Including covetousness in the Ten Commandments was a brilliant stroke (I know, it borders on blasphemy for me to suggest that God could do otherwise). It not only deals with the First, the need to have only Yahweh as God (to covet something that belongs to another is to express our discontent with what God has given us), it also gets at the root of the sins against others that are proscribed. The Tenth commandment says that we are to not covet anything that is our neighbor’s. And what is murder, adultery, stealing, and bearing false witness, but the fruit of covetousness? The life of the other is desired, his spouse is lusted after, his property is seized by greedy hands, and justice must bend to the transgressor’s will, no matter what the cost to his neighbor. Covetousness is wickedness. It is not surprising that Jesus told those with him, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness” (Luke 12:15).
What makes the Tenth unique among the commandments is that it is the only one that God alone sees. Of course, all the others emanate from dark regions of the soul, but you and I can’t see covetousness. We can observe what it produces, such as the evils enumerated above, but, “the LORD sees not as man sees . . . the LORD looks on the heart’’ (1 Samuel 16:7).
How many people, when told of their the need for salvation from sin, have said, “Well, I never killed anyone”? It’s true, not many have gone so far as to murder someone. But who, except Christ, has never coveted what wasn’t theirs. Does God not know this? Certainly he does. Is he not offended at the idolatry? Certainly he is.
We live in a society that promotes idolatry with almost every commercial or glossy print ad. Covetousness is the currency of Madison Avenue. Yet the apostle teaches that, “there is great gain in godliness with contentment” (1 Timothy 6:6). Being content will go a long way to taming the heart and teaching it to be “rich toward God” (Luke 12:21). If we are satisfied with him, if he is our greatest treasure, then our heart will follow and we will not be deceived by the empty promise of possessions.
