Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
What is meant by this Commandment?
We should so fear and love God as not to desire by craftiness to gain possession of our neighbor's inheritance or home, or to obtain it under the pretext of a legal right; but be ready to assist and serve him in the preservation of his own.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
What is meant by this Commandment?
We should so fear and love God as not to alienate our neighbor's wife from him, entice away his servants, nor let loose his cattle, but use our endeavors that they may remain and discharge their duty to him.
Both these commandments forbid coveting; hence, we may consider them together. They deal with the root and source of all sin; namely, the evil lusts and desires of the heart. [Matt. 15:19+, Jas. 1:14, 15]
THE OBJECT of these two commandments is to emphasize the necessity of a right state of heart. [I Sam. 16:7+, Matt. 5:5] All the commandments must, indeed, be kept in thought as well as in word and deed. But by adding these two special commandments against coveting, God desires to impress upon us most strongly that wrong thoughts and desires make us guilty before Him. We are not keeping God's commandments unless we are free from the desire to transgress them. As a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he." [Prov. 23:7]
THE HEART BY NATURE SINFUL. We are born with a sinful nature and a natural inclination to evil (Original sin), which we have inherited from our ancestors as a result of the fall into sin. [John 3:6+, Jer. 17:9] This natural inclination to evil manifests itself in wrong thoughts and desires which arise in the heart. [Rom. 7:18, 19+] These wrong desires or lusts are in themselves sinful: and if they are not subdued, they lead to sins of words and deeds. [Jas. 1:14, 15+]
These commandments forbid us to covet anything that is our neighbor's. They command us to assist and serve him in retaining his own.
COVETING, To covet means to desire what we have no right to have. To wish to obtain something in a lawful way is not coveting. But we must not have
1. An Unlawful Desire [Gal. 5:24+] for our neighbor's possessions, whether it be his property, wife, servants, cattle, or anything that is his. We must not envy him on account of them, nor begrudge them to him, nor wish that we had them in his stead. We must not make
2. Any Attempt to Gratify such Unlawful Desires and TO GAIN POSSESSION OF OUR NEIGHBOR'S INHERITANCE OR HOME
BY CRAFTINESS, shrewdness, cunning, deceit and the like. [Prov. 15:6] Nor dare we seek TO OBTAIN IT
UNDER THE PRETEXT OF A LEGAL RIGHT; that is, by ways which human laws allow and appear to sanction, but which are not right before God. [Matt. 23:14+] Nor dare we attempt to
ALIENATE (estrange), ENTICE or drive away from him his wife, servants, or cattle, by persuasion, flattery, falsehood, promises, threats, or force.
II. WHAT is COMMANDED.
ASSISTANCE AND SERVICE. We should
1. ASSIST AND SERVE HIM IN THE PRESERVATION OF HIS OWN. [Phil. 2:4+, Gal. 5:12] Instead of wishing to get his property away from him, we should most heartily wish that he may be able to keep it, and should help him to retain it. We should
2. USE OUR ENDEAVORS THAT THEY who belong to him MAY REMAIN AND DISCHARGE THEIR DUTY TO HIM. We should help him to retain their affection and faithfulness. We should heartily wish them to remain, and persuade them to do so.
QUESTIONS.—1. Why may these two commandments be considered together? 2. With what do they deal? 3. What is the object of these two commandments? 4. When only are we keeping God's commandments? 5. What is to be said about the natural state of the heart. 6. What do these commandments forbid? 7. What do they command? 8. Define coveting. 9. If we would avoid breaking this commandment, what must we not do? 10. How should we be of assistance and service to our neighbor?
SCRIPTURE VERSES.—Matt. 15:19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
I Sam. 16:7. The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
John 3:6. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Rom. 7:18, 19. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Jas. 1:14, 15. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Gal. 5:24. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Matt. 23:14. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore, ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Phil. 2:4. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
READING.—Naboth's Vineyard, I Kings 21:1-19.
ILLUSTRATIONS.—Coveting: Ahab; David, II Sam. 12; Absalom, II Sam. 15. Assistance and Service: Paul, Philemon 10-17.
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