1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:05,540 In the Ten Commandments, Commandments Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine 2 00:00:05,540 --> 00:00:11,640 are the ones that prohibit acts of evil -- murder, adultery, stealing, and perjury. 3 00:00:11,640 --> 00:00:15,060 And then there is one commandment that prohibits the thing 4 00:00:15,060 --> 00:00:20,020 that leads to murder, adultery, stealing, and perjury. 5 00:00:20,020 --> 00:00:28,580 Which one is it? It's the last of the Ten: Do not covet anything that belongs to others 6 00:00:28,580 --> 00:00:35,220 -- not their spouse, their house, their servants, their animals, or any of their property. 7 00:00:35,220 --> 00:00:41,720 In order to understand this commandment, and its unique significance, the first thing to understand 8 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:48,560 is that this is the only one of the Ten Commandments that legislates thought. 9 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:56,820 All the other Commandments legislate behavior. In fact, of the 613 laws in the Five Books of Moses, 10 00:00:56,820 --> 00:00:59,940 virtually none prohibit thought. 11 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:04,820 Why, then, does the Ten Commandments include a law that prohibits a thought? Because it 12 00:01:04,829 --> 00:01:11,329 is coveting that so often leads to evil. Or, to put it another way, coveting is what leads 13 00:01:11,329 --> 00:01:18,220 to violating the preceding four commandments -- the ones against murder, adultery, stealing, and perjury. 14 00:01:18,220 --> 00:01:23,020 Think about it. Why do people do those things? In most instances, 15 00:01:23,020 --> 00:01:29,399 it is because they covet something that belongs to another person. Obviously that is the reason 16 00:01:29,399 --> 00:01:36,459 people steal -- thieves covet their victim's property. But it is also the reason for many murders. 17 00:01:36,460 --> 00:01:41,780 And coveting is obviously the reason for adultery -- wanting the spouse of another person. 18 00:01:41,780 --> 00:01:46,440 As for perjury -- or "bearing false witness" in the language of the Ten Commandments 19 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:52,860 -- that is done in order to cover up all these other crimes that are caused by coveting. 20 00:01:52,940 --> 00:01:57,060 But in order to understand why coveting is the one thought that is prohibited in the 21 00:01:57,069 --> 00:02:02,189 Ten Commandments and one of the only thoughts prohibited in the entire Hebrew Bible, 22 00:02:02,189 --> 00:02:08,700 we need to understand what coveting means - and, equally important, what it doesn't mean. 23 00:02:08,700 --> 00:02:17,120 To covet is much more than "to want." The Hebrew verb, lachmod means to want to the 24 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:23,980 point of seeking to take away and own -- something that belongs to another person. 25 00:02:24,020 --> 00:02:32,880 Note that there are two operative elements here: "seeking to own," and "belongs to another person." 26 00:02:32,890 --> 00:02:38,220 "Seeking to own" does not mean just envying or, in the case of your neighbor's spouse, 27 00:02:38,220 --> 00:02:43,820 just lusting after. Neither envy nor lust is prohibited in the Ten Commandments. 28 00:02:43,820 --> 00:02:47,360 Uncontrolled envy and lust can surely lead to bad things, 29 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:51,060 and they can both be psychologically and emotionally destructive, 30 00:02:51,060 --> 00:02:55,320 but neither one is prohibited in the Ten Commandments. Why? 31 00:02:55,320 --> 00:03:03,260 Because neither is the same as coveting. It is coveting that almost inevitably leads to stealing,adultery, 32 00:03:03,260 --> 00:03:05,860 and sometimes even to murder. 33 00:03:05,860 --> 00:03:11,800 Let me explain this in another way. The Tenth Commandment does not prohibit you from saying, 34 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:18,010 "Wow, what a great house -- or car or spouse -- my neighbor has. I wish I had such a house 35 00:03:18,010 --> 00:03:25,260 -- or car or spouse." That may end up being destructive. But it may also end up being constructive. 36 00:03:25,260 --> 00:03:30,180 How? It may spur you to work harder and improve your life so that you can 37 00:03:30,180 --> 00:03:39,140 obtain a house, car, or spouse like your neighbor's. It is when you want -- and seek to gain possession of -- 38 00:03:39,140 --> 00:03:47,180 the specific house, car, or spouse that belongs to another that evil ensues. 39 00:03:47,180 --> 00:03:51,040 And that is what the Tenth Commandment prohibits. 40 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:58,260 Therefore one of these Ten Commandments, these 10 basic rules of life, must be that we simply 41 00:03:58,270 --> 00:04:06,200 cannot allow ourselves to covet what belongs to our neighbor. Whatever belongs to another person 42 00:04:06,200 --> 00:04:14,600 must be regarded as sacrosanct. We cannot seek to own anything that belongs to another. 43 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:18,780 Because only evil can come of it. 44 00:04:18,789 --> 00:04:21,009 I'm Dennis Prager.