‘And you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbour’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour’s.’ (Deuteronomy 5:21)

The tenth commandment is different to the other nine because dictates the internal life.  It is centred on desire not behaviour, on what drives action not the actions themselves.

The English word covet has fallen from general usage but it used still employed in the Bible because no other word quite covers the meaning of the Hebrew חָמַד chamad.  The Hebrew word is ‘to take pleasure in’, but it in a manner that is extreme, ungoverned and intensively selfish. Moreover, it a word reeking of idolatry, as overtly expressed by Isaiah:

All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in (chamad) do not profit.  (Isaiah 44:9)

Similarly in English, ‘covet’ means to wish for, or desire inordinately, especially without the regard for others.  It comes from the same Latin root (via Old French) cupiditas as ‘cupidity’.  But whereas cupidity means an eager and urgent desire, covet has in addition a lust that would overturn order (inordinate) and break all rules; a desire so great that it can only be achieved to the loss and diminution of others.

In truth, buried in the tenth commandment is the basis of the Gospel, and the Apostle Paul is the first commentator to make the link for the church.  In considering sin with regard of the Law, he writes:

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.  (Romans 7:7-8)

He is saying that he was able to practice a form of self-righteousness until he mediated on the tenth commandment.  As a Pharisee and apart from Christ could keep the Law in full, but the Gospel opened his eyes that the tenth commandment was impossible for him to uphold. As a result of the Fall, all are born with Original Sin and immediately want to do the very things God commands against doing.

He continues:

I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.  (ibid 7:9)

Through revelation, he could see the commandment not to covet was about desire – desire which is humanly ungovernable.  As if it was impossible to observe and he would always fall short, forgiveness had to be attained.  He concludes with wonderful rhetoric flourish:

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!  (ibid 7:24-25)

God gave Moses the tenth commandment and only God could release Paul from its burden, multiple transgressions, sin and death through the cross of Christ.  

The Greek word that Paul chooses to represent the Hebrew chamad is ἐπιθυμέω epithumeó, a verb from epi,‘out of’, and thymós, which is an outburst of passion.  Matthew uses the same word to record what Jesus says about adultery:

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent (epithumeo) has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  (Matthew 5:28)

And of course, this is a restating of the tenth commandment, where the desirous intent is sinful not just the execution.

Paul also came to realise that if it had of been humanly possible to harness inordinate and ungovernable passion by will power alone, then all nine of the preceding commandments to the tenth are redundant because lust and desire drives every sin. He exhorts the church of Colossae to:

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)

Thus without desire there is no idolatry, no carven image put in place of God, and no cause to take His name in vain.  The Sabbath would be a delight not a burden.  Parental honour could not be violated by a child’s errancy.  What drives a person to murder if not passion or envy?  Desire is at the root of adultery and theft, both take what it is not rightfully yours and denies it to those to whom it rightfully belongs, whether it is the fruit of marriage or a person’s possessions.  False witness is to lie to the cost of another – what twisted emotion causes any to do this?

Through faith in Jesus as our Lord – that is the one we submit to in order to govern the ungovernable human spirit – and his perfect sacrifice of Jesus, there are two imputations by the cross.  One is away from a person to Jesus, the second flows in the other direction.  To Jesus goes the penalty of our sins and from Jesus comes his righteousness.  

In terms of the tenth commandment, like Paul, all can know that covetousness is at the root of all sin, and everyone is dependent God’s mercy and grace before any can come absolved before Jesus who will judge all.