Text: Psalm 78:58-59
OT Text Referred to: Exodus 20:5
Subject: divine jealousy provoked by idolatry
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): None
Anchor Text: Exod 20 — The Decalogue
Significance: Exodus 20:5 declares God to be "a jealous God" (אֵל קַנָּא, el qanna) who will not tolerate idolatrous worship, and Psalm 78:58-59 records the historical fulfillment: "They provoked Him to anger with their high places and moved Him to jealousy (קִנְאָה, qin'ah) with their graven images. God heard and was furious; He utterly rejected Israel." The psalm uses the very term for jealousy that the second commandment introduced, demonstrating that the theological warning given at Sinai played out in Israel's history. The divine rejection described in Psalm 78:59-60—God abandoning Shiloh—is the concrete historical consequence of the jealousy the Decalogue warned about.