One of God’s Ten Commandments is “Thou shall not covet.” The Hebrew word for "covet" is chamad (חמד) which is commonly translated into English as “lust", and "strong desire." In essence, covet means to crave, desire or want. So I ask - how many people struggle with wanting something that they do not have? Is it 1 or 2, or is it everyone, including you and me? I have to be honest. I have never met a man who has seen a nice car driving down the street and not said, “Man, I wish that was mine.” And I’ve never met a woman who has witnessed a flower birthday surprise and not said, “She is so lucky. I wish my husband did that for me.” I have witnessed coveting happening from the pulpits and the pews, the school yard and the streets; and I’ve felt coveting happen from within my own heart. Coveting is always bad; it is never good. I would say that coveting is on the same playing field as pride. Both are totally about self - they both are desires of the heart that put oneself above God. Ugh! Why does the human condition have to be so hard? I can’t even imagine what it will be like to live in the New Jerusalem - a land totally void of sin. The feelings that typically arise when we crave, desire and want are envy and jealousy - and when they are strong, they can eat us up inside; and if they get out of hand, they can tear our relationships down - which then lead to shame and guilt! According to Webster’s dictionary, envy is a feeling of discontentment or resentful aroused by someone else's possessions, qualities, or luck; and jealousy is the feeling associated with protecting “what is mine.” In essence, “jealousy" describes a negative emotion caused by an attack on something we already have (usually a person in a relationship); while "envy," is a negative emotion caused by us wanting something owned by someone else (usually a possession, a blessing or a personal trait they have). I think we often get these two feelings confused - but now that I have a better understanding - I can see why God calls himself a jealous God! Exodus 20:5 He is protecting what is His! Now I can move on with Genesis 37 and the story of Joseph, and how he was sold by his brothers. Joseph was sent by his father to check on his brothers who were supposed to be tending to Jacob’s sheep in the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?” Joseph said, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?” The man told Joseph that he saw the brothers and overheard them say they were going to Dothan. Dothan was a town on the international trade route which connected Mesopotamia to Egypt. When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming they plotted to kill him. “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.” Genesis 37:19-20 So I ask - we’re they jealous or were they envious? Which feeling could trigger such a violent response? Reuben, the oldest, heard this, and tried to rescue Joseph from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. Genesis 37:21-22 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe - the ornate robe he was wearing that Jacob had made for him - and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it. As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” Can you believe - this is Judah - the blood line of King David - from which Jesus would come?!?! The scripture says, “His brothers agreed.” When the Midianite merchants came, his brothers sold him for 20 shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. Note: the Midianites were Ishmaelites - the people Gideon took on; and Judas handed over Jesus in exchange for 30 silver coins. Reuben must have been gone, because the scripture says, “When Reuben returned and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?” Genesis 37:29-30 The passage says they slaughtered a goat and dipped Joseph’s ornate robe in it’s blood. Then they took the robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.” He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.” Genesis 37:31-33 You see, no explanation had to be given. Joseph always had that robe on. It was his prized possession. Everyone knew it - his father and his brothers. If the robe was off him, and if it was bloody, then he must have been eaten by a ferocious lion. Jacob grieved for his beloved son. “He tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him. Genesis 34-35 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.” Genesis 37:36 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” Romans 8:28-30 “Thou shall not covet” there is a reason it is one of the Ten Commandments. Coveting leads to unrighteousness and unrighteousness leads to murder. But God is good. He sees us in the midst of our sin. He sent his beloved son, to be our covering blood. When he looks at us, he first looks for Him. “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;” but the blood of Jesus - that is a completely different thing! That is our saving mercy. That is our saving grace. That is our reason to live!
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