Exodus 20:17

The tenthcommandment. The most inward of all the commandments, forbidding not an external act, but a hidden mental state, a state, however, which is the spring and root of nearly every sin against a neighbour, the unlawful desire(ἐπιθυμία) for something which is another's.

covet lit. desire, which may be used of a perfectly lawful, and indeed laudable, affection (Psalms 19:10; Psalms 68:16): it acquires its bad sense solely from the context; comp. Joshua 7:21, and especially Micah 2:2.

house i.e. (Kn. Di. Bä. al.) domestic establishment generally (Genesis 15:2; Job 8:15): examples follow of things belonging to it, and most likely to be coveted, wife, male and female slaves, &c. In Deuteronomy 5:21 the wife is given the first place, and the house and other belongings follow, shewing that -house" is there used in the sense of -dwelling." In its original form, the command no doubt ended at -house" (i.e. establishment), the examples following being a later expansion. -The command is aimed against that greedy desire for another's goods, which so often issued in violent acts the oppressions and cheating which were rife among the wealthier classes, and were denounced by the prophets" (McNeile, p. lix): cf. Amos 3:10; Amos 5:11; Micah 2:2; Micah 2:9; Isaiah 3:14-15; Isaiah 5:8, &c.