge; he putteth down one, and setteth up another.” Ps. 75: 6, 7. Had Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, understood this, it would have been happy for them. Their hearts were unreconciled to the supreme disposer of events. And in being envious and rebellious against Moses, they rebelled against God; for it is written, “This is that Dathan and Abiram, which were famous in the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah, when they strove against the Lord.” Num. 26: 9. These men were famous in their rebellion against God. They submit to be led by the humble instrument of God’s choice? Never. That, in their eyes, looked too much like one-man power. How could they humble themselves to acknowledge Moses as the chosen of the Lord, when “all the congregation” were “holy, every one of them.” No, indeed! They would rather ferment distrust, and suggest that Moses was determined to kill them “in the wilderness,” or else exalt himself to be “a prince over” them. And when their eyes were blinded by Satan, then they could charge Moses with putting “out the eyes of” the congregation. This looks like Satan’s masterpiece: first, to lead into rebellion, and then to represent that the loyal and obedient were being imposed upon, and had their eyes put out. I think we should do well to remember that these things were “written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.”

In conclusion I would say that envious feelings are unreasonable. By what method of reasoning can we excuse Cain? Upon what ground can we justify those that have harbored envy in their hearts, no matter against whom it has been. Oh! that God would root out of the hearts of his people this terrible evil. Paul says that without charity (love) “we are nothing,” and that “charity envieth not.”

R. F. ANDREWS.