A few days ago, I was reading through the list of the Ten Commandments that we find in Deuteronomy (chapter 5; also found at Exodus 20:17) and was struck by something that I had never noticed. (By the way, you will find that repeated readings of the same passage will yield the same fruit. You’ll see something and wonder, “How did I ever miss THAT!?”)

Anyway, when I got to the 10th commandment, I read, [Deuteronomy 5:21] “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male slave or his female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

What I noticed was the contrast between Commandment #10 and Commandments #’s 1-9.

Every other command was concrete, involving an observable behavior. Don’t worship any other God. Don’t make an idol. Don’t take God’s name in vain. Keep the Sabbath and honor your parents. Don’t murder, commit adultery, steal, or lie.

To covet, though, is different. It gets to the heart of things. It is the attitude that leads to the acts, especially, of adultery and stealing, and others, as we will see.

This got me to thinking about covetousness, or, as we would are more prone to say, “Greed.”

The Bible has a lot to say about covetousness / greed, and its antonym, generosity. The two concepts envision two ways of approaching life: a closed fist vs an open hand; grasping vs releasing; a mindset of scarcity vs a trusting reliance on God for provision.

To covet is to desire that which is not mine. Covetousness is, by definition, a lack of contentment with my lot in life. It is a desire for more. Thus, covetousness / greed is never satisfied. There is always more to be had, thus, more to be coveted. (See Proverbs 30:15-16)

Covetousness has gotten people in trouble throughout history. The sin of Achan, a Jewish soldier who saw some of the plunder from Jericho and took it for himself, was sourced in covetousness. (Joshua 7) Ammon’s sexual sin against his half-sister, Tamar, was driven by coveting what was not his to take. (2 Samuel 13)

And Jesus routinely addressed the problem of covetousness. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord commanded that we not “lust” (a close cousin of covetousness), because to lust is to commit the sin of covetousness and lust will lead to the actual sin of adultery. (Matthew 5)Again, in speaking to a crowd, Jesus warned, [Luke 12:15]… be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one is affluent does his life consist of his possessions.” And He then proceeded to tell a tale about a man who built bigger barns to hold more and more stuff (foreshadowing Mini-Storage units?) but died before he had a chance to fill them up.

There are many more biblical examples of the damage done by covetousness. But a comment the Apostle Paul made in his letter to the church at Colossae is at the heart of this meditation.

After urging Christians to “set [their] minds on the things that are above” (Colossians 3:2), he writes, [Colossians 3:5] Therefore, treat the parts of your earthly body as dead to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (i.e. – covetousness), which amounts to idolatry.

To commit idolatry is to elevate something or someone other than God to the place of worship. Paul says – speaking by inspiration – that greed is idolatry.

Though I had never had this thought before, Colossians 3:5 convinces me that the Ten Commandments were book-ended with very similar commands. “You shall have no other gods before Me” and “Don’t covet” are two peas in a pod.

Further, it is more obvious to me than ever before that covetousness / greed (“which amounts to idolatry”) is a scarily serious sin. (For later reflection, I am prompted to wonder as to some of the implications behind the closing words of the Apostle John’s first letter, [1 John 5:21] Children, guard yourselves from idols. Hmmm…Given the grave consequences of covetousness, let us flee it. Let’s turn to God so completely that we leave no place for any idol. Let’s run away from greed as fast as we can by traveling the practical path of living generously.

Generosity is the life of faith – open hands to receive from God; a releasing mindset to share His bounty with others; not fearing the loss of what we give because we fully trust in God to meet our needs.

Yours…His,
Dave