Coveting Hall of Shame – Part 4 – Tenth Commandment

Lot

The coveting Hall of Shame, Series 1

The tenth commandment

Exodus 20.17; Deuteronomy 5.21

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his house, his field, his male or female servant, his ox or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Genesis 13.10

And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD…

Not all that glitters is gold.

Abram generously gave his nephew the opportunity to choose where he would live. Lot saw the verdant Jordan valley and the city of Sodom not far off, and he decided this was the place for him. We may be stretching the definition of covetousness here, but it’s fair to ask, why didn’t Lot leave the Jordan for his uncle? The answer is because he wanted it for himself. He wanted it so much, in fact that, later, when, later, the angels of the Lord warned him to flee, they had to drag him out of Sodom. But the glitter of the Jordan valley turned out to be fool’s gold, a dangerous trap of lawlessness and sin that cost Lot his wife, his innocence, and his wellbeing. Apparently, as he stood on that rise contemplating the Jordan valley, Lot was more involved in tallying up his future wealth than considering the best overall course for himself and his family. They all knew the men of Sodom were wicked, but Lot bet that he could deal with that. The opportunity for advancement was just too great, and his desire for riches and ease blinded him to the moral and spiritual jeopardy in which he was placing himself and his family.

Do you ever make short-term decisions for personal benefit that may have adverse moral or spiritual outcomes? This, too, is a form of covetousness.

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.