Covetousness Outlawed ~ Pastor William Kumuyi

Key Verse: “But the other Jews that were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey” (Esther 9:16).

Text: Esther 9:13-19

As an English clergyman knelt beside the bed of a wealthy dying man, he requested the man to take his hand as he prayed for him in that solemn hour. Surprisingly, the dying man declined to give his hand. After his death, they turned down the coverlet and found the rigid hands holding the safe-key. The man clung to his possession till death.

Unfortunately, he could not take them with him. Such is the folly of covetousness. The Jews, in today’s text, exhibited an attitude that distanced them from covetousness. They had a royal decree to destroy their enemies’ entire families in Shushan and Persian provinces and also take over their possessions (Esther 8:11). They were to do this in self-defence. The first decree authored by the wicked anti- Semitic Haman, in keeping with Persian laws, could not be reversed even when the king realised the evil it portended. There was only one option – to sign a counter-decree authorizing the Jews to defend themselves on the appointed day. The providence that handed victory to the Jews over their enemies is a well-celebrated story.

One aspect of the story that is often overlooked is the fact that the victorious Jews, though authorised, did not take the possessions of the men who sought to kill them. Esther 9:10,15 and 16 stated that, “but on the spoil laid they not their hand.” Their enemies couldn’t have spared anything had they won. The Jews were guided by a higher and godly principle. They were not covetous. There is the temptation for us to exploit every perceived advantage for personal gain. But the Christian life has no provision for illicit passions like covetousness and vengefulness.

A true Christian lives peaceably with all men and has a disposition and actions that are free of inordinate love of possessions and positions of this world.

Thought for the day: The stench of covetousness is foulest when found in a Christian professor.

Bible Reading in one Year: Joshua 15-18