Thou shalt not covet— Prohibitions being given against particular vices, God concludes his commandments with a prohibition against vice in general; discountenancing that concupiscence and restless desire of our corrupt nature, which prompts discontent with our station and property, and leads, in consequence, to every unjust method of gratifying the criminal desire. This commandment, therefore, is designed to strike at the root of all evil; that is, corrupt dispositions: for, as our Saviour observes, out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, &c. Matthew 15:19. It has been justly remarked, that this precept proves, that the laws of the decalogue are not to be considered as merely political institutions; since this relates to the dispositions and habits of the mind, which, in the nature of things, must have been exempted from the cognizance of merely civil laws: and here we may easily see the reason why our Saviour, in his account of the commandments, Matthew 19:16 in the place of thou shalt not covet, has substituted thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; because, where there are no ungoverned appetites, no criminal desires, the current of universal benevolence will expand itself, and flow free and unconfined: and, on the other hand, a sincere affection to mankind in general, and a concern for their happiness, will, through grace, extirpate the very seeds and first principles of every un-social passion, and prevent all that impatient and restless anxiety which springs from concupiscence, to whatever object directed. See Romans 7:7.
REFLECTIONS.—The first table related to God; the second respects our neighbour. When we conscientiously serve the one, we shall infallibly desire to walk upright before the other.
1. The fifth commandment enjoins the reverence due to our parents, and in them to all superiors; a respectful carriage towards them; obedient submission to their just commands; patience under their corrections; teachableness under their instructions, and readiness to help and succour them at all times according to our abilities. The promise annexed to it is long possession of the promised land. Note; The career of a disobedient child is often short, and even in this world has frequently a miserable end.
2. The sixth commandment forbids murder, in every kind and degree, of others or ourselves; and not only restrains from the outward act, but condemns the rash anger which leads to it, whether in thought, word, or deed. Note; He who reads Matthew 5:22 will need to humble himself for the murder he has committed.
3. The seventh commandment respects our own and our neighbour's chastity. It condemns not only the grosser act, but every desire, thought, look, word, or action, which would lead to impurity.
4. The eighth commandment enjoins all honesty and fidelity: condemns every act of injustice, fraud, or oppression, whether to individuals or the public; and also that profusion or covetousness which naturally leads to the breach of it.
5. The ninth commandment forbids all perjury, lying, backbiting, slandering, equivocation, and whatever would deceive or be to the injury of our neighbour.
6. The tenth commandment is the spirituality of all the rest in one, and strikes at the root of that selfishness which is in the corrupted nature of man, forbidding the wanderings of vain desire, and the imaginations of lust and covetousness. Well will it be for us, if the deep views of this holy law affect our hearts, both with a sense of our need of the blood of Jesus Christ to save us from the violations of it, and of the spirit of Christ to enable us to render acceptable obedience to it.