Where does jealousy come from?

The story of Saul, David and Jonathan is one in the Old Testament that is not hard to figure out how to apply. There are many lessons within this soap opera situation, but the general themes seem to be jealousy, friendship and loyalty.

It is so interesting to think about where Saul's jealousy comes from. If we take the account sequentially, Saul is not aware (that we know of) of David anointing to be King after Saul, until after David slays Goliath at least. So, our first indication that Saul is jealous of David comes after Saul appoint David to lead his armies and there is another Philistine battle, where David slays more than Saul. Saul jealousy begins with David slaying more than Saul and didn't have much to do with succession of the throne at this point. (1 Sam 18:5-9).

Saul was chosen by the Lord to be the first King in Israel. He was admired by the people and had many talents and was very tall. He was anointed to be captain over Israel, though he was later called King. The anointing was a symbol of the endowment of the spirit from God and the monarchy became a Divine Institution to help fulfill the purposes of God.

It did not take long for Saul’s power to go to his head. And while he tried to do the right things, he did them without proper authority. He offered sacrifices without holding the proper priesthood, he did not wait for Samuel to come and preside over the sacrifices. This was inexcusable in the Lord’s eyes and from this point lost the endowment of the spirit and was rejected by the Lord. When Saul was confronted by the prophet Samuel, Saul said that he "feared the people and obeyed their voice" (1 Sam 15: 24). Saul asked for forgiveness, but sacrificing without proper authority was unforgivable. He was rejected of the Lord and the gift of the spirit was withdrawn.

This is where I believe Saul's jealousy began. It began with shame and guilt for doing something against the Lord's will. The jealousy of David became the manifestation for this. Jealousy tends to turn focus from changing and improving oneself to blaming others. Saul could never overcome this. He tried, he even swore not to kill David. But he could only focus on things that he didn't have instead of things that he did have (which is how Heavenly Father sees us according to Joseph Smith).

President Ezra Taft Benson gave a life-changing talk "Beware of Pride" he said that with prideful people, the praise of men rings more loudly than the praise of God. I have thought a lot about this. It is obvious what the praise of men is, but how do we recognize the praise of God for us and what do we do with that recognition. It almost seems incorrect to say that God has praise for me, but I really believe that he does. Not only does he have praise for us, but recognizing that praise is essential in our well-being, image and peace. It is not something that we have to report to anyone, in fact we should probably be like Mary and ponder it in our hearts, just letting that confirmation rest between me and the Lord. But if we can figure out how to recognize praise from the Lord, I think we can avoid the jealousy trap that Saul was in.