A short while back, we read from First Samuel at daily Mass and encountered an envious Saul. Upon David’s return from slaying Goliath, the women sing a song praising him. Saul should rejoice with all Israel but instead he is resentful and envies David: Saul was very angry and resentful of the song, for he thought, “They give David ten thousands, but only thousands to me. All that remains for him is the kingship.” And from that day on, Saul looked upon David with a glaring eye. Saul discussed his intention of killing David with his son Jonathan and with all his servants (1 Sam 18:6-9). Saul’s reaction is way over the top; this is what envy does.
What is envy? Most people use the word today as a synonym for jealousy, but traditionally speaking, they are not the same.
When I am jealous of you, I want to possess something that you have, inordinately so. The key point is that there is something good about you or there is something good that you have, which I want to have for myself. Jealousy is sinful when one desires something inordinately or unreasonably.
In traditional theology, envy is quite different (cf Summa II IIae 36.1) from jealousy. Envy is sorrow, sadness, or anger at the goodness or excellence of someone else because I take it as lessening my own. The key difference is that with envy (unlike with jealousy) I do not merely want to possess the good or excellence you have, I want to destroy it.
Notice in the reading above that Saul wants to kill David. He wants to do this because he thinks that David’s excellence makes him look less excellent, less great. Saul should rejoice in David’s gifts, for they are gifts to all Israel. David is a fine soldier and this is a blessing for everyone. The proper response to David’s excellence should be to rejoice, to be thankful to God, and where possible, imitate David’s courage and excellence. Instead, Saul sulks. He sees David as stealing the limelight, and possibly even the kingdom, from him. Envy rears its ugly head when Saul concludes that David must die. The good that is in David must be destroyed.
Envy is diabolical. St. Augustine called envy the diabolical sin (De catechizandis rudibus 4,8:PL 40,315-316) because it seeks to minimize, end, or destroy what is good. Scripture says, By the envy of the Devil death entered the world (Wis 2:24). Seeing the excellence that Adam and Eve (made in the image of God) had, and possibly knowing of plans for the incarnation, the Devil envied Adam and Eve. Their glory lessened his—or so he thought—and so he set out to destroy the goodness in them. Envy is very ugly and it is diabolical.
Examples of Envy – I remember experiencing envy in my early years. In every classroom there were always a few students who got A’s on every test. They always behaved and the teacher would sometimes praise them saying, “Why can’t the rest of you be like Johnny and Susie?” Some hated students like this because they made them look bad. So what did some of them do? They sought to pressure the “teacher’s pets” to conform to their mediocrity. In effect, they sought to destroy the goodness or excellence in the A students. They would taunt them with names and pelt them with spitballs. If ridicule and isolation didn’t work, sometimes they’d just plain beat them up. This is envy.
The virtues that cancel envy – The proper response to observing goodness or excellence in another is joy and zeal. We should rejoice that they are blessed, because when they are blessed, we are blessed. Further, we should respond with a zeal that seeks to imitate (where possible) their goodness or excellence. Perhaps we can learn from them or from their good example. Instead, envy rejects joy and zeal, and with sorrow and anger sets out to destroy what is good.
Envy can be subtle. Envy isn’t always obvious; sometimes it’s something we do almost without thinking. When there’s someone at work who is a rising star, we may engage in gossip and defamation that undermines their reputation or tarnishes their image. We may do this at times in an unreflective manner. Almost without thinking, we diminish and belittle others and their accomplishments through careless and insensitive remarks. We often do this because we need to knock others down in order to feel better about ourselves. This is envy. Sometimes we show envy passively by omitting to praise or encourage others or by failing to call attention to their accomplishments.
Envy concealed with a smile – Finally, there is an odd form of envy that is particularly annoying because it masquerades as sensitivity and kindness. Consider a typical youth soccer or baseball game. The children are on the field playing their hearts out. On the sidelines, a decision has been made by the coaches not to keep score. Why? Because the children’s egos might be damaged by losing. Frankly, it probably isn’t the egos of the children being protected, it’s those of the parents. The fact is that the kids know the score in most cases. God forbid that on the sports field there should be winners or losers! The losers might “feel bad.” The solution is to destroy or to refuse to acknowledge the goodness and excellence in some children because it is taken to lessen that of the “losers.” This is envy and it teaches terrible things (by omission). First, it fails to teach that there are winners and losers in life; this is a fact of life. Sometimes you win; sometimes you lose. Either way you should be gracious. Second, it fails to reward excellence, which is unjust. Excellence should be rewarded and that reward should motivate others to strive for excellence. Much is lost when we fail to praise what is good.
Another example of this envious practice is at school award ceremonies where scads of awards are given out. There are the traditional Honor Roll awards but then a plethora of made-up awards, created so that everyone “gets something.” I even witnessed an award given for the nicest smile! But the problem is that when everyone is rewarded, no one is rewarded. Once again envy rears its ugly head, but this time it’s wearing a smiley face. God forbid that some child’s ego be bruised because he doesn’t get something; someone else’s excellence might make him look less excellent by comparison.
The bottom line is that it is envy: sorrow at someone else’s excellence because I take it to lessen my own. And frankly this usually isn’t an issue for the kids; it’s usually the parents and teachers who are projecting their own struggle with envy on the kids. The fact is, there are simply some people who are better than others at certain things—and that’s OK. None of us individually has all the gifts, but together we have all the gifts.
Envy is ugly, even when it masquerades as misguided kindness and fairness. It diminishes and often seeks to destroy goodness and excellence. The proper response to excellence and goodness is and should always be joy and zeal.
In Snow White, the wicked queen envied Snow White, the fairest of them all. Considering Snow White’s beauty as a threat, the evil queen cast a spell on Snow White to remove her beauty from the scene. Envy consumed the evil queen.
Msgr. Pope, what about joy and zeal at the downfall or misfortune of another? Is that an expression of envy or is it something distinctly different?
Diabolical is a perfect term to describe envy because it originated with Lucifer who, not being able to be like Christ, sought to destroy him. His evil extends to us as well. He can never have what Christ promises us and therefore seeks to destroy our chances of possessing the beatific vision.
The women should have been rebuked over this song, celebrating death. It is like how at the end of days people will praise the anti-Christ as who can make war against him? David should have nipped this in the bud but he did not, I think that deep down inside he got a kick out of the praise. This would come back to bite him when he fled to the philistine city the the women there taunted him by citing this song putting his life in danger.
Ok, well, but I think you are doing two things:
1. You miss the point of the story which is Saul’s envy.
2. While the expression “Killed his thousands” may be hard to modern ears, to kill in denfense of the nation unjust agressors is not the same as to murder.
I don’t really know how David took the praise and don’t recall if it is mentioned in the Story. David did commit many serious sins but I am not sure if your assessment of him here is fair or accurate. And this strays from the topic a bit.
Msgr. Pope.
Would it be accurate to say that jealousy is the same as covetousness?
When there is a jealous spouse, what does the spouse who is the object of jealousy have that the jealous spouse wants?
Interesting and informing article. Thank you!
Princess Diana said Prince Charles was jealous of her because of all the attention she received..I always thought if you loved some one you were not jealous of them…
I tend to use jealousy, probably not appropriately. For example I’ll tell a friend that I am absolutely jealous that they are going on vacation or have a beautiful family and actually say this to them that I want the same. I’m saying this out of support for them, being enthusiastic and yes, their family dynamic is to be a model and yes, I aspire to have that for myself. Am I using the word jealous incorrectly or am I actually behaving out of jealousy.
Also, usually I’m the person who is a quiet worker but certainly when the opportunity presents itself, seek out my coworkers to cheer them, have fun, etc. I’ve not ever had a problem with people or people disliking me. I’m usually described me as smiling always. I work with a few people who have made it a point to undermine my work, stand in the way of successes, claim my work as their own, diminish the relationships I had with co-workers and this is all after promoting me. The more compliments I received from others the more intense the attacks, everyday. This undermining intensified after receiving a promotion. This is odd to call this jealousy or envy because, objectively speaking, these individuals have more success than I, their pretty good at what they do and have certainly been in their respective positions much much longer than I. What is this? Am I missing something? I am returning to work next week after being on leave for almost 6 months. I am attempting to set this aside however, I would be delusional to think that this has been magically remedied with the passage of time. If things are different, thanks be to God. Is this envy or jealousy?
This message is so needed in Church-related circles today. I have worked in Catholic institutions most of my adult life, and the envy of the world is alive and well there. So many people are afraid of not shining, of momentarily losing the adulation they cling to in their constant need to be recognized as expert in their work, ministry and relationships. They have succumbed to a worldly vision of success and self-worth that is tied to human praise, rather than embracing their complementary role in the Body of Christ. Time and time again, I have seen gossip and vicious sharp put-down comments come from the mouths of persons indignant at being out-shone by someone else’s gifts. This is not the way of the Body of Christ, nor the way of the Kingdom; it is certainly not the way of humility. This is a timely article that needs to be shared far and wide, especially among Catholic professionals and clergy. Thank you for responding to the call to write and post it. It is a beautiful message that we need for renewal of our living and working communities as Christians; it has the potential to help set a lot of people free. God bless.
Tony C
I agree with your definition of envy, but I was taught that jealousy is a personal desire to have and hold onto whatever is good (or for some, not so good)in a person’s life. In regards to our God, he is a “jealous God”, wanting our love and desire for Him alone. Am I mistaken?