Q: What does God require in the eighth, ninth and tenth commandments?
A: Eighth, that we do not take without permission that which belongs to someone else, nor withhold any good from someone we might benefit. Ninth, that we do not lie or deceive, but speak the truth in love. Tenth, that we are content, not envying anyone or resenting what God has given them or us.
James 2:8 “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.”
The eighth commandment, found in Exodus 20:15, “You shall not steal” is echoed in Proverbs 30:8-9 “Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.” Not only is God our full provision, but he desires we recognize him as so. He alone fulfills our needs in a foreshadowing of the feast to come. We also see here that God is our helper, to keep us from sinning against him, he provides for us in appropriate measure, that we neither revel in our abundance and become proud or turn in lack to ill gotten gain and profane his name.
Leviticus 19:11,13 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.” This commandment is summed up in the command to love our neighbour as ourselves. We must not steal, whether through deception in words or dealings, through the taking of another’s property or through dealing unfaithfully or unjustly with one another. We cannot withhold what rightfully belongs to another, we must fulfill whatever obligations we have promised to the best of our ability.
Ephesians 4:28 “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” Paul shows here how this should change our hearts. Our desire for physical blessings should not be for our own gain but, instead should be used as an opportunity to reflect God’s generosity towards us. The things of this world should be held ever lightly as a reminder of the infinitely greater gifts they foreshadow and give us the ability to bless others. Rather than to bring others harm, we should be actively seeking their good, and not failing to be generous with what we have whenever we have opportunity.
Scripture speaks very clearly to us of the truthful nature of God. Scriptures like Numbers 23:19 “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or as has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?”, Romans 3:4 “Let God be true though every one were a liar” and John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Provide just a few examples of Scripture meant to reveal to us God’s trustworthiness. Not only is he truthful in all that he says, he alone is also capable to keep every word he says, there is no promise he has made or word he has spoken that he is unable to fulfill to perfection.
Again, God’s character is in stark contrast to ours. John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Jesus has this rebuke for the pharisees, and us, our nature is not to be honest people, but our sinful desire is to follow the character of Satan in lying, deceiving and profaning our creator.
Our dishonesty comes in many forms. Proverbs 30:5-6 "Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.” When we misuse the word of God we are liars because we do not represent him truthfully. His word is our only source of unwavering truth and we mishandle it at our own peril.
We also are found to be liars when we slander others, or gossip, using our words to harm others. No offence in the Old Testament that was punishable by death was to be rendered unless on the word of two or more witnesses, or now when an offence is brought against those in the church, that we can be (reasonably) certain of the truth of the account. The call to not bear false testimony is because of the harm it can have on others.
Likewise, we are guilty of omission of this commandment when withhold the truth from others. Whether that be in our failure to share the truth of the gospel, or when we decline to speak the truth in love to fellow believers for the sake of their edification.
We ought to be a people who love the truth, we are blessed to know the greatest truth. We should not be a people who have discredited themselves through continued dishonesty and profaned the name of the giver of all truth, a truth which we are called to proclaim boldly to all people.
We see the tenth commandment in Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.” The opposite of covetousness is contentment, and God desires that we would be content in him. Deuteronomy 28:63 “And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you.” God delights in doing good for us, God delights in us delighting in him, because allowing us to delight in him is truly the most loving thing he could do for us. God knows that no desire we have is ever truly satisfied apart from him, that is why “godliness with contentment is great gain” 1 Tim 6:6.
Desire in itself is not a bad thing, God constantly appeals to our desires, all promises of heaven are promises of reward, all through the Old Testament, as we see in Deuteronomy 28, he appeals to our desire for abundance, in family, in harvest, in peace. Covetousness is when we desire these things instead of God, when we desire God only as a means to acquire his gifts.
CS Lewis, famously, said it like this: “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” Whenever we seek something out of jealousy, or take pleasure in someone else’s lack or suffering, we are guilty of covetousness. 1 John 3:17 “But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?” When our desire for ourselves outweighs our desire for God or our love for our neighbour we are found guilty of breaking this command.
We should rejoice in our neighbour’s blessing, whether familial, relational, material or status. We should celebrate with our neighbour in the blessings that God has seen fit to bestow upon them and be glad of the estate that we have been given, knowing that God has done all of these things for our good. We rejoice in abundance that we may be generous, and likewise, we should rejoice in lack that we may rely all the more on God for our true satisfaction.