It is an insatiable desire to have what someone else has – to lust after what you think would serve you well. “You shall not covet…” (Ex. 20:17; Deut. 5:21). Also rooted in this persistent desire to acquire something, perhaps, is an urge to outshine others, to exalt oneself. Paul writes in the New Testament (Eph. 5:5; Colossians 3:5) that coveting is a form of idolatry – I worship myself by coveting something to gratify and serve myself. A coveter feels the need to win the ‘king-of-the-mountain’ competition, for the objective is not just to get on the same plane with someone else, to be satisfied sharing with another the good things in life. This envy is mutually exclusive – my having it denies the other person, and vice versa. Rubel Shelly points out (Written in Stone: Ethics for the Heart, bottom of p. 186) that covetousness is the root of other evils, like adultery, murder, and stealing. Biblical examples show that God warned His people about coveting, because it could lead to murderous episodes (like the one shown here in this 18th Century engraving Jezebel has Naboth killed, by Caspar Luiken.) Ahab and Jezebel just had to have Naboth’s fine vineyard, and so they had him killed to complete this wicked transaction (1 Kings 21:1-16). A couple of other covetous episodes that ultimately led to disastrous consequences – both for the sinner and others in his community, showing the breadth of this sin’s reach – include these two:
- David coveted Bathsheba, another man’s wife (2 Sam. 11 and following several chapters)
- Achan coveted things in Jericho and hid them (Joshua 7:21-26)
So, it seems that God wanted His people to regard covetousness related to material possessions – especially financially valuable things – as particularly dangerous, though covetousness for other reasons was not necessarily excluded (David’s desire for Bathsheba, object lesson 1, for example); money can also be a means to another covetous end in politics (more on this below). Shelly points to statistics that show (p. 191) that people with lower income levels give proportionally more to charity than those with higher incomes (Dept. of Commerce, 1990). So, one might ask if higher income gestates more covetousness. Are wealthy people especially prone to the ‘more’ sin -- with more to protect, while chasing even more? And, because so much of politics is mingled with wealth – it does take lots of money to campaign, win elective office, and remain there – it seems that coveting is part of the unfortunate landscape of politics. If you don’t try to raise money, generally, you lose. Money is power, and vice versa, in politics. Hence, the phrase ‘power of the purse’ underscores how crucial are those in Congress who control how money is spent. But, let’s emphasize that word power from this point forward. One of my professors in college (40 years ago, but still true today) very often stressed for his students, with his fist pounding a lectern for emphasis, that ‘Politics is about power!’ Anyone who wants to implement ideas in government does indeed first need to acquire power. And so, acquiring the power – possibly even through unscrupulous methods -- is the issue for all practical politicians. Each side in political issues wants the power so that they can control congressional committees, set the agenda, make laws friendly to their views, and appoint federal judges. With power, political parties can also try re-drawing voting district boundary lines, and so make it easier to win elections via gerrymandering (see this described here Gerrymandering - Wikipedia), though in recent years this is being challenged in court, forcing more non-partisan re-districting in some places.
Unquestionably, power clears hurdles in politics, oftentimes contributing to positive developments, but if the goal is to dominate one’s opponent, will that not boomerang when – not really if, but when – the other side reclaims the same levers of power? The political pendulum swings back and forth with pretty predictable regularity, and politicians do not easily forget each other’s conduct when power has been wielded ruthlessly – with unbridled jealousy and disregard for fairness. When the political climate descends to its lowest level, it seems as if political compromise is the first casualty. Is it really weakness to compromise on highly contentious issues, or rather an acknowledgement that government is of, by, and for the people, and therefore needs to function despite disagreements? Stalemate among politicos isn’t the answer, and attempting to control the game or force one’s views, even at the cost of impasse and suspension of government itself, is irresponsible. My professor was correct – politics is so often exclusively about power, unfortunately. If you have acquired power in order to punish your opponents, and to keep them down, that sounds like an issue of coveting. You’ve taken from others what should be shared – the administration of government. Politics might be about power, but would it not be better if it was about legislating and finding common ground? Raw power exercised exclusively by one side inevitably leads to recrimination and distrust. Why not covet finding answers to issues and serving those of us who put politicians in office, instead?
See here for information on the image: File:Jezebel has Naboth killed.jpg - Wikimedia Commons…This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. {{PD-1996}} – public domain in its source country on January 1, 1996 and in the United States.
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