The Specially Reprobated Old Testament Sin
“The covetous renounceth the Lord.” — Ps. x. 3 (R.V.).
This is the strongest language ever used by the Old Testament of any sin. At first one is surprised that of this particular sin such language should be used. Covetousness seems a trivial fault. It is not a heresy; it is not a blasphemy; it is not a positive hurt to others; it is simply a disease of the individual soul. Yet I do not know of any sin to which the Old Testament attaches such a stigma. “The covetous renounceth the Lord.” You will observe, it is not said, “The Lord renounceth the covetous “; the renunciation is on the human side — on the side of the covetous man himself. A greater stigma could not be attached to any sin. Many a heretic longs for God; many an agnostic thirsts for God; many a blasphemer speaks in an hour of madness what is not the voice of his sober mind. But to renounce God, to calmly refuse His advances, to repudiate His fellowship, to shut the door deliberately against Him — this is the acme of
antagonism. And why has covetousness incurred this deadly imputation? It is because the spirit of covetousness is the extreme opposite of the Spirit of God. It is more extreme than atheism. Atheism only fails to see a. Divine Being; covetousness sees Him quite well and admires not His beauty. That which the covetous man admires is God’s opposite. God is love, and the essence of love is giving; covetousness is self, and the essence of self is retaining. God is the converse of avarice. God dispenses charity; avarice gathers gold. God lavishes His treasures; avarice hoards its gains. God lives not to Himself; avarice has no life for another. God seeks out the destitute; avarice hides from meeting the poor. God has many mansions; avarice locks itself in a single room. God scatters sunbeams; avarice picks up pins. God sheds His blood to give life for the needy; avarice sheds the blood of the needy to give life to itself. I do not wonder that a Bible poet once selected as the extreme reverse of godliness, not atheism, but avarice: “Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies and not to covetousness.”
My soul, often do I hear thee ask,” Why has
my Father put so bad a power within me?” It is
not the power that is bad; it is its direction.
There is a Divine place for thy covetousness, but it is not the place thou hast chosen for it. Thou hast coveted for thyself; thou wert meant to covet for God. There is a covetousness which is not avarice. The wise men of the East must have passed with their comrades for avaricious men. I marvelled when I saw them so long engaged in gathering earthly gold. I said, “Strange that these eyes which have been trained to search among the stars should have been so attracted by the glitter of things below!” But by-and-by I saw them carrying their gold to a manger where lay that Infant-Christ for whom the world had no room; and then I knew that they had gathered for Jesus. Seest thou that daughter of Bethany so eager to amass, so anxious to hoard? She seems a child of avarice. She objects to her sister’s absorption in social expenditure — to the many guests at the feast, to the many things provided for them. But wait a little, and the seeming miser will be revealed a spendthrift — a spendthrift for love. She has coveted an alabaster box for Jesus — laden with precious ointment, filled with richest perfume. She wants to lavish it in her love. She knows it will be broken in fragments; but they will be fragments of fragrance. She knows it will become a mere memory; but it will be a memory of love — and it is for that she gathers. Be thine her
covetousness, O my soul! Gather for Jesus! Grow rich for His poverty! Seek gold for His service! Save treasures for His manger! Practice self-denial for His destitute! Lay by for His homeless! Store up for His friendless! Set apart from Thine own feast for His hungering and thirsting brothers! Then shall thine be a covetousness which does not renounce God.