The Ten Commandments: Nine and Ten

Martin Luther recommended daily meditation on the Ten Commandments, using each Command to Instruct, to provide inspiration for Thanksgiving, to reflect upon in Repentance, and to conclude with Praise to God.

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Ninth and Tenth Commandments

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.  You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.  What does this mean?  We should fear and love God so that we do not scheme to get our neighbor’s inheritance or house, or get it in a way which only appears right, but help and be of service to him in keeping it.  [And] we do not entice or force away our neighbor’s spouse, workers or animals, or turn them against him, but urge them to stay and do their duty.  

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.  You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or his maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.  ~ Exodus 20: 17

He who increases his wealth by exorbitant interest amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor.  ~ Proverbs 28: 8

A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment, but he who hates ill-gotten gain will enjoy a long life.  He whose walk is blameless is kept safe, but he whose ways are perverse will suddenly fall.  He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.  ~ Proverbs 28: 16, 18, 19

Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds!  At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it.  They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them.  They defraud a man of his home, a fellowman of his inheritance.  Therefore, the Lord says: “I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves.  You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity….”  Micah 2: 1 – 3

Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you.  For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.  Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin!  You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.  The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.  Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime!  ~ Habakkuk 2: 8 – 12

Then he said to them, “Watch out!  Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”  And he told them this parable:  “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop.  He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do?  I have no place to store my crops.’  Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do.  I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and all my goods.  And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years.  Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.’” But God said to him, ‘You fool!  This very night your life will be demanded from you.  Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself.  This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.  ~ Luke 12: 15 – 21

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.  Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.  ~ Ephesians 5: 1 – 4

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.  Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.  ~ Colossians 3: 5, 6

Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task.  Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.  ~ 1 Timothy 3: 1 – 3

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Covetousness circles us back again to the First Commandment, the prohibition against idols and false gods.  Covetousness is idolatry:  it is fearing, loving or trusting in something other than God. When we covet our neighbor’s house, positions or belongings, we create false idols and we worship created things rather than the Creator.  When we covet, we do not rely only on God to complete us and to care for us in this life in the next; instead, we place something else into that role:  if only I had…. a larger house, a nicer car, a better paying job, better behaved children, a more supportive spouse, a healthier or differently abled or shaped body, a certain set of belongings, a specific experience of entertainment or leisure…. “If only” becomes our god.  Instead of putting all trust into the God Who created us, redeemed us and still preserves us by His love and power, we trust in things and believe that our lives could be better than what God has chosen to give us.  Covetousness simultaneously causes us to doubt God’s love and providence, and His wisdom and plan for us:  God isn’t taking good enough care of me, I need more, I need what my neighbor has.  

Lord God, thank You for Your divine love and faithfulness, for Your Fatherly goodness and Your eternal and unshakeable wisdom.  You give us what we need to support our bodies and our lives; You give us what we need to remain faithful to You and to serve You in this world; You give us what we need to bring us safely into eternity with You.  Thank You for the blessings that You give each of us:  the circumstances, the physical bodies, the possessions, the vocation, the circle of loved ones.  As a dear Father cares for His dear children, we know that You provide for each of us according to Your love and faithfulness.  Thank You for what You give us. Thank You for blessing us with contentment, and for strengthening us against greed and covetousness.

Heavenly Father, we repent of our greed and our covetousness.  We have failed to fear, love and trust in You above all things. Instead, we have placed our trust and confidence in possessions, and we have coveted and grasped for the possessions and situation of our neighbor.  We have failed to cultivate a spirit of gratefulness and a heart of thankfulness; we have failed to praise You for Your generosity and Your providence, but instead have longed for what You have not chosen to give us.  We have focused our hearts and minds on the blessings of others, rather than meditating with thanksgiving on the blessings which You have given us.  We are dissatisfied, we are ungrateful, we plot and scheme to obtain what is not ours and we fantasize about possessing what does not belong to us by right.  Forgive us our covetousness and our greed.  Forgive us for making idols of the belongings and circumstances of others.  Forgive us for not appreciating what You have blessed us with, the unique and specific belongings and circumstances which You have given us for our good and to Your glory.  Bless us with humble and grateful hearts to place all confidence in You, to love You with our whole hearts, and to fear and trust only in You to meet all of our needs.

Christ Jesus, we praise You for Your great glory:  for the salvation wrought by Your sacrifice, and for the eternal life won by Your defeat of death.  Oh Triune God, You alone are worthy of praise, You alone are worthy of our trust, confidence and thankfulness.  We praise You for meeting all of our needs in this life and in the next; we praise You for tailoring Your blessings to suit our individual lives, and for promising to bless us with more than we could even ask or imagine.  We praise You as the only true God, the only God worthy of our worship and praise.  We ask that You would continue to bless us out of Your great love and compassion, and we ask for all of these things in Jesus’ name and for His sake.  AMEN