“You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour's.” [Exodus 20:17]
Coveting; possibly the one thing that is at the heart of our modern society's sickness, second only to illegal drugs. Let's start with a definition, so that we are clear exactly what it is to 'covet'.
“1 : to wish for earnestly. 2 : to desire (what belongs to another) inordinately or culpably.” [Miriam Webster]
“kuv'-et ('awah; zeloo, "to desire earnestly," "to set the heart and mind upon anything"):
Used in two senses: good, simply to desire earnestly but legitimately. e.g. the King James Version [1 Corinthians 12:31; 14:39]; bad, to desire unlawfully, or to secure illegitimately (batsa`; epithumeo, [Romans 7:7; 13:9], etc.); hence, called "lust" [Matthew 5:28; 1 Corinthians 10:6], "concupiscence" [the King James Version Romans 7:8; Colossians 3:5].” [Ref: ISBE]
Here in the UK we have a saying, it's “Keeping up with the Jones's”. It's all about looking over the fence to see what your neighbour has bought new, then trying to out do them, or getting the same. I guess that is something not to brag about, however, what is worse is the when people desire something so much that they go to extreme lengths to get them for themselves. This then leads to robbery, stealing and muggings, ever murder when jealousy gets so bad that someone has loose their use of the object, permanently! Like many of the Ten Commandments, this one overlaps others, note the second caveat listed in verse 17 is adultery, ”neighbour's wife”, covered in Exodus 20:14 (Command #7). Coveting can lead to stealing, in Exodus 20:15 (Command #8), or murder in Exodus 20:13 (Command #6).
When we start to look at scripture we find that we can identify coveting in several different forms. Coveting is about 'desire' and desire is an attitude of one's heart and can be, particularly in a weak person, a very strong emotion. Coveting is a command that is a little different to many of the other laws, a person can be caught and found guilty of stealing or murder, even adultery, although there are few countries left that actually have laws against having affairs. The law on coveting property cannot be enforced as it is an attitude of thought, feelings and emotion. Coveting can be so strong that some will conspire to possess the object even if it involves a great deal of evil.
The tenth commandment actually condemns the desire to own something that you don't have, or enough of. Covetousness is greed, often relation to holding power over others or the power the riches can give. Habakkuk talks of a drunk who can never get enough, “His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough,” [Habakkuk 2:5]. This is also mentioned in Ecclesiastes, which describes the futility of being discontent [Ecclesiastes. 4:8]. Coveting is essentially craving something we cannot have, whereas we can purchase a monster TV we cannot purchase a friend's wife. Coveting is personal, selfish, gain at the expense of others ans totally self-centred. The Book of Proverbs tells us not to trouble ourselves with gaining wealth, because it is temporary and will pass away, and warns about mixing with people who crave wealth [Proverbs 23:4-8]. Coveting is often kept so secret and concealed that it eats away in one's heart, because the heart is deceitful and sick [Jeremiah 17:9].
Covetousness is always self-damaging in its destructiveness, it can be like a drug that becomes the very reason for living and every focus of our heart and mind consuming every day. In a Christian covetousness destroys generosity, because you will not give away that which you have gained [Deuteronomy 15:7-10] Consider if we have ever been in this position, held back because of selfishness, how did it make you feel later? We are told by Paul, to be ready to give give bountifully and not be covetous [2 Corinthians 9:5] the ESV uses the phrase “so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction,” a forced gift hinting at covetousness. As mentioned above covetousness is also dangerous because it is often the motive for crime, offences against our neighbours, making us more likely to steal. Read the story of 'The Sin of Achan' [Joshua 7:10-26] particularly verse 21, what does this tell you about covetousness?. Covetousness is also about being 'tight-fisted' or mean, getting others to fund our needs without knowing, like taking electricity from your next door neighbour's supply without them knowing, or builds their fence a foot over their neighbours property [Jeremiah 22:13-17]. Much is made of doing these things in secret, being two faced about it, making the right noises but not the right actions [Ezekiel 33:31; Micah 2:1-2].
Jesus asked about what defiles a a person, and concluded that it was that which is in man's heart, from inside a person, and He listed: evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness [Mark 7:20-23].
Just as we saw that it is sometimes right to tell little white lies, there is also a side of covetousness that can be seen as positive. Just as it can be the root of all evil it can also be the spur to greater things; we can actually see from scripture that the term 'covet' can be used, certainly negatively, but also positively, depending on the context. We have seen how coveting is about desire, and in many cases the two words are interchangeable, in Luke 22:15 Jesus “desired” to eat Passover with His disciples before He went to His suffering. No evil intent here, although it was expressed as a 'desire'. The apostle Paul expresses a very strong desire to know Jesus intimately [Philippians 3:7-14], and he also wanted the Corinthian Christians to desire the greater gifts [1 Corinthians 12:31], and to desire earnestly the gift of prophesy and not to forbids the speaking in tongues [1 Corinthians 14:39]. So we need to take two things into consideration, the context and the intent behind our coveting, I say our coveting because we ll covet, even though we have the sense to control it or confess it.
Maybe it is worth looking at coveting from a slightly different angle, that of what God allows us to have and what He does not allow us to have. I believe that everything I have, not only belongs to God and He allows me to possess it for a season, but that God gives us what we need and dines us what we do not have for a reason. In those circumstances coveting things that God has not allowed us to have is, in a word, disobedience. So if we covet those things we are actually desiring the wrong things, the things we believe to be good and desirable. Coveting is a string emotion because it gives value to certain things and at the same time man is willing to sacrifice what he has to attain his desire. Jesus teaches us this in several parts of the New Testament. In Matthew 13:44-46 He gives the example of a man who finds a treasure, but then immediately buries it again in the same field, then spends his life savings purchasing the field. Jesus teaches that the man recognised the value and was prepared to sacrifice everything to possess it, in this case the Kingdom of God. In Luke 12:13-21, Jesus makes the point that the things and possessions that we covet are in no way essential to our lives, even when we are rich possessions mean little [ Luke 12:15].
Jesus was adamant about possessions, He instructed the rich to sell everything and give to the poor, not because He wanted to make the poor rich, but because He wanted His followers to sacrifice everything for Him He told His disciples that His followers should deny themselves. He said that even if they gain the world, if he looses his soul, what does he gain? [Matt. 16:24-26]. Jesus urged them not to lay up treasures on Earth, because He knew that for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also [Matthew 6:19-24].
If we allow material things to become more important than God in our lives, it becomes the sin of idolatry and cuts us off from our maker [Luke 12:15]. What one of us, who are committed to our Lord Jesus would wish to me separated from God. Maybe this is why there are so many warnings in Scripture about chasing after wealth and possessions. The scripture says that man cannot serve two masters (God and Money) [Matthew 6:24] and truly there are few people in the Bible who have been wealthy and yet totally committed to their God. Abraham was wealthy in the terms of his day [Genesis 13:2] and certainly Job, who was rich before Satan sent disaster on Him, and because he was steadfast in the Lord it was restored two-fold [Job 1:1, 3]. It is not for us to chase after riches, because whatever we think, we will not be able to stay focused on God, and His purpose for us. The Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 6] teaches us that our lives are to be focused on God's Kingdom, for surely we cannot God and Mammon [Luke 16:13].