Invidious

The word “invidious” came up during one of my Bible study lessons, and I didn’t know its meaning, but it made sense after I looked it up, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/invidious. Basically, it’s envy.
In my study, “invidious” was used to describe King Saul in this circumstance:

“As they were coming home, when David returned from killing the Philistine, the women came out
of all the Israelite towns, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with timbrels, songs of joy, and
instruments of music. And the women responded as they laughed and frolicked, saying, Saul has
slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very angry, for the saying displeased him;
and he said, they have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed only thousands
What more can he have but the kingdom? And Saul [jealously] eyed David from that day forward.”
1 Samuel 18:6-9 – AMP

Oh, that makes me cringe a little because there have been times in my life when envy has crept in. Of course, I’ve since repented of those times but still when I read an account like that of Saul’s it sparks memories. For example, when I worked along with a paralegal on a project where I did most of the work, but the paralegal got the credit for it, invidious hit me. It doesn’t feel good when your efforts are minimized and someone else is exalted over you. And I must admit that I eyed that paralegal for a bit afterward because she never spoke up on my behalf.
Have you ever had such an experience?

God chose Saul to be Israel’s first king. He was anointed with oil by the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 10:1), and after receiving some instructions, before Saul left to travel, “God changed his heart.” Once Saul arrived at his destination, “the Spirit of God came powerfully on him” (1 Samuel 10:9-10).
Throughout the next approximately forty years as king, Saul had a series of wrong choices that did not please God. By the time 1 Samuel 15 rolls around, Saul has lost his kingship and the companionship of Samuel.

In 1 Samuel 16, after David has been anointed as Israel’s next king, we read in verse fourteen, “Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him.”
Verse 21 goes on to tell that, “… David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer.”
Soon after, David fights Goliath, and it’s after killing that Philistine that we find the scene in 1 Samuel 18 cited above. And from that day on, Saul becomes a thorn in David’s side through a game of cat-and-mouse because of a spirit of invidious.

“Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose
any of his ways, for the devious person is an
abomination to the LORD, but the upright
are in his confidence.”
Proverbs 3:31-32 – ESV

Backing up in time to the Book of Genesis, we’re given the account of Joseph and his twelve brothers in Chapters 37 through 50. So many lessons are taught in this story but one that sticks out to me most in the vein of invidious is what favoritism in parenting can produce in siblings – Genesis 37:4, “But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.”
As the chapter continues, we’re shown the outgrowth of such an evil seed by Joseph’s brothers conspiring to kill him and then instead deciding to sell him and making his disappearance look as if a wild animal had killed Joseph.

“Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming,
but who can stand before jealousy?”
Proverbs 27:4 – ESV

The laborers in the vineyard that Jesus talks about in Matthew 20:1-16, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2020%3A1-16&version=NIV,  are guilty of having an invidious nature, especially those laborers who were hired earlier in the day.
But it’s a verse from that parable that many less fortunate people, less by worldly standards, hold on to: “So the last will be first, and the first last” (verse 16).

Mark tells us in Chapter 15:10, that our Lord and Savior was delivered up to Pilate by the Jewish authorities because of their jealousy over Jesus’ popularity with the people.
And it was the politics in ancient times that partially inspired James to write about wisdom and warn of “bitter jealousy and selfish ambition.”  He warns, “This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.” (James 3:13-15.)
Politics hasn’t changed much, just watch some of the ads that run on radio and television.

“A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.”
Proverbs 14:30

There will come a day when the vitriol of politics will end. As Brother James tells us in Chapter 3:18, “…A harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
Of course our ultimate peace comes from King Jesus.

“For He is [Himself] our peace (our bond of unity and harmony).
He has made us both [Jew and Gentile] one [body], and has
broken down (destroyed, abolished) the hostile dividing wall
between us, by abolishing in His [own crucified] flesh the enmity
[caused by] the Law with its decrees and ordinances [which He
annulled]; that He from the two might create in Himself one new
man [one new quality of humanity out of the two], so making peace.”
Ephesians 2:14-15 – AMP