Covetousness

An unreasonable desire after that we have not, with a dissatisfaction with what we have. It may farther be considered as consisting in,

1. An anxious carking care about the things of this world.

2. A rapacity in getting.

3. Too frequently includes sinister and illegal ways of obtaining wealth.

4. A tenaciousness in keeping. It is a vice which marvellously prevails upon and insinuates into the heart of man, and for these reasons: it often bears a near resemblance to virtue; brings with it man plausible reasons; and raises a man to a state of reputation on account of his riches. "There cannot be, " as one observes, "a more unreasonable sin than this. It is unjust; only to covet, is to wish to be unjust. It is cruel: the covetous must harden themselves against a thousand plaintive voices. It is foolish: it destroys reputation, breaks the rest, unfits for the performance of duty, and is a contempt of God himself: it is unprecedented in all our examples of virtue mentioned in the Scripture. One, indeed, spoke unadvisedly with his lips; another cursed and swore; a third was in a passion; and a fourth committed adultery; but which of the saints ever lived in a habit of covetousness? Lastly, it is idolatry, Col.iii.

5. the idolatry of the heart; where, as in a temple, the miserable wretch excludes God, sets up gold instead of him, and places that confidence in it which belongs to the Great Supreme alone." Let those who live in the habitual practice of it consider the judgments that have been inflicted on such characters, Jos 7:21. Act 5:1-42:; the misery with which it is attended; the curse such persons are to society; the denunciations and cautions respecting it in the Holy Scripture; and how effectually it bars men from God, from happiness, and from heaven. Scott’s Essays, 72, 73. South’s Serm., vol. 4: ser. 1; Robinson’s Mor. Exercises, ex. iv; Saurin’s Serm., vol. 5: ser. 12. Eng. Trans.

(בֶּצִע, be’tsa, rapine, lucre; πλεονεξία, a grasping temper), in a general sense, means all inordinate desire of worldly possessions, such as undue thirst for honors, gold, etc. In a more restricted sense, it is the desire of increasing one’s substance by appropriating that of others. It is a disorder of the heart, and closely allied to selfishness. We here consider it under its more restricted aspect.

1. Covetousness (πλεονεξία, φιλαργυρία) is a strong, sometimes irresistible desire of possessing or of increasing one’s possessions. It is evident that under its influence the heart, instead of aspiring to noble, high, and divine goods, will be brought to; the almost exclusive contemplation of earthly, immaterial things; and thus, instead of becoming gradually more closely united with God, will become more and more estranged from him. Since where the treasure is there the heart is also, the heart of the covetous cannot be with God, but with Mammon; he is not a servant of God, but of idols. The love of God and the love of Mammon cannot find place in the same heart; the one excludes the other (Mat 6:24; Luk 16:13; Col 3:5, Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry). But since to love God is our highest duty, and God alone is to be prayed to, loved, and trusted, the covetous man, as a servant of Mammon, is forever excluded from the kingdom of Christ and of God (1Co 6:10, Nor thieves, nor covetous, shall inherit the kingdom of God; Eph 5:5, For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nors unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God). We are further told that the citizen of the kingdom of God is to lay up riches in heaven (Mat 6:20); he must be content with food and raiment (1Ti 6:7-8); but the covetous act in opposition to all these commandments (Heb 13:5; Let your conversation be without covetousness [ἀφιλάργυρος ὁ τρόπος]; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee). This state of the heart is very dangerous, for covetousness is the source of all evil, and brings forth all manner of sin (1Ti 6:9; 1Ti 6:19, For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows). Here the folly of covetousness is also shown, inasmuch as it is said to bring “many sorrows.” It is further proved by the fact that earthly goods are perishable, and that their possession renders none happy. But it is corrupting as well as unsatisfactory. By attempting to gain the world the soul is wounded, and loses the everlasting life (Mat 6:20, Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; 16:25, 26, For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it; for what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?); Luk 12:15-21, And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness; for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth).

2. Avarice is also a part of covetousness. It consists in amassing either for the sake of possessing or from fear of future want. This phase of covetousness is the surest mark of a cold-heartedness and worldliness, making pure, high, and holy aspirations impossible. It is also a sort of idolatry, for it is the love of mammon (Mat 6:19-24). It is essentially uncharitable, and incapable of affection (Jas 2:15-16, If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those thing which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?). Covetousness is as painful as it is deceitful in the end; it cripples the natural powers, renders life miserable and death terrible. The pursuits to which it leads are painfully laborious, and the care of the possessions, once secured, is equally so. The labor it entails is sinful, as it does not spring from love, but from selfishness and worldliness. As the wealth amassed by the covetous is applied to the benefit neither of themselves nor of others, they undergo the severest privations in the midst of plenty (Horace, congestis undique saccis indormis inhians. Nescis quo valeat nummus, quem prcebeat usum). However great the natural power of a man, it is paralyzed by this sin. To the covetous death is horrible, as it deprives them of all to which the worldly heart most clings.

Considering the nature of covetousness, it cannot appear strange that the apostle particularly recommends a bishop to avoid that sin. The bishop, or spiritual head of the community, is to be spiritual (πνευματικός), the center of the Christian life of the community (1Ti 3:2-3); and covetousness is a mark whereby false teachers may be known (2Ti 3:2).Krehl, N.T. Handuworterbuch.

pleonexia (G4124) Covetousness, Greediness

philargyria (G5365) Love of Money

The same distinction exists between pleonexia and philargyria as between covetousness and avarice. Pleonexia is the more active sin, philargyria the more passive. Pleonexia refers to having more and (more usually) to the desire to have more, to seeking to posses what is not possessed. Philargyria refers to seeking to retain what is possessed and, through accumulation, to multiplying what is possessed. Pleonexia often implies bold and aggressive methods of acquisition; it frequently refers to behavior that is as free in scattering and squandering as it was eager and unscrupulous in acquiring. The pleonektes (G4123) is often rapti largitor, "a squanderer of what he has seized." Theodoret defined this sin as "the desire for more and the seizure of what does not belong to a person." Philargyria refers to miserly behavior that frequently is also cautious and timid, not necessarily having cast off an outward show of righteousness. The Pharisees, for example, are described as philargyroi (G5366, Luk_16:14), and this is not irreconcilable with the maintenance of a religious profession, as would have been the case with pleonexia. Cowley drew this distinction quite well:

There are two sorts of avarice; the one is but of a bastard kind, and that is the rapacious appetite for gain; not for its own sake, but for the pleasure of refunding it immediately through all the channels of pride and luxury; the other is the true kind, and properly so called, which is a restless and unsatiable desire of riches, not for any further end or use, but only to hoard and preserve, and perpetually increase them. The covetous man of the first kind is like a greedy ostrich, which devours any metal, but it is with an intent to feed upon it, and, in effect, it makes a shift to digest and excern it. The second is like the foolish chough, which loves to steal money only to hide it.

Another way of looking at the two terms is to see pleonexia as the genus and philargyria as the species. Looked at in this way, philargyria refers to the love of money and pleonexia to the sinner's drawing and snatching to himself of the creature in every form and kind. Bengel observed that Paul's lists of sins often associate pleonexia with sins of the flesh (1Co_5:11; Eph_5:3; Eph_5:5; Col_3:5). Bengel stated: "It is customary, however, to link covetousness [pleonexian] with impurity, for a person without God seeks nourishment for the material body either through pleasure or through greed; he takes for himself another's good." The connection between these two provinces of sin is deeper and more intimate than Bengel realized. Not only is pleonexia, which signifies covetousness, used to refer to sins of impurity, but the word is sometimes used to designate these sins themselves as the root from which they grow. Pleonexia refers to the ever-increasing desire of the person who has forsaken God to fill himself with the lower objects of sense. The Roman emperors were monsters of lust as well as covetousness. In this respect, pleonexia has a much wider and deeper sense than philargyria. Plato, in his commentary on this word, likened the desire of man to the sieve or pierced vessel of the Danaids, which they were ever filling but might never fill.Plato's definition summed up that ever-defeated longing of the prodigal son who despised the children's bread but was forced to satisfy his hunger with the husks of the swine.

Being Aware Of Covetousness

Luk_12:13-15.

Covetous People

Luk_12:13-21; Eph_5:5.

Not Coveting

Exo_20:17; Deu_5:21; Rom_13:8-9; Eph_5:3; Heb_13:5.

The Reward For Covetousness

Eph_5:5-6; Col_3:5-6.

Those That Hate Covetousness

Pro_28:16.

What Covetousness Is

Eph_5:5; Col_3:5.

What To Covet

1Co_12:27-31; 1Co_14:1; 1Co_14:39.

Who Is Covetous

Eze_33:30-31; Luk_16:14-15.

COVETOUSNESS.—This word (Gr. πλεονεξία) has the root-idea of greed, shown in a strong desire to acquire, even more than in a keen wish to keep. In the Gospels, as elsewhere in Scripture [see, however, Eph 4:19], the term is confined to a reference to property; the verb (πλεονεκτέω) is wider in sense. As the complexity of social life increases, so may the shapes the evil can assume. To ordinary avarice have to be added subtle temptations in the realm of rank and fashion, conventional ambition, cultured ease, or delight in successful activity unsubordinated to ethical aims. The tinge of covetousness comes in wherever men so absorb their life in the temporal that they impair its high instincts for the spiritual. ‘What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?’ (Mat 16:26).

To the mind of Jesus what stands condemned is, characteristically, the possession of a certain spirit—the spirit of grasping selfishness. The forms assumed, the methods employed, are not minutely dealt with, and not matters for specific cure. Rather the one tap-root is to be cut, or a general atmosphere created in which the noxious weed must perish. And the almighty power to this end is the holy spirit of the gospel, which on the one hand is a spirit of loving trust towards God the Father in providence, and on the other a tender feeling towards fellow-mortals which prompts to ready sacrifice of all things to their good. The man with the great possessions (Mar 10:17), who attracted Jesus, had yet one luxury to discover—that of doing good, giving to the poor, and so coveting wealth of the right kind. Not the coming to our hands of earthly good is condemned, but the absence of the one spirit which shall inform and vitalize its use. The triumph of religion is to turn it into ‘treasure in heaven’ (Mar 10:21).

A classical passage is Mat 6:19-34, with which compare Luk 12:22-34; Luk 16:13-15. The higher life being concerned with faith and goodness and the things of the spirit—the realm revealed in the Beatitudes, it is clear inversion to be absorbed for their own sake in the things of time and sense. ‘Moth and rust’ are the emblems of their corruptibility; and they are unstable, like property exposed to ‘thieves.’ It is the mark of a pagan mind to be full of anxious and self-centred concern for meat and drink and raiment (Mat 6:32). Such persons reverse unconsciously Christ’s principle that ‘the life is more than meat’ (Mat 6:25); and the Pharisees, ‘who were covetous’ (Luk 16:14), by their blindness to the true order of importance called forth essentially the same rebuke, ‘that which is highly esteemed amongst men, is abomination in the sight of God’ (Luk 16:15). Though they had one eye for religion, they kept the other for the world, hence inevitably their truly distorted views. In the last resort of psychological analysis ‘no man can serve two masters’ (Mat 6:24), and the Pharisees are pilloried for evermore as the awful example of hypocrisy in this respect. With Jesus, in these passages, the first postulate of religious worth is, that people must be single-minded and whole-hearted in service—‘Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also’ (Mat 6:21). And to only one quarter can the enlightened heart turn—‘the kingdom of God and his righteousness’ (Mat 6:33). Coincident with that, as humble faith feels, all needed things shall be added unto us. With exquisite insight Jesus points to the fowls of the air and the lilies of the field as eloquent at once of the minuteness of Divine Providence, and the trust we may place in a Heavenly Father’s care. ‘Are not ye,’ He asks, ‘much better than they?’ (Mat 6:26). (Cf. as an enforcement of the lesson, Christ’s own unworldliness of character, and trustfulness in earthly matters. And as a counter-illustration to the Pharisees, cf. the convert from their straitest sect, St. Paul, who having food and raiment learned therewith to be content, 1Ti 6:8, cf. Php 4:11).

On a question arising of family inheritance (Luk 12:13-15), Jesus warns against covetousness, and for impressive depth nothing excels the summary there—‘A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth’ (Luk 12:15). As one concerned with the spiritual domain, Jesus refuses to touch the civil matter of property. Wisdom lay in leaving questions of the law to lawyers, although the consideration is doubtless implied that even then there should be found a permeation of the Christian spirit. The point which Jesus presses is the falsity of the vulgar notion that it is ‘possessions’ which make life worth living. Devotion to the outward is, in His gospel, vanity; the loving and discerning soul has God for its possession, and from sheer sympathy of heart joys in His work amongst men.

A parable follows (Luk 12:16-21), not necessarily associated originally with the foregoing incident, although in full affinity of theme. The Rich Fool is the personification of the successfully covetous man, and yet a revelation in almost the same breath of how little such success amounts to from the standpoint of eternity. He sowed only to the world; therefore he reaped inwardly no riches of the spirit. ‘So is he,’ saith Jesus, ‘that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God’ (Luk 12:21). There is affinity of teaching in the parable of Dives and Lazarus (which see).

Literature.—The standard works on the Sermon on the Mount and on the Parables. Among special discourses: F. W. Robertson, Sermons, 2nd series, Serm. I. (with which compare XVII. of 1st series); J. Service on ‘Profit and Loss’ in Salvation Here and Hereafter; J. Oswald Dykes, The Relations of the Kingdom to the World, pt. i.; A. Maclaren, A Year’s Ministry, 1st series, No. 16; J. Martineau, Hours of Thought ii. and iii., Endeavours after the Christian Life, pp. 76–86; Mozley, University Sermons, pp. 275–290.

George Murray.

By: Kaufmann Kohler, William Rosenau

The inordinate desire to possess that to which one is not entitled, or that which belongs to another. Its prohibition forms the burden of the tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's " (Ex. xx. 17; compare Deut. v. 18). The Scriptures employ the following four terms as equivalents for "covetousness," differing in point of degree:

(1) "Ḳin'ah" (from ), usually translated "envy." It signifies discontent with one's own possession because of the preferred possessions of others, as in Gen. xxxvii. 11; Isa. xi. 13; Ps. xxxvii. 1, lxxiii. 3; Prov. iii. 31, xxxiii. 17.

(2) "Awwah" (from ). This is the equivalent of "longing," and connotes the wish for another's belongings, as in the passage, "Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife," etc. (Deut. v. 18; compare Ps. xlv. 12, cvi. 14; Prov. xxi. 26; Eccl. vi. 2).

(3) "Ḥemdah" (from ). This is rendered "covetousness," and indicates the undue craving for that to which one has no right, as in Ex. xx. 17; Deut. v. 18, vii. 25; Josh. vii. 21; Micah ii. 2; Prov. xii. 12.

(4) "Beẓa'" (from ). The meaning, "gain," has reference to the appropriation of the property of another. Compare the passages: "Provide . . . men of truth, hating covetousness (Ex. xviii. 21); "For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness" (Jer. vi. 13, viii. 10; see also Ps. x. 3, cxix. 36; Prov. i. 19, xv. 27).

Prophetic Denumciation.

The condemnation of covetousness is nowhere expressed more forcibly than, by implication, in the lament of Micah: "Wo to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away; so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage" (Micah ii. 1-2; compare Hab. ii. 9: "Wo to him that coveteth an evil covetousness").

Covetousness never succeeds in the attainment of the object desired. The covetous man is despised by God. "For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the Lord abhorreth " (Ps. x. 3). "He who violates the commandment Thou shalt not covet, is regarded as if he had transgressed all ten commandments" (Pesiḳ. R. 21; ed. Friedmann, p. 107a).

Naḥmanides (1195-1270), in commenting on Ex. xx. 17, holds that "if man subdues his desire he will never harm his neighbor." Isaac Aboab (c. 1300) contends that the execution of the nine preceding commandments depends on the fulfilment of the tenth. Says Aboab: "He who does not covet will not depart from God, serve strange gods, violate the Sabbath and holidays, show lack of respect for parents, murder, commit adultery, steal, or swear falsely." "Covetousness is the root of all jealousies, lust, transgressions, and the violations of commandments" ("Menorat ha-Ma'or," Introduction to section i.).

Significance of Covetousness.

The consequences attending covetousness are not lost sight of by Judaism. Covetousness is an evidence of moral decline. "A sound heart is the life of the flesh; but envy the rottenness of the bones" (Prov. xiv. 30). "He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls" (Prov. xxv. 28).

In some instances teachers have traced the direct effects of covetousness. The Pirḳe Abot (iv. 21) considers covetousness in its threefold manifestation the cause of man's removal from the world. "If you desire you will covet; and if you covet you will tyrannize and rob" (Mek. to Ex. xx. 17). Baḥya. ben Asher, in dilating on the tenth commandment, says: "If you covet, you cause quarrel, trouble, and divorce."

Nemesis of Covetousness.

A gross injury resulting to the covetous from his inordinate desire for that not rightfully belonging to him is the loss of the property with which he is blessed. In other words, covetousness is responsible for its own ruin. That covetousness is the cause of the individual's discontent and unhappiness is certainly true. Perhaps this idea underlies the following remark: "He who looks enviously on that which does not belong to him not only fails to obtain that which he seeks, but also loses that which he has" (Soṭah 9a). A proverbial saying to the same effect is the Talmudical aphorism, "Because the camel wanted horns his ears were cut off" (Sanh. 106a). Even though covetousness does not result in violence, the wish to possess another's property suffices to merit condemnation. "The wish to be able to do wrong is worse than the deed itself" (Yoma 29a).

Cure of Covetousness.

Covetousness is by no means unconquerable. Man can master this as well as all other passions. "Covetousness is a matter of the heart" (Solomon ben Melek, in Miklal Yofi to Deut. v. 21). Special precaution should therefore be exercised by mannot to permit covetousness to master him. This may be prevented by schooling oneself against it. "Remember that the object of your lust ïs unattainable, and your mind will be at case" (Abraham ibn Ezra to Ex. xx. 17). Man should be satisfied with his lot. "Who is rich? He whorejoices in his portion" (Ab. iv. 1). Man should vanquish his desire. Such victory is a mark of spiritual power. " Who is strong? He who subdues his evil inclination" (ib.). "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Prov. iv. 23).

COVETOUSNESS.—In the Bible, covetousness is a crime. In the Ten Commandments it is put under the ban along with murder, adultery, theft, and slander (Exo 20:17, Deu 5:21). Achan was guilty of this crime, and was stoned to death (Jos 7:16-26). Every occurrence of the word or the thing in the OT is connected with a prohibition or a curse (Psa 10:3; Psa 119:36, Pro 21:26; Pro 28:16, Isa 57:17, Hab 2:9). In the NT adultery and covetousness are usually classed together (1Co 5:11; 1Co 6:9-10, Col 3:5, 2Pe 2:14). This conjunction of sensual sin and love of money probably rests upon the authority of Jesus (Mar 7:21-22). Jesus and the Apostles declared that the worshipper of Bacchus and the worshipper of Venus and the worshipper of Mammon belong to one and the same class. Grasping avarice is as incompatible with the spirit of self-sacrifice taught in the NT as is the selfish indulgence in drink or the grosser indulgence in vice. The Bible puts the covetous man in the same category with the murderer and the thief. The Christian Church needs to study anew the Bible teaching concerning covetousness, as found in Jer 22:17, Mic 2:2, Luk 12:15, Rom 7:7, Eph 5:3; Eph 5:6, 1Ti 6:10, Heb 13:5, and other passages. No covetous man has any inheritance in the Kingdom of God.

D. A. Hayes.

(Latin: avere, to crave)

(covetousness) The inordinate love of temporal goods usually estimable in terms of money. This love of money becomes inordinate when it makes a man hard-hearted, causes him to be niggardly in spending it, too eager and absorbed in acquiring and preserving it, or prepared to do what is wrong in order to obtain it.

Generally, an unreasonable desire for what we do not possess. In this sense, it differs from concupiscence only in the implied notion of non-possession, and thus may cover all things which are sought after inordinately. Classified under this general head, we may have covetousness of honours, or pride; of the flesh, or concupiscence properly so called; of riches, or covetousness proper (Lat. avaritia), or avarice. When covetousness of the flesh or of wealth has for its object that which is already the lawful possession of another, it falls under the ban of the Ninth or Tenth Commandment of God; and such desires, wilfully indulged, partake, as we are told by the Lord (Matthew 5), in their malice, of the nature of the external acts themselves. For he who deliberately desires the possession of another manUs lawful wife or goods has already in his heart committed the sin of adultery or theft. In its specific meaning, covetousness looks to riches in themselves, whether of money or of property, whether possessed or not, and pertains less to their acquisition than to their possession or accumulation. Thus defined, it is numbered among the sins which are called capital, because it is, as St. Paul says (Tim., vi), a radix omnium peccatorum.The capital sin of covetousness is in reality rather a vice or inclination to sin, which is sinful only in that it proceeds from the unholy condition of original sin in which we are born, and because it leads us into sin. And so far is the desire--natural in us all--to acquire and hold possessions from being reproved as offensive by God, that, if kept within the bounds of reason and justice and resisted triumphantly in its inordinate cravings, it is positively meritorious. Even when indulged, covetousness is not a grievous sin, except in certain conditions which involve offence of God or the neighbour, e.g. when one is prepared to employ, or does actually employ, illicit or unjust means to satisfy the desire of riches, holds to them in defiance of the strict demands of justice or charity, makes them the end rather than the means of happiness, or suffers them to interfere seriously with oneUs bounden duty to God or man. Nourished and developed into an unrestricted habit, it becomes the fruitful mother of all manner of perfidy, heartlessness and unrest.-----------------------------------JOHN H. STAPLETON Transcribed by Marcia L. Bellafiore The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IVCopyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York

kuv´et-us-nes: Has a variety of shades of meaning determined largely by the nature of the particular word used, or the context, or both. Following are some of the uses: (1) To gain dishonestly (בּצע, bāca‛), e.g. the King James Version Exo 18:21; Eze 33:31. (2) The wish to have more than one possesses, inordinately, of course (πλεονεξία, pleonexı́a), e.g. Luk 12:15; 1Th 2:5. (3) An inordinate love of money φιλάργυρος, philárguros, the King James Version Luk 16:14; 2Ti 3:2; philargurı́a, 1Ti 6:10); negative in Heb 13:5, the King James Version.

Covetousness is a very grave sin; indeed, so heinous is it that the Scriptures class it among the very gravest and grossest crimes (Eph 5:3). In Col 3:5 it is “idolatry,” while in 1Co 6:10 it is set forth as excluding a man from heaven. Its heinousness, doubtless, is accounted for by its being in a very real sense the root of so many other forms of sin, e.g. departure from the faith (1Ti 6:9, 1Ti 6:10); lying (2Ki 5:22-25); theft (Jos 7:21); domestic trouble (Pro 15:27); murder (Eze 22:12); indeed, it leads to “many foolish and hurtful lusts” (1Ti 6:9). Covetousness has always been a very serious menace to mankind, whether in the Old Testament or New Testament period. It was one of the first sins that broke out after Israel had entered into the promised land (Achan, Josh 7); and also in the early Christian church immediately after its founding (Ananias and Sapphira, Acts 5); hence, so many warnings against it. A careful reading of the Old Testament will reveal the fact that a very great part of the Jewish law - such as its enactments and regulations regarding duties toward the poor, toward servants; concerning gleaning, usury, pledges, gold and silver taken during war - was introduced and intended to counteract the spirit of covetousness.

Eerdmans maintains (Expos, July, 1909) that the commandment, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house” (Exo 20:17), meant to the Israelite that he should not take anything of his neighbor’s possessions that were momentarily unprotected by their owner. Compare Exo 34:23. Thus, it refers to a category of acts that is not covered by the commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.” It is an oriental habit of mind from of old that when anyone sees abandoned goods which he thinks desirable, there is not the least objection to taking them, and Exo 20:17 is probably an explanation of what is to be understood by “house” in Exo 20:17.

Examples of covetousness: Achan (Josh 7); Saul (1Sa 15:9, 1Sa 15:19); Judas (Mat 26:14, Mat 26:15); Ananias and Sapphira (Act 5:1-11); Balaam (2Pe 2:15 with Jud 1:11).