Can Humans Handle the "Covet" Command?
A widespread Christian belief is that the statutes of the Law are too difficult (or even impossible) to observe. One commandment that features prominently as evidence for this position is the prohibition against coveting. According to popular thought, the command not to “covet” prohibits general “desire” (especially wanting something you don’t need); therefore, peering at price tags through a storefront window or craving a caloric cookie are covetous activities. If this were so, it’s true that people would be hard-pressed to perfectly follow the commandment at all times. However, the biblical data do not allow for this broad definition. In its original context, the command against coveting does not refer to general desire, but to an intense longing for other people’s families, households, or possessions. Thus, difficulty upholding this command would say more about the impotence of the individual than the expectations of Mosaic instructions.
The Hebrew word for “covet” in the Ten Commandments is חָמַד (hamad). Outside the legal prologues of Exodus and Deuteronomy, the term can refer broadly to “desire.” For instance, the psalmists say that God’s teachings and stipulations are “to be desired (הַנֶּחֱמָדִים; hanehemadim) more than gold” (Psalm 19:10), and that “God desired (חָמַד; hamad) to dwell” on Mount Zion (Psalm 68:16). These examples describe good subjects (the Torah observer or God) wanting good things; in these contexts, there is nothing wrong with expressing חָמַד.
The specific context of the Ten Commandments clarifies which kind of coveting is prohibited: “You shall not covet (לֹא תַחְמֹד; lo tahmod) the household of your neighbor; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17; cf. Deuteronomy 5:21). Since the preceding Sabbath command includes “your son or your daughter” in a similar household list (Exod 20:10; Deut 5:14), children are also implied in the coveting command. That is, the prohibition is against the practice of looking across the street (or, in ancient terms, at the adjacent tent) with the intent to acquire your neighbor’s family (!)—an act that would be, for lack of a gentler term, sociopathic. This is why the coveting command follows “thou shall not steal” and “thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exod 20:15-16; Deut 5:19-20)—all three commandments prohibit devising the theft of another human being’s life, livelihood, or loved ones.
The command against coveting does not set an impossible standard—on the contrary, civil society functions on the assumption that such a command must be followed. Indeed, the notion that human beings are incapable of fulfilling the Law of Moses is built on false premises that ignore the original contexts of Scripture—not to mention Yeshua’s own insistence that his followers “keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17; cf. John 14:15; 15:10). The observance of such commands indicates human gratitude for the heavenly gift of salvation from sin and reflects a healthy relationship between God and those who bear the divine image.
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