The last nine weeks we have studied a commandment a week. Tonight we come to the Tenth and final of the Ten Commandments:

Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not COVET thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.

When God gave the Tenth Commandment, He was very specific. The believer is not to “covet” (Hebrew ḥāmaḏ, pronounced khaw-mad’) that which God has given to another. God said:

“You shall not DESIRE your neighbor’s WIFE (or husband)”

This leads to adultery.

“You shall not DESIRE your neighbor’s employees”

This harms another’s business.

“You shall not DESIRE your neighbors vehicles”

Appreciate the tractor or car God has given you.

“You shall not DESIRE anything of your neighbors”

This leads to theft.

It is not wrong to desire. God created us with desire – but we are to desire the proper thing.

We Are To Desire – And Cherish – What God Has Given Us

God created us with desires. When God created the Garden in Eden the Bible says:

Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is PLEASANT (TO BE COVETED, Hebrew ḥāmaḏ, pronounced khaw-mad’) to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Word Study: God made things PLEASANT, ḥāmaḏ, right after He made man (Genesis 2:7). God made us with desires, then built a Garden to put us in that would satisfy our desires. Humans are called to cherish what God gave us – but not what God forbade us. To cherish the wrong thing is to commit IDOLATRY, as we are told in:

Ephesians 5:5 (ESV) For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

What led to the first sin, the sin that caused the fall of humanity? It was when Adam and Eve, LISTENING TO THE DEVIL, began to ḥāmaḏ or COVET that which God said was forbidden. The Bible says:

Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be DESIRED (COVET, Hebrew ḥāmaḏ, pronounced khaw-mad’) to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Coveting leads to sinful behavior. James warned the Christian:

James 4:1-4 (ESV) What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Coveting anything other than the GLORY OF GOD leads to war and infighting. If we will seek God with our desires, wanting what He wants us to have, then we would be blessed. Israel never fully settled the Promised Land because they never put God first. Whereas Jesus told His Church to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33), God told His Old Testament Israel to put Him first. If Israel would covet God’s glory first, then God promised:

Exodus 34:24 … I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man DESIRE (COVET, Hebrew ḥāmaḏ, pronounced khaw-mad’) thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.

God said “Covet ME first. Desire only what I GIVE you. If you do so, I will protect what is yours. If not, you will lose your blessings”.

Why did the first generation of Israel lose the blessings of Canaan, dying over 40 years in the wilderness? It was because they were never satisfied with what God gave them. They never thanked God for the blessings of His salvation. Anytime the life they were living got slightly uncomfortable, they began to moan, and to accuse their leadership and God Himself of hating them. When God sent the twelve spies into the Promised Land, they came out knowing it was “a land of milk and honey” (Exodus 3:5, 8) just as God promised them. Yet they complained because there were giants in the land. They complained that when God saved them, that He brought them out of Egypt, out of a land of milk and honey (Numbers 16:13-14). Israel did not count their blessings, but began to curse God and the leadership.

Exodus 17:3 … the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

They continued down this pathway until they brought the wrath of God on themselves. The Bible says:

Numbers 14:2-4, 27-38 (ESV) all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” … {God replies} …. 27 I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ 35 I, the LORD, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.” 36 And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land— 37 the men who brought up a bad report of the land—died by plague before the LORD. 38 Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive.

God Is Serious About His People Controlling Their Desires

The first generation of Israel died in the wilderness because of coveting, which is idolatrousness. When God sent the second generation of Israel into the land, God told His people that when they went into the Land of Canaan, they were to never bring the cursed thing into their homes. What was “the CURSED thing?” It was the idols of the Canaanites.

The Canaanite false gods were created from stone or wood, and adorned with gold, silver, and precious stones. When Israel conquered a city they were to DESTROY, not covet the CURSED THINGS, but utterly destroy them.

God warned in Deuteronomy 7:25-26 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not DESIRE (COVET, Hebrew ḥāmaḏ, pronounced khaw-mad’) the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. 26 Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.

The “cursed thing” was anything that you COVETED above your love for God and His glory. The “CURSED THING” is an idol hidden among the people of God. Once Israel settled the Promised Land, if any city of Israel departed from loving God, and started COVETING anything more than God, then the Lord said:

Deuteronomy 13:15-17 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. 16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again. 17 And there shall cleave naught of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers;

As the second generation of Israel moved into the Promised Land, led by Joshua and loving God, they defeated every enemy they came against. Israel coveted only God, and His glory.

Then Israel came to the City of Ai (pronounced EYE).

Unknown to Joshua and Israel as a nation, a man named Achan was with Israel as they marched around Jericho. He was there when the walls fell down (Joshua 6:20), and witnessed the salvation of Rahab and her family from the rubble. God knocked the walls of Jericho down. God gave Israel the victory. Their next stop was Ai (pronounced EYE). Jericho was an armed and walled city, impenetrable according to those who knew. Ai was, in comparison, a tent city. It wasn’t much of a challenge. When Joshua decided to attack Ai, he just sent three thousand (3000) men (Joshua 7:4). This was going to be a cakewalk. But it WASN’T.

Israel was easily repelled at Ai. When Joshua attacked Jericho, an armed fortress, he lost no one. At Ai, Joshua lost 36 men. Joshua fell down before the Lord, and began to pray:

Joshua 7:7-9 … Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! 8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?

How did God answer Joshua? God told Joshua, “STOP PRAYING!”

Joshua 7:10-11 … Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? 11 Israel hath sinned …

Quit praying. Quit crying out to Me. You have ALL sinned against Me. How did Joshua sin? Before Joshua attacked Ai, he didn’t pray and seek God’s counsel.

Joshua sent spies out, and presumed upon God. God was not being glorified. Joshua was over confident, and arrogant. Then when told “we don’t need the whole army”, Joshua sent just 3000 men without consulting God. Pastor Dave Miller writes:

“Where did this presumption come from? What had Israel done to defeat Jericho? One thing. One thing only. They obeyed. When God said march, they marched. And the walls came a-tumblin’ down. It was not Joshua’s leadership or Israel’s military prowess that won the battle. It was God’s power. But now, Israel was taking credit for what God had done. “A mighty army like ours, having just defeated Jericho, will find little challenge against Ai.” … Remember this: In the power of God, no enemy is too big. Greater is he that is in you… But in the power of self, no enemy is too small.”

Before Joshua could pray, he needed to REPENT. Israel needed to REPENT. God will hear our prayers, but will not bless us until we REPENT. Had Joshua sought God before Ai, then God would have told him sin is in the camp. God now tells Joshua:

Joshua 7:11-12 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.

Joshua coveted and took the glory of God, presuming on God. He sinned. Israel presumed on God by attacking Ai without God’s blessing. They sinned. A citizen named Achan stole idolatrous items, and his them in his family’s tent. Achan sinned. When confronted, Achan confessed:

Joshua 7:20-21 … Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: 21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

The 200 shekels of silver is worth $52.97. The gold of 50 shekels weight is about 550 grams, or 19.4 ounces. This would be about $38,712 today. What Achan took was under $40,000 in value today – a year’s wages for a middle class worker. It cost him his life. It cost him his family. It cost him everything. God is serious about coveting what He has not given us. We need to run from it!

Love God – Don’t Be Like Satan

Christians are to be like Jesus, not like Satan. The Bible tells us that Satan is the original coveter. The Prophet said:

Isaiah 14:12-14 (NKJV) “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’

Satan – the fallen Angel originally named Lucifer or the Shining One – made five “I WILL” statements. He coveted Heaven, seeking to enter it as his own. Satan coveted the worship of the angels, to elevate himself high above his brethren. Satan wanted to rule the earth. But most importantly, Satan wanted to depose God, and assume the Throne of Heaven for himself.

Though Satan deceived Eve, and has stolen dominion of the world from Adam, he only led a third of the angels of Heaven in revolt against God. Satan could not assume God’s Throne, though he tried.

Christians, we should covet – but only the things that God wants us to covet. The Apostle tells us to “COVET earnestly the BEST GIFTS” (1 Corinthians 12:31), to “COVET the Kingdom of God”(Matthew 6:33). We are to trust God with our desires. I end with these words:

1 Timothy 6:7-8 (ESV) for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

1 Timothy 6:9-10 (ESV) But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Greed and covetousness keeps us from the blessings God wants us to have. Let us be grateful for what the Lord has given us. Remember that “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35). May God bless the reading and preaching of His Word. Amen.