Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. (Exodus 20:17)
To covet is to be consumed with desire for something that belongs to someone else. There is a great example of covetousness in the life of King David. In 2 Samuel 11:2, we read “one evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing – a very beautiful woman.” He wanted that woman.
We are all guilty of looking at something and wanting it. It happens naturally and instantaneously. We look at something and suddenly, we have an intense desire for a new car, a different job, a redecorated home, a luxurious vacation. The more we want that thing, the more discontented we become.
This commandment is the only one that deals with our thought life. The first four address our relationship with God. The next five deal with our relationship with others. This, the last commandment, deals with our thoughts. The writer of Proverbs said, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” (Prov. 4:23 NIV)
In Colossians 3:5 Paul writes that coveting is idolatry. This means that when we covet, we immediately violate the first commandment. Our dissatisfaction is a complaint against God – that what he has provided isn’t good enough. We need something more to be satisfied.
Furthermore, coveting often affects others. When David acted on his desire for the beautiful bathing woman, the result was adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11-12). What has always amazed me is that, although David was described as a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam 13:14), David did not see the sin in his actions, until God sent Nathan to confront David a year later. Then David saw his sin and repented. Psalm 51 is his cry of repentance. In verse 4 David states, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.”
If David could covet, commit adultery, scheme and murder and then take a year to repent, think about the seriousness of coveting in your life. Interestingly, this might be the deadliest of all the commandments. God included it so that we would be aware of the sin of coveting and turn our thoughts toward God, who provides all that we need, and more.