Revelation 21:17--12d
Revelation 21, Page 22e-12d

Significant Words and Comments:
Commentary on Revelation 21:17 expansion (18 August 2008): 

Commandment or Structure #12Thou shalt not covet . . . anything that is thy neighbor’s.

       
Detail #12:5Covetousness materialism ultimately brings total demise. “He that hasteth to be rich
                hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.”
It was such covetousness
                which led Achan to steal and bury part of the loot from Israel’s successful destruction of Jericho:
               
“When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver,
                and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold,
                they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.”
Achan’s entire family was
                stoned. Likewise, it was
covetousness which led Ahab to have Naboth killed so he could take his
                vineyard. Ahab lost the kingdom and was killed.
Covetousness drove Elisha’s servant Gehezi to
                lyingly beg silver and garments from Naaman and then seek to hide his deception from Elisha.
                Gehezi became a leper.
To protect us from destroying ourselves, Yehuveh seeks to turn us
                from covetous motives.
Proverbs 28:22; Joshua 7:21; 1 Kings 21:1, 2; 2 Kings 5:20-27. Also:
               
Proverbs 23:6; 13:11; 20:21; 23:4.
       
Detail #12:6Coveting brings evil on our families and our own souls. “Woe to him that coveteth an
                evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the
                power of evil! Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast
                sinned against thy soul.” “He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth
                gifts shall live.”
Not only are there troubles within the financial conduct of the home, but the spirit
                of covetousness spoils the moral values of the children, setting their feet in the same path of
                valuing material gain above Yehuveh’s instructions.
When Achan stole the garment, gold, and
                silver, he probably acted alone, but when his family became aware of his wrong and cooperated with
                him in concealing it, they became party to his crime and ultimately participated in his punishment:
               
“Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment,
                and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep,
                and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. And Joshua
                said, Why hast thou troubled us? Yehuveh shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him
                with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.”
The corrupt
                mindset which led to Achan’s action permeated the training he had given his family; all were
                corrupted by his choices and actions.
Habakkuk 2:9-10; Proverbs 15:27; Joshua 7:24-25. Also:
               
Genesis 13:10-13; 18:25; 19:26-38; Exodus 20:5; Numbers 16:27-31; Deuteronomy 7:25, 26;
                Joshua 6:18, 21; 7:11, 12, 21-26; 1 Samuel 8:3-5; 1 Kings 21:2-4, 19-24; 2 Kings 5:20-27; Job
                20:19-28; Proverbs 1:19; 11:19, 29; 20:21; Isaiah 5:8-10; Jeremiah 17:11; 22:13-19; Habakkuk
                2:9-11;
Zechariah 5:1-4.
       
Detail #12:7Covetousness motivates unrighteous unions for gain. “It came to pass in an
                eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house:
                and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look
                upon. . . . And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with
                her.”
Had David strictly guarded Yehuveh’s instruction he would not have been thus snared, for “the
                commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: to
                keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Lust
[covet]
               
not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids. For by means of a
                whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious
                life. Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?”
The desire for a beautiful
                woman is not, of course, the only
covetous snare. Solomon coveted the national secrets of the
                nations around him, prompting him to marry the princesses to gain access to information otherwise
                apparently inaccessible to him. Shechem used a covetous appeal to gain support for his countrymen
                to submit to circumcision in order
to forward his desired marriage to Jacob’s daughter: “Shall
                not their cattle and their substance and every beast of theirs be ours? only let us consent unto
                them, and they will dwell with us.”
If we avoid coveting, we avoid many another snare to enter
                into difficult human relationships.
2 Samuel 11:2-4; Proverbs 6:23-27; Genesis 34:23. Also:
               
Proverbs 5:15, 18-19; 18:22; 19:14; Ecclesiastes 9:9; Malachi 2:14-15.


Gael Bataman
Originally Written:               18 August 2008
Latest Update:                     18 August 2008


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