You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbour’s.
Comment:
This is a really interesting one. We have given it a green status because we believe it still applies to God’s people. It is also easy to carry out in our day and location – or is it? When we think about this commandment more carefully, we realise how much of our modern world is based on the simple act of coveting – wanting for oneself what we see others having. Capitalism is pretty much based on people wanting to better themselves, and doing what they can in order to gain more wealth, possessions etc. The whole marketing industry revolves around making people desire things that they don’t yet have and did’t even know they wanted. And we tend to view all that not just as an ok part of modern-day life, but often also as something positive eg the American dream. So what does it really mean for us not to covet in our lives today? And how much changes in our lives if we truly keep this commandment?