“And you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbour’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour’s.” (Deuteronomy 5:21).

And so, we come to the last commandment. In a sense, there is nothing new here, as the essence of this commandment (coveting) seems to have been covered already in the Eighth (stealing). Yet, whereas the former dealt with outward actions, the latter deals specifically with the attitude of the heart and mind. This is an ‘invisible’ sin! In Genesis 3:6 before taking, eating, and passing the: ‘fruit’ to Adam, Eve: ‘saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise.’  It started with just a look then thought and desire, but it ended in action. So, coveting can lead to further sin!

In a way, coveting is another form of greed, because just as with stealing, we desire more than we already have! The difference is that although we do not act on it, we brood on it. The writer of Ecclesiastes observes: ‘the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.’ (Ecclesiastes 1:8) and that is what makes this sin so insidious! We can end up coveting so easily by what we see and hear each day. The Apostle Paul treats the sin of covetousness the same as idolatry.  In Colossians 3:5 he writes: ‘Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.’ To put it simply, we ‘covet’ something when we place that new car, holiday, relationship, or whatever else before God!

There is some debate over the precise point where the exposition of the Ninth Commandment ends and the teaching on the Tenth Commandment commences as chapter 24:17-25:4 could fit either. John Currid argues for the Tenth Commandment starting at this point. ‘Coveting is properly defined as the heart’s desire to have something that belongs to someone else. It is a command that does not deal with the outward action, but rather the inward desire of a person’s heart which may lead to sinful, external action. It is a violation of the rights of others to possess what God has given to them.’[1] As the verses before have dealt with the rights God had given to ‘the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow’ (v21), the disadvantaged in society, his definition works well. Any infringement against them is converting what God has given them as theirs!

Verses 17-18 set the tone for this section. The less fortunate in society must not be subject to fewer rights than the well off. The Israelites had already been commanded not to keep the cloak of poor man overnight or to take something of necessity as security in verses 6 and 13. So they were not to treat the: ‘the sojourner’, ‘fatherless’ or ‘widow’ (v17) any differently.[2] Having been: ‘slaves in land of Egypt’ (v22), they too had been the underprivileged and less fortunate. They were only free and privileged because the Lord had: ‘redeemed’ (v18) them, so they owed Him everything.

The next instruction covers the rights of the less fortunate during the harvest (vs19-22). Whether harvesting wheat, olives, or grapes the owner of the land was not to go back over the field to pick up anything that he had missed. These were to be left for them so: ‘that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands’ (v19).  The land was God’s, but He had generously given it to them. As he was sharing it with them, they were to share it with the less fortunate. Peter Craigie makes this point about the practice of this command. ‘Farmers, who had allowed some produce to remain were not simply being charitable to the less fortunate than themselves; they were expressing their gratitude to God, who had brought them out of slavery in Egypt and had given them a land of their own.’[3]

This has clear application for today. Sometimes hardship comes on people and families through no fault of their own. Are we prepared to be generous if God has allotted us comfortable position in life? After all everything is His in the first place! Henry and Scott make this observation. ‘It is not hard to prove that purity, piety, justice, mercy, tenderness, impartiality, kindness to the poor and destitute, consideration for them, and large generosity of spirit, are pleasing to God and becoming of his redeemed people. The difficulty is to bring our minds to attend to them in our daily walk and conversation.’[4]

Christopher Wright sums up this concluding commandment rather neatly. ‘Thus, the commandments come full circle. To break the tenth is to break the first. For covetousness means of setting our hearts and affections on things that then take the place of God.’[5] We can look at the other nine commandments and, at first glance, say we keep them (although we obviously fail to keep them the way Jesus teaches them). But when it comes to this one, we fail very easily as this is all to do with what we think rather than outward action, although it can clearly lead to that! So, it is this commandment that presents the greatest challenge for Christians today! We live in a world where an idle look at an advert will tell us that it is not just a case of us needing a product, it is a case of us needing a better and newer version of that product!

So, what is the answer?  Quite simply it is to remember Christ words: “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:31-33).

[1] John D Currid, Deuteronomy, An EP Study Commentary (Evangelical Press, Darlington, 2006) 142 399.

[2] It is very clear from this passage and also 10:18 and 27:19 that God had a special concern for the  ‘sojourner’, ‘fatherless’ and ‘widow’ and wanted justice and equality for them.

[3] Peter. C Craige, The Book of Deuteronomy, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Eerdmans publishing co, Michigan, 1976) 311.

[4] Henry and Scott. A Commentary upon the Holy Bible, Genesis to Deuteronomy (London, The Religious Tract Society, 1833). 425-6.

[5] Christopher Wright, Deuteronomy, New International Biblical Commentary (Massachusetts, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc, 1996) 86.