Part 10 of the 10 commandments
THOU SHALT NOT COVET
Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
This is my favorite of the 10 commandments because it ties all of the other 10 commandments together. The point of the 10 commandments is to show us that we can’t keep them. Who doesn’t covet?
1. First commandment – ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me’
I covet, a lot! I covet the sincerity of many followers of false gods. We covet the faith of someone else worshiping an idea, image or a created thing. Do you know that even Marxism and Atheism are religions? When we see someone diligently worshipping something, we want that faith. It should be the other way around. Others should covet our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. But we may covet their ‘relationship’ with their god.
2. Second commandment – ‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image’
I find myself coveting sometimes a statue or a trinket. Usually what makes it attractive is people reverence these visible things. Some are really beautiful. We worship however the only True God, and He is invisible.
3. Third commandment – ‘Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain’
Everyone else is doing it? Why can’t I? We tend to covet the ‘coolness’ of a popular, maybe even famous, person. Their #hashtag or even their nickname that they gave themselves take the name of God in vain. Usually they aren’t blaspheming the One True and only Wise God, but they’re worshipping their gods. If you covet what they got, you’ll imitate them, except when you take God’s name in vain, if you’re a believer, you are taking the Lord God Almighty’s name in vain. Not good. Don’t covet popularity or the in crowd.
4. Fourth commandment – ‘Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy’
No one on this planet knows the actual 7th day cause God hadn’t created the Romans yet, so He didn’t use the Roman Calendar. The Sabbath could be a Friday like the Muslims say it is, or a Wednesday for that matter, we don’t know. Christians for the most part try to take it easy on Sundays, kind of sort of taking a Sabbath. I kind of covet the freedom those guys who can go on a weekend surf safari, spending every minute on Sunday surfing, and I’m in church. Don’t covet.
5. Fifth commandment – ‘Honour thy father and thy mother’
That’s a youthful pride sin. Once you’ve lived 40 years and up, you realize that they aren’t as stupid as you thought they were. You wish they were back, but too late. As a kid you coveted the freedom of kids that ‘divorced’ their parents. Kids that could do whatever they felt like because their parents were dysfunctional. Now you wish you could go back and tell them you’re sorry. No going back. Don’t covet the freedom of a rebellious child. In the Old Testament, a rebellious child was stoned to death. And not by marijuana, but by actual rocks.
6. Sixth commandment – ‘Thou shalt not kill’
Cain killed his brother because he coveted Abel’s relationship with God. We kill our brother in church by gossiping about him because we covet what he has and who he is. All murder is a result, one way or other, of covetousness.
7. Seventh commandment – ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’
That’s easy. The only way to have sex with someone other than your spouse is by coveting that person.
8. Eighth commandment – ‘Thou shalt not steal’
Again, if you covet something enough, you just might take it without permission.
9. Ninth commandment – ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor’
Same as killing (murder). Gossip is assassination, I am an expert in getting assassinated, mostly by the religious brethren. You assassinate when you covet something. Might be their charisma. Athletic ability. Looks. If you are a neighbor, you may want his property, his house, his wife. All about coveting.
10. Tenth commandment – ‘Thou shalt not covet’
Here we are! The last of the 10 commandments!! Why doesn’t God want anyone on earth to covet? (Remember the 10 commandments are for the whole earth, not just for Jews). Because covetousness not only makes you break the other 9 commandments, even if just lusting after stuff, you’re still breaking the 10 commandments. Also, coveting makes you miserable. People actually commit suicide because they covet something so badly, like their neighbor’s wife. Right now, I covet mostly my friend’s new 11 passenger van. I smelled the ‘new car smell’ on it still. I touched it. The engine purred. The radio and AC even worked!! As I was driving home, I was fantasizing about having our 11 passenger van packed with 25 elated kids like we used to do. I have two cars, both 25 years old. ‘Old Blue’ didn’t have enough power to make it up the hill. Poof! The dream left. Winnie’s glaring at me. I get out and start climbing a huge hill under the blistering sun in my chancletas to find someone to help us. I was also calling my mechanic to please come and save the day. 100% euphoria to 100% depression, in a half second.
When I see someone with a lot of money, I covet it. But I religiously add, ‘with that money I can feed so many more kids.’ Probably once a month someone tells me, when I hit the lottery, or when I inherit a million dollars, I am going to donate a tenth. I have found if they don’t donate now, they won’t when they’re rich. But I do covet. I see the kids eating a fabulous meal, and then my debit card is declined for lack of funds. 100% euphoria to 100% depression by the reality of my life. Now when someone starts a conversation like that, I say, ‘Oh really? That would be nice’ and leave it at that.
Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee
How do you not covet? Here’s what I do. I am no expert on keeping the 10 commandments either. Jesus was the only one capable of that. But here’s a great example, because my covetousness is usually pure, but still sinful. I want to live an abundant life on this earth, as well as in heaven. I don’t want to just barely survive.
Proverbs 7:2 Keep my commandments, (all of them) and live
Nicaragua has its quirks. One thing is they divide their neighborhoods completely from one house to another. How do I know? Because my house has hours of no electricity a day. So bad I had to buy alternative power sources. My filthy rich neighbor never has a power outage. Rich neighborhood vs poor neighborhood. I bought my property for 35k and spent another 20 fixing it up. My neighbor’s house was worth 10 times that, and we share a wall. Rich to the right of me, and desperately impoverished to the left of me. My covetousness is religious though. Never for me. I never want to live in someone’s palace unless I had a bunch of homeless kids living with Winnie and me. I never want someone’s farm unless it’s to grow hogs/chicken/honey and gardens to feed the hungry with. I never want a new car unless it’s to haul people around in. I envision my swimming pool filled with happy kids while I teach them how to swim. I am an expert in teaching people how to swim and teaching ladies to drive a stick. Probably the only things I do well. So, how do I not covet? By repenting as soon as I see sin. Jesus only asks us to do two things. Repent and believe.
2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation
The best way to get in my one hour fast paced cardio walk is if I turn right. Only millionaire Nicaraguans and rich American missionaries live there. The only way they communicate with me is to tell the bums to come to my house instead of theirs to beg for food (which is an honor for me). No one talks to me in millionaire-Villeda so I get the walk out of the way fast and get a great heartbeat going. But when I walk to there I covet. Beautiful 11 passenger vans that I can load kids into. Huge chalets with one old widow living in there where I could probably house 100 kids. Millionaires with money that I could use to increase the number of the children I help. Beautiful empty swimming pools I can imagine filled with children squealing with delight, as I teach them to swim. All of it is sin. Then I get back home and we’re out of water and I can’t take a shower. 100% euphoria to 100% disdain for the blessing God has bestowed on us. If I go to the left, everyone stops me just to chat and hug. I get 0 cardio and it takes me 2 hours to walk the same distance. But there is absolutely nothing to covet except the children’s happiness and carefreeness. So, I lose the cardio, and my valuable time, but I follow God by trying to complete the 10 commandments, so it’s totally worth it. I would rather be Godly than buff.
1 Timothy 4:8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
All 10 are linked to Galatians 3, to show us:
1. Impossible to keep all 10
2. Sinfulness of all people
3. Our need for Jesus
4. He paid the price to be forgiven
Galatians 3:23-29 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.