No.
Envy leads to the death of the simple-minded people who indulge in it, at least according to Eliphaz.
One of the Ten Commandments is: You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor. Moses also warned the Israelites not to covet the Canaanite idols. When Achan coveted some of the plunder from Jericho and took it for himself, God refused to help Israel anymore until they killed Achan’s whole family. And when some other Israelites envied Moses’s authority, God made the earth open up and swallow them.
David says you shouldn’t be envious of those who do wrong. And Solomon says you shouldn’t envy the violent. He says envy rots your bones, and jealousy is worse than cruel and overwhelming anger. He says greed brings ruin to your whole household, and anyone who is eager to get rich will be punished with poverty. Asaph envied the wicked and arrogant when he saw how well-off they were, but he considered that a mistake. The wise will tell you not to let yourself envy sinners, because those people are going to die.
Isaiah says greed is sinful and enrages God. Jeremiah says people should be ashamed of their greed, and God will punish them for it. Ezekiel says God will judge people for wanting to take possession of countries. And Micah says God will inflict disaster on people who covet and seize fields and houses.
Jesus says envy is an evil thought that defiles people. And he warns people to be careful not to be greedy.
Paul says greed and envy are among the evils that people become filled with when they have depraved minds, and those people deserve death. People who get jealous are “acting like mere humans“, which is a bad thing, apparently. Paul says we should walk in the way of love, and love doesn’t envy. He says envy is a result of arguments from corrupt minds that understand nothing. People who live in envy are foolish and disobedient.
Paul says anyone who is greedy isn’t a real Christian, and can’t be part of the Christian community. Greedy, jealous, selfishly ambitious, and envious people can’t enter the kingdom of God, either. Paul says the greedy part of your nature must be put to death, before it brings on God’s wrath. Eagerness to gain money is a root of all kinds of evil, causing people to leave the faith and come to grief.
Paul instructed his followers to behave decently, as opposed to indulging in jealousy. He didn’t want there to be any jealousy among his followers. He told them not to envy each other, and not to be full of greed. It would be improper to have even a hint of greed among them.
James says envy and selfish ambition are demonic, and invariably go along with every other evil practice. He says violent fights are the result of covetous desires. And Peter tells his followers to rid themselves of all envy. He says experts in greed are accursed, and greedy false teachers will be destroyed.
Yes.
God is a jealous God, and we should follow God’s example because everything God does is good, therefore we should be jealous.
God has a law about what to do when a man is jealous and suspects his wife is cheating on him. If jealousy was wrong, then the man would always be doing something wrong here. Not to mention the possibility that he’s falsely accusing his wife and getting her in trouble for nothing. But what the law actually says is that the jealous husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing no matter what. So God clearly doesn’t think being jealous is wrong.
God said he was going to make his people envious. He said he even made trees envious. If God is doing this, then being envious can’t be a bad thing, can it? Would God make it happen if it was something that shouldn’t happen? Solomon says all achievement springs from one person’s envy of another. If that’s true, envy must be a very good thing! And an important thing! You can’t achieve anything without it.
Paul says some people were filled with greed and envy because that’s the kind of mind God gave them over to. Paul certainly doesn’t sound like he approves of this, but if God is making people this way, then how could it be a bad thing? Paul also says he was only able to covet because God had given a law that made coveting possible. If coveting was brought into existence by God, and is a consequence of God’s law, then how could it be a bad thing? Either God is the author of evil, or coveting is good.
According to Paul, the reason God decided to save Gentiles was so that Israel would envy them. Paul is proud to make his people envy, so that they can be saved. Which will bring great riches to the world, and will allow the dead to live. Envy is clearly a good thing.
Paul encouraged his followers to eagerly desire the superior gifts that only some people have. He told them to envy each other. Paul himself was jealous of some of his followers, and it was a godly jealousy. We should follow Paul’s example. We should be jealous.
Paul says it doesn’t matter why people do things. All that matters is what they do. As long as people are doing things that Paul approves of, Paul will rejoice. Even if they’re doing it out of envy and rivalry and selfish ambition.