What does it mean 'to covet'? Why, in the Bible, is it called 'idolatry'?
Nine of the Ten Commandments are quite practical. Worship the sovereign God as He commands. Respect previous generations. Don't kill. Don't steal. Etc. All good practical stuff. The last Commandment, however, is often viewed as introducing a 'spiritual' element - in the mind rather than behavioral. Yet it is one of the most widely flouted - even by Christians.
The apostle Paul brands covetousness as 'idolatry' - perhaps the most heinous sin. 'You shall not covet...' God says, listing examples in the Tenth Commandment.
Sexual Gratification
Take one item: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's wife'. Is that not covered by the seventh commandment: 'You shall not commit adultery'? Adultery includes at least an illegal desire for someone else's husband or wife. It is a foul practice that tears at the very fabric of society. The more widespread, the more tolerated, it becomes - the closer a nation edges to the brink of destruction. So, how do these two commands differ?
The command also includes coveting you neighbor's livestock and his property - 'anything that is your neighbor's'. Clearly we are seeing the focus of our covetousness as mere things, as objects of self-gratification. We want them because we don't have them. Life has dealt a poor hand, we may rationalize. And the simple desire to have them can lead to our taking them! It does not stay long 'just in the mind'.
Back to 'your neighbor's wife'. 'Love' is not involved here, as with many who convince themselves it may be in an adulterous liaison. The woman (or indeed the man) is seen as a mere object, a fulfillment of 'my' need.
By extension it applies to a visit to the 'red light' district. It applies to those pathetic inadequates who will rape or dally with pornography whether on the 'top shelf' or in the tabloids or on the internet - or TV. It is an indictment of those who abduct and molest children or who lust, contrary to nature, after a person of the same sex. It includes all who seek a sexual experience outside marriage. Any society which tolerates such sexual covetousness and self-gratification is being gnawed away internally and faces collapse.
Rampant Consumerism
But this instruction from the Creator about covetous behavior is inclusive of much more than sexual gratification. 'Who is my neighbor?' Jesus was asked. It isn't just 'the man next door' whose property we desire. My neighbor is, in a sense, my community, my nation, our world with its display of conspicuous wealth.
This is the principle of 'keeping up with the Joneses'. It's shop till you drop. It's the grasping after the glittering shop window displays. It's the competition to acquire the latest toy or play-station or software. It's the new furnishings, the latest fashion, a newer car. We stoke inflation through grasping after ever higher wages to pay for the latest gismo, a larger home, the more exotic holiday. We pile into the latest share fad or get-rich quick scheme.
And to fuel it is credit - cheap plastic to 'take the wait out of wanting'. Buy now-pay later is the watchword.
Credit card debt is at an all-time high in Western society. The average Briton, for example, is in debt to the tune of £7,000 plus - and that is apart from his home mortgage (now worth a total of £388 billion). We are in hock to the tune of a cumulative £42 billion or so credit card debt alone. Thousands suffer heart-break and despair of clearing their debt, becoming prey to the predatory loan shark and/or the loss of their home.
How much simpler: 'Do not covet'! Or, as the New Testament has it: "Be content with such things as you have" (Hebrews 13:5).
Get Rich Quick
Covetousness stretches its deadly tentacles into other aspects of society. Grossly overpaid 'stars' of the world of sport and entertainment with their lavish lifestyle - flaunted in the media - stimulate the avarice of the man-in-the-street. Adults, teenagers - and increasingly, pre-teens - lust after unattainable wealth. Burning desire for mere material goods consumes the individual to the point of idolatry. Many turn to criminal activity or to unsustainable borrowing - and to get-rich-quick schemes.
Part of the 'bread and circuses' mentality of modern government is to give free rein to such schemes. To the outrage of self-help groups, proposed legislation in the United Kingdom, for example, threatens to unleash a gambling frenzy through relaxation of laws previously and sensibly introduced to curb the horrors of gambling - on the race-track, in casinos, in town hall bingo sessions.
Also in the UK every week, lulled by the distant dream of unearned and untold wealth, of becoming filthy rich, sixty percent of the UK populace take part in the National Lottery (recently dumbed down to the 'Lotto'). The lottery is the only Government-permitted advertising on the BBC and is widely promoted in shops, bill-boards, through instant scratch-cards etc. Inevitably, of course, multiple millions are disappointed. It's a lottery, after all!
Savvy organizations see the Lottery for what it is - a tax on the poor, who spend the largest proportion of their wealth on it. It's a discouragement from saving, an encouragement to instant gratification.
Sadly, substantial lottery winnings all too often leave individuals and families in ruin. And post-draw despondency sets in after yet another failed bid: "Hope drawn out makes the heart sick" (Proverbs 13:12). The wise King Solomon also said (v.11): "Wealth acquired rashly [or hastily] dwindles away, but he who gathers by labor increases".
A Christian Response
The apostle Paul urges Christians to 'flee idolatry'. He also perceived that an element of idolatry is covetousness - 'the desire to have more', greed (Colossians 3:5).
Now, it is not wrong for a follower of Jesus to better him or herself, even to be wealthy. Through the development of our inborn talents we are to 'pursue legal occupations'. However, part of the fallen human nature is this tendency to covet. Said Jesus: "What comes out of a man defiles him; for from within, out of a man's heart, wicked reasonings proceed....covetousness..." (Mark 7:21).
Nor, for the Christian, may covetousness be considered as a 'lesser sin'. Paul again, instructing the brethren: " For this you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person nor covetous man - who is an idolater - has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God" (Eph. 5:5). Those same Tenth Commandment elements again! That's strong stuff!
The reason? An unrestrained desire to accumulate possessions runs contrary to the heart of the Christian ethic: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself", the second of the two great foundation principles of the faith. [Request the article The Neglected Commandment for the other one!]
We can convince ourselves that we can handle riches successfully. But Jesus warned us of '...the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things entering in choke the word [of God in us] and it becomes unfruitful' (Mark 4:19).
The apostle Paul, in similar vein, says to us: "But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.... But you O man of God flee these things and pursue righteousness..." (I Timothy 6:6-11).
To comment on this article or request more information, please contact James McBride by e-mail at the comment form below.
For PDF or mailed copy, see CGOM. Excerpt from New Horizons Issue 34, July/August 2002. Edited by James McBride of the Churches of God, United Kingdom.
Go to Literature Index Page
This URL is www.abcog.org/nh/covet.htm