Leviticus: What's Yours is Mine

There are sins in the list of commandments that may be spontaneous - lying, murder and adultery - but the sin of covetousness develops at the end of an insidious process. There is something about covetousness that reflects intentionality and meditation. It is what Micah calls planned iniquity and intentional plots to do evil. 

“Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning 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.”

But first let’s look at three things that are often described as coveting – but are not. Neither of these involve other people and the sin of covetousness is about relationships. These are personal and self-focused but need not include others at all.

First, is hoarding. James describes hoarding as scooping up as much wealth as possible and then suffering the consequences of misery and corruption. “Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire.” Hoarding brings a consuming misery. But hoarding is not the same as coveting.

Second, is greed. The Bible has quite a lot to say about greed and the soul-destroying desire to accumulate. I’ve often thought that the rich fool did not physically die but his soul was required of him nonetheless and he became a walking dead man. That is greed. But it is not quite covetousness. You can be greedy and not affect the life of your neighbor.

Then, third, there is envy and with this we are on our way because you can only envy something someone else has and it always begins with comparison of ours to theirs. The Bible is full of stories of envy. Sara envied Hagar because she had a child. Rachel envied Leah for the same reason. It always begins with the feeling of inadequacy or jealousy. We are all subject to it. We envy the success of other people or their accomplishments. We envy their homes, their cars, their perfect children and their standing in the community and we, unfortunately, begin to resent it. Left unchecked it becomes a cancer in our lives that, Proverbs says, rots the bones.

But it is not covetousness.

Covetousness takes another step and ultimately destroys people and communities.

Covetousness is specific. There is something belonging to someone else that you desire. It is not simply greed which only wants more. It has an object and that object has an owner. It is not just lying on the ground or misplaced. It is personal.

Covetousness wants to take something away from someone and intentionally diminish them. It could be a house, a wife, a possession but a central part of the motivation is taking something specific that is important to another person. It is not stealing an ashtray from their house. It is desiring their house. It begins with “I desire what is yours. I want to have what is yours because it is yours.” Greed is simply desiring more. Covetousness is I desire what is yours to be mine. I add to mine by subtracting yours. Covetousness is about a relationship. It is a picture of Satan’s relationship with God. Satan desires us in order to hurt God. He desires to have what is rightfully God’s. Remember what God says to Cain in Genesis? Satan is crouching and desires to have you. That is the characteristic of covetousness. It needs the other to feel the loss. 

It is a form of conquering the other person and a show of power over them and diminishing them by the loss. It is what Absalom did to his father, David, when he stole the hearts of the people and created a rebellion. “So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he lay with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.” Covetousness destroys relationships. It can destroy whole nations when someone or some institution desires to have what belongs rightfully to someone else. In other words, when covetousness goes unchecked it destroys. It is lethal and fatal.

It is God’s final word of instruction and warning in the commandments. Be content and enjoy what is rightfully yours but remember this. The path of covetousness is the road of destruction.

‍