Deuteronomy 5:21 Neither shall you desire your neighbor's wife, neither shall you covet your neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant… This commandment is in brief, "Thou shalt not covet"; or, to put it positively, Give Me thine heart. Give it not to the world and all its store. Thus beginning and end of the Ten Words are united — the circle completed. "He who keeps the first commandment," said one of the fathers, "possesses the spring of all good works and righteousness, i.e. the love of God; and he who keeps the last commandment checks the fountain of all sin, namely, evil desire, whence flow all wicked works" (1 John 2:15). What does this command require of us? I. THAT WE SHOULD NOT WELD TO EVIL DESIRES. This is the easiest requirement. 1. The story of Ahab and Naboth's vineyard is a terrible example of the result of yielding to covetousness. Yet how many Ahabs are there who lust after their neighbour's house, etc., and who, when the neighbour has come down in the world and a friendly hand might raise him, do not stretch out that hand, but eagerly seize hold of the coveted possession! 2. How many are there also who, out of envy and covetousness, will disturb the peace of a household — raising discord between man and wife, between servant and master! Not more than one in ten can be found, perhaps, who would, on the contrary, seek to reconcile, in love and faithfulness, husband and wife, and how many will seek to draw a good and faithful servant even from a friend's service, with promise of higher wages, etc.! How many will either possess themselves of what is another's; or, if that cannot be, with the wickedest meanness seek to destroy or spoil the possession! 3. In this commandment God puts a check on the sin and evil desires which haunt men's hearts like savage creatures, ready to break forth in shameful deeds. He knows that wicked desires manifest themselves universally: envy, which covets a neighbour's goods; hate, which seeks a neighbour's undoing; fleshly lusts, which flame out in debauchery, pride, vanity, etc. But the apology of men, "Sin was stronger than I," will not stand; but "Let not sin reign" (Romans 6:12). II. THAT WE SHOULD NOT NOURISH EVIL DESIRES IN OUR HEARTS. This is a much harder endeavour. 1. Men can weaken and repress such desires, but they can also excite, foster, and indulge them. The poor boy who fled from the shelter which had been accorded to him through the frost and snow of a winter's night, until the desire to steal which the ticking of a watch aroused in him had vanished, thus bravely conquered evil desire. 2. Many who have not seized a neighbour's possession have yet coveted it, and have not put restraint on this desire. Some would not injure a neighbour, but are yet rejoiced when misfortune falls on him. The envious man may never attempt to ruin another's happiness; yet if the evil thoughts were clearly brought to the light of day, how would he himself shrink from them! 3. Even when such evil desires do not blossom into deed, yet they are reckoned even as deeds in the pure light of heaven. Adultery and uncleanness, murder and revenge, envy and anger, are classed as "works of the flesh." 4. We may not prevent evil thoughts coming into our minds, but we may take care that they gain no footing within us. "You can't prevent the birds flying about your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair, said Luther. Through labour, prayer, remembrance of God and our Saviour we can give evil thoughts no place in our hearts. III. THAT WE SHOULD HAVE NO EVIL THOUGHTS IN OUR HEARTS. This is the most difficult endeavour. 1. "Thou shalt be holy, for I am holy." "Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect." It is not enough that we should repress, etc., these evil desires; we must seek to banish them entirely. Not only must the weed be repressed; it must be uprooted. Can we do this? Let us hear the apostle (Romans 7:18-35). 2. But here our power has an end. Like the young man who came to the Saviour, we may keep outwardly, in appearance, all the commandments; yet this command is put here to show us that yet we have not attained — that our hearts are not yet fully temples of God; that though our lives might seem perfect to men, yet God calls us by nature lost and ruined. Thus before God stand those who say, To do good is the best religion. Truly, in doing good, religion manifests itself; but to attempt by our own little display of common honesty, etc., to make ourselves rich before God, and to despise the Christian faith, is vain. To say that this good-doing is the best religion is to lie. 3. God looks on the heart. He measures the actions by the heart. He looks not merely on the stamp which the coin bears, but at the metal from which it is formed above all. Woe to us were there no other way to life than perfectly keeping the commandments! But thank God, we have our Christian faith. The blessing we gain from an earnest consideration of this commandment is that it brings home the fact that salvation is not by the law alone, and makes us eager to learn the good news which is called the Gospel, and which tells us that "the just shall live by his faith." (K. H. Caspari.) Parallel Verses KJV: Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's. |
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