Coveting is Good

Mike Hosey, Elder

Despite what you might think about the 10th Commandment (Exodus 20:17), coveting is actually good. In fact, if you have a life that is free from coveting than you probably have a stagnant life.

Right about now you might be indignantly asking, "Hey wait a minute Mike! Are you really giving me permission to covet?  Like I can covet my neighbor's wife, or my neighbor's donkey, or his male or female servants?"

Well, no.  You probably don't really want your neighbor's wife anyway. You're not married to her, so I am fairly certain there are things about her that you don't know, and wouldn't be pleased with. I don't think you want the vet bill for a donkey, and you can't afford the upkeep for male and female servants.

The word covet, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament comes from a word that simply means "to desire."  In the Old Testament's Hebrew, that word is chamad (Strongs H2530). It simply means to desire or to long after. In Genesis 2:9 it is the word that describes how the trees in Eden were pleasing. Chamad becomes bad, like in the 10th commandment, when it is centered on lust or some other evil desire, or when it is born out of a discontent for what you have been given, or a jealousy over your neighbor's station in life. For Adam and Eve, it was finding something desirable that they were told they couldn't have (Genesis 3:6).

In the New Testament's Greek, that word is epithymeo (Strongs G1937). Paul uses it in Romans 13:9 to summarize the 10th commandment.  In Matthew 13:17, Jesus uses that word to describe how the prophets of old had longed to see what He was fulfilling. Interestingly, Jesus also uses that word to describe how he longed to eat the Passover meal with his disciples (Luke 22:15).

The things that you are free to covet are not things at all.  They are relationships and states of being.  You are to covet, to desire, or to long after a relationship with Jesus.  You are to covet, to desire, or to long after holiness, purity, forgiveness, and the glorification of God. And after those things, you are to long after true love, and right relationships that will flow out of that love to those around you. (Romans 13:9-10) -- which would be a fulfillment of the law.