TheGoodNewsCast.com

The Ten Commandments are often viewed as a list of individual laws, each standing on its own. However, they can also be understood as a unified system in which the violation of one commandment naturally leads to the violation of the next. In this view, the First Commandment and the Tenth Commandment form the two ends of a journey. The First Commandment concerns whom we worship, while the Tenth Commandment concerns what we desire. Together, they reveal the condition of the human heart.

The First Commandment states, “You shall have no other gods before Me.” If this commandment is broken, something else takes God's place in a person's life. It may be wealth, power, status, pleasure, or self-interest. Once God is no longer at the center, the remaining commandments become increasingly easy to break. Idolatry follows. Reverence for God's name weakens. Sacred things become common. Relationships deteriorate. Truth becomes negotiable. Eventually the progression reaches the Tenth Commandment: “You shall not covet.”

The Tenth Commandment is unique because it addresses the inner life rather than outward actions. Coveting begins in the heart. It is the belief that what belongs to another person can somehow become yours. At its deepest level, coveting is not merely about wanting someone's possessions. It can extend to a person's calling, purpose, identity, or destiny.

At the tenth commandment, the person begins to compare and becomes dissatisfied. Dissatisfaction becomes envy, and eventually that person believes they can somehow swap destinies or siphon another's power. Whether or not any outward action follows, the violation has already occurred in the heart. The individual who has broken the first 9 commands has become consumed by what God has given to someone who has kept the 1st command.

This breaking of the commands by moving 10 steps forward provides an interesting lens through which to view the story of King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20. Hezekiah was one of Judah's most faithful kings. When he became gravely ill, the prophet Isaiah told him to prepare for death. Hezekiah responded by praying earnestly to God, reminding Him of his faithfulness and wholehearted devotion. God heard his prayer, promised healing, and added fifteen years to his life.

To confirm this promise, God provided a miraculous sign. Isaiah gave Hezekiah a choice concerning the shadow on the stairway of Ahaz. Rather than allowing the shadow to move forward, He asked God to move it backward ten steps. The backward movement of the shadow demonstrates God's power over time and serves as confirmation that Hezekiah would indeed be healed. The shadow moved backward ten steps: a reversal of death that begins by keeping the last command.

Since violating the First Commandment leads a person toward the Tenth, then the backward movement of the shadow prevents a person from breaking the Tenth Commandment and leads them back to the First. Rather than progressing toward covetousness and envy, the movement reverses course. God demonstrates His ability to turn back what seems irreversible: death. By keeping just the 10th commandment, the curse is reversed, and the shadow moves against its natural direction.

This sign does not suggest that Hezekiah broke the commandments or that his illness was the result of sin. The Holy Scriptures describe him as an exceptionally righteous king. The sign was given as a confirmation of God's promise, not as a rebuke. Nevertheless, the shadow moving backward ten steps is a powerful sign of God's ability to reverse the curse of breaking the first command and reconcile a person back to Himself by keeping the last command. Hezekiah's story does not end there.

After God healed him, extended his life, and delivered his kingdom, Babylonian envoys arrived to visit him. Flattered by their attention, Hezekiah showed them everything in his kingdom. He displayed his silver, gold, spices, armor, and treasures. Nothing was withheld from their view. Isaiah immediately confronted him and prophesied that one day all of his treasures would be carried away to Babylon.

Hezekiah had received extraordinary blessings from God, but instead of seeing his blessings as a result of God's grace, the Babylonians focused on simply what he possessed.

When possessions, or wealth, are displayed, they can become objects of comparison, envy, and covetousness. Instead of wanting the gift giver, people would rather have the gifts, the calling, the energy, or the identity that belongs to another.

However, Jesus taught His followers that they are to let their light shine before others, that they may see their blessings and glorify our Father in heaven. He also says that a lamp is not hidden under a basket but placed on a stand so that it gives light to everyone in the house.

Jesus does not hide His light. Instead, He taught others to allow their blessings to direct attention back to God in whatever way they can. The power and destiny upon an individual cannot simply be swapped from one person to another through envy or covetousness, which brings us back to the Tenth Commandment.

When a person believes that they can somehow swap another person's destiny or siphon their power, it shows that they have moved 9 steps forward after breaking the 1st commandment. When that individual realizes that gifts are intentional and that each individual is called to keep their blessings, not to themselves, but to utilize them in whatever way that directs attention back to God, that person keeps the 10th commandment and begins to move back into blessings; he/she can call their own. 

The story of Hezekiah illustrates God's power to reverse the curse through the sign of the showdow moving 10 steps back, yet Hezekiah later demonstrates the danger of drawing people's attention to possessions if they are not utilized in a way that points others to the One who gave them.

The First Commandment calls us to place God above all else. The Tenth Commandment calls us away from covetousness. When both are honored, either 10 steps forward or 10 steps back, the entire system of the commandments becomes a blessing and not a curse.

Just as God showed Hezekiah a shadow move back 10 steps, God wants to show you a curse reversed the moment you decide to take 10 steps back.

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Today, TheGoodNewsCast.com invites you to move into blessings you can call your own, so whether you have taken triumphant steps forward or feel the need to take 10 steps back—let every blessing along the way draw its attention back to God.