“You shall not covet your neighbour’s house;
you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife,
nor his male servant,
nor his female servant,
nor his ox, nor his donkey,
nor anything that is your neighbour’s.
Exodus 20:17
Covet the Oxford dictionary defines it as: “yearning to possess something that belongs to someone else.”Rabbi J. H. Hertz late chief Rabbi of the British Empire states, “...to long for possessions of anything that we cannot get in an honest and legal manner.”
Matthew Henry in his commentary put it this way,
“the forgoing commands implicitly forbid all desire for doing that which will be an injury to our neighbour; this forbids all inordinate desire of having that which will be a gratification to ourselves.”
In Joshua chapter seven we read about Achan’s sin. Jericho had been defeated but God had said not to take anything from Jericho. Achan by his own admission coveted what he saw.
“Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done:
When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”
Joshua 7:20,21
Achan’s sin was a sin against God. God had specifically said not to take anything. Achan because he coveted stole.
In our “must have” society where day after day, we are told by advertisers that we “must have this” “we can’t do without this” it’s easy to see how someone can covet things of their neighbours.
Temptation is always there. The world makes it easy to covet things of our neighbours. Especially for our kids and youth.
Our youth see the latest brand name thing, and it becomes a status thing for them. One teacher told me one of the biggest problems they were having in her school was with clothing.
Kids were looked down on, if they didn’t have “the right clothes.” Translation the right designer label.
Teens have been beaten by other teens, so they could take their two hundred dollar running shoes.
When it comes to anything in this day and age, society doesn’t make life easy, be it for teen or adult. It’s still no excuse for coveting anything of your neighbours.
We must all come to the mind set, that we will not necessarily become rich, but rather that as Paul told the Philippians:
“And my God shall supply all your needs
according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19
If we remember this, we will have no need to covet anything of our neighbour’sand we will have a better life.
Think about it.
