"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." - Exo :20:16
The Tenth Commandment.

From the awesome opening lightning crack of "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me ", to the reverberating peals of the various "thou shall's" and "thou shalt not" , here is a thunderous finale worthy of a symphony orchestra! Why the hyperbole... you may ask... and the answer is obvious... it is well deserved! Let me show you....

Notice that most of the commandments have to do with physical Acts/Actions in a fairly literal sense ( making idols, observing the Sabbath, murdering etc.) - THIS one has the most direct connection with the Sermon on the Mount in that it speaks to an -internal- condition of the heart and mind. Coveting is a thought crime! Here God is actually addressing the deepest roots of sin in our life.

You may say - what's the big deal? I haven't actually done anything. This is just a harmless fantasy. Nobody's actually getting hurt... victimless crime ... right? Wrong - Covetousness is the trigger that precedes the commission of sin.

Satan coveted Gods throne and in his pride said "I will be like the Most High." (Isaiah 14:14). You could say pride was the root of that sin, and that's true, but it made him covet! Being like God was the temptation offered to Adam and Eve as well, and the cause of their downfall. Achan is not a familiar name - but he was an Israelite responsible for the death of 36 Israelites, and the defeat of Israel by the people of Ai because he secretly kept back some loot from Jericho which was supposed to be destroyed. ( Joshua 7:21) Ahab ( King of Israel!) wanted Naboth's little vineyard so badly he killed him for it.(1 Kin. 21:2–16) King David had his neighbor killed so that he could marry his wife.(2 Sam. 11:2–5) Simon Magus, so desired the miracles of the apostles, He offered to buy the gift of the Holy Spirit with money (Acts 8:18–23).

This is such a deep rooted evil - it manifests as discontentment with what God has provided for us, and causes us to murmur against Him. It robs us of the happiness of counting our blessings and instead feeds bitterness, hate and envy at the good fortune of others. It causes us to lie, cheat, and kill to get what we want - even Buddha got it right (!) when he narrowed the root cause of human suffering to Desire. Greed and the love of money ( as the means of obtaining what one desires ) are close relatives. It robs us of peace and replaces it with a hunger that once fed, insatiably demands more. Our Lord warns against it in these terms - "Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." - Luke 12:15

It actually is a character flaw that disqualifies one for leadership. Moses' father-in-law gave him some inspired advice in picking his team... "Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, --hating covetousness--; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens" - Exo 18:21 This was echoed by the Apostle Paul in his requirements of a church leader "A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, --not covetous--..." 1 Tim 3:2-3. Peter warns against false teachers who..."through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you.." 2 Peter 2:3

God hates it and its outcomes. "For I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord. For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely." Jer 6:12-13 "For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, And blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth." : Ps 10:3 This last passage is the scariest of all, as it reminds me of churchgoers. " Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness." - Eze 33:30-31

It's wrong to want what your neighbor has - but it's not wrong to want good things for yourself!! Paul tells us ... "covet earnestly the best gifts." : 1 Cor 12:31 "Brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order." 1 Cor 14:39 To prophesy means to speak ( Gk: prophetes- tell forth) the Word of God for encouragement, education and comfort. It's a 'best' gift - because it confers all the benefit to the hearer and not the speaker! You can prophesy in tongues - but be sure that it IS a tongue you are prophesying in (someone else should be able to interpret it) ! Hence the command to do it 'decently and in order' and not in a cacophony of gibberish. Remember you are claiming to speak FOR God, and He is going to judge you for prophesying falsely in His Name.

But better than prophesying , is the gift of Love. Speaking with the tongues of angels, giving our goods to the poor, understanding all mysteries, even giving our body to be martyred pales in comparison with the gift of Love, which is shed abroad from our hearts through the indwelling Spirit of God!

And so we come full circle, back to where we started, Love. It's who God IS, and what He created us to be. Lovers of Him, and each other. It shines out of every commandment! I leave you with the words of our God spoken through the apostle Paul.

"Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." - Rom 13:8-10