10 – You shall not covet (desire what is not yours)
The last commandment from Yahuah is closely connected with other commandments: you shall not have idols, you shall not steal and you shall not commit adultery.
Wish and desire start in the eyes. We may not even know we want something, but once we lay our eyes in an object or a person, we suddenly may desire to possess it. ‘The eyes are the windows of our soul’, is a recurrent expression. It is indeed an opening to the outside world and while Yahuah gave us this important sense to help us navigate and interact with the colors and forms, it also made us susceptible to temptation.
Does that mean that blind people do not covet? Oh no, other senses will play that role, the eyes are only one window to the temptations of the world, but all humans are equally exposed. In fact, we can say that when temptation charms us and blocks our minds, we are in a way – blind.
We see (or to be fair to all, we acknowledge with our senses an external stimuli), and next it can stir desire in us. Our new desired object/person may be available (a car on sale that we can afford to buy) or it may not be available for us (a married person). Ideally if that's not available, we just don’t give any further thought. Ideally, right?
Desire, or from the Hebrew word 'chamad', can be a burning fire. Chamad means not only desire or covet, but also ‘taking pleasure in desiring’. What is initially a little seed planted in our rational thought, which can slowly grow when we indulge in thinking about our object of desire. And let’s not forget that thoughts can also be ‘whispered’ by demons.
The question is: how strong are we to ‘cut the weed when it’s small’? If we are not watchful, the thought will dominate our minds (idolatry) and moving to the next base will be only a matter of finding an opportunity.
Our sinful thoughts defile us
By allowing a coveting thought to linger in our minds, we are in a way giving ground for this desire to produce thoughts that defile our soul. However, the problem does not end in our own defilement – the consequence of an unchecked desiring thought can be sinful actions against our brothers and sisters, such as adultery, theft, even murder.
And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” Mark 7:20-23
David had sex with Bathsheba in his thoughts way before he put his desire into action. He also plotted for her husband’s death first in his mind before he wrote the note to his general. How much inequity the desire for someone else’s woman brought!
Another important aspect we should consider is the energy coveting vibrates. That’s envy. That's the closest we can get to how Satan felt, the envious angel who despite being a creature, envied his Creator and Adam's status in the garden of Eden. He was the most beautiful and a high ranked angel and still he was not happy. We must be careful not to let comparison make us ungrateful for what we have. ‘The neighbor’s grass is greener’ vibe. As Yahusha told us:
'But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart'. (Matthew 5:28)
Why is this commandment more important now than ever?
Because moral and humanity is growing cold by the day as we approach the end times and all sort of abhorrent behavior is getting more and more acceptable and even encouraged. Once cultivating nasty envious thoughts is alright, the next steps are not so difficult to follow.
Controlling our thoughts is one of the most difficult yet most important things we should learn to do.
The conclusion
The 10 commandments are not very popular, huh? They can be quite uncomfortable and when we acknowledge that even our thoughts can be detrimental to our spiritual journey, it's a whole different game! Would you disagree that thoughts are dangerous, though?
While most of us are decent people, we still sin - all the time, for this is our nature. Our conscience however should warn us that what we're doing/thinking is not ok. Follow your guts. Even if your 'friend' says it's ok, if that famous movie has a scene where adultery is normal, it's not.
Whether we like it or not, the commandments were never made void and the world is not this repugnant chaos we see today because people follow the Bible - much on the opposite!
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