The Ninth & Tenth Commandments
After completing the lesson the student will be able to:
Know what the 9th & 10th Commandments are.
Know what these final two Commandments mean for our lives
Define what ‘covet’ means.
Describe ways we can prevent coveting in our own lives.
Know all of the Ten Commandments.
Describe what the purpose of the Law is.
Describe what the purpose of the Gospel is.
Use your catechism to write in the following information about the Ninth and Tenth Commandments. Please copy it word for word below.
To covet means to desire, long for, or crave something that is not your own and belongs to another person. While there are certain things we are to desire in life, this commandant is aimed especially at that which we are not to crave—the belongings or property of someone else. The focus of this Commandment is one’s heart. Therefore, while physical action against your neighbor’s property is prohibited in the 7th Commandment (stealing), this commandment exhorts us to look primarily at our motives and attitudes towards our neighbor’s belongings.
More often than not, when we want something that does not belong to us, it is because we think it will make us happy. We want a new cell phone because it will be better than our old one and make us happy. We want the newest video game because it will make us happy. We want that new shirt or pair of shoes because we believe it will make others like. The list could go on and on.
The point is this, we want things because we love, trust, or fear something more than God. When we doubt what God says we are worth (highly valuable to Him!) and began believing what the world says (only valuable if you have the best clothes, go to the best school, and have a good looking boyfriend or girlfriend), we are really loving what the world says more than God. We are also fearing what man thinks more than God. And even trusting what humans say more than what God says. It’s when our fear, love, and trust is located in something or someplace other than God, that we began coveting what is not ours. When this happens, not only are we breaking the first commandment (and all of them) but we also will never be satisfied.
How long does that new shirt satisfy you before you want a new one?
How long do those new shoes make you happy?
How long does that cell phone or video game last before you want the next and better version?
When we believe the lies of Satan and desire those things above God, we are only feeding a desire that will never be satisfied.
It is important that we understand rightly what the Catechism (and Bible) mean when they refer to God as ‘jealous’. It is not as you and I would commonly think. The word is one that means ‘zeal’ or ‘zealous’. These words describe a passionate intensity to protect or defend something that is jeopardized or in danger. God is ‘jealous’ in that He desires to defend and protect His people (believers), His honor, and His name. By giving us a clear guide as to how we are to live (10 Commandments), God is protecting His people from harm. As much as there is great blessing in obeying Him, there are fearful consequences for disobeying Him. The Conclusion to the 10 Commandments makes that clear.
