Thou shall not covet

[Valke2]

Why is it that there is no commandment stating thou shall not covet your neighbor’s husband? Why does this commandment seem to apply to men only? Any thoughts?

 

[Tim_Kirchoff]

The mosaic/levitical law, for the most part, is addressing men. If it applies to men, I think it would apply to women as well, but inversely.

 

[BlestOne]

Why is it that there is no commandment stating thou shall not covet your neighbor’s husband? Why does this commandment seem to apply to men only? Any thoughts?

Men are much more visual beings than women. They tend to notice other women more than women notice other men. I am not going to argue that there are no women who covet anothers husband, but overall, a woman wraps her very identity up in home and family… I am JR’s wife, and L., F., and M.'s mom… much more than I am M.R., Director of Info Technology… Men on the other hand, are who they are professionally, their wife and children are a reflection of their virility, not their identity.

Also, looking at the historic and social settings… men have always been the heads of families, so women are more dependent on husbands than men on their wives… perhaps men are just reacting to this when they “look” at other women…sizing up their ability to make her feel secure with him??? KWIM?

 

[Rbt_Southwell]

Why is it that there is no commandment stating thou shall not covet your neighbor’s husband? Why does this commandment seem to apply to men only? Any thoughts?

The same reason why so many Hebrew prayers begin with “Thank God I am not a woman” (or so blessed Moshe Dreksler, my late father in law, used to say).

Gee, maybe that’s why Christianity appealed to so many Hellenized Jews of the 1st century AD/CE.

Robert

 

[Valke2]

There’s one prayer that I know of that begins that way. And its purpose is to acknowledge that men are required to obey more commandments than women. So they thank God that they are not born a woman, because then they would have less opportunities to do God’s commandments.

Many communities, btw, have changed this prayer.

Hellenized Jews that found Christanity appealing were looking to fit in with the more cosmopolitan community that they were living in and by and large were not familar with the tenants of Judaism. They were much more secular than religious. So I doubt it was anger of Jewish prayers. But none of this addresses my original question.

 

[BlaineTog]

I would think that the commandment means that women shouldn’t covet other’s husbands either.

 

[Henry_Cornejo]

Why is it that there is no commandment stating thou shall not covet your neighbor’s husband? Why does this commandment seem to apply to men only? Any thoughts?

Everything was a male dominated culture from the beginning. Women are kept at home. It was only in the last century that women were allowed to vote, hold public office or even became publicly visible. Even nowadays, when we write an essay or quotation, we usually reffered to a person as a man or HE. ie. Teach a man how to fish.

The word men in the old days was in reference to include women unless the subject is specific to male gender.

 

[FaithofAbraham]

Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ***, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Seems like it covers anything for men or women.

 

[Valke2]

Everything was a male dominated culture from the beginning. Women are kept at home. It was only in the last century that women were allowed to vote, hold public office or even became publicly visible. Even nowadays, when we write an essay or quotation, we usually reffered to a person as a man or HE. ie. Teach a man how to fish.

The word men in the old days was in reference to include women unless the subject is specific to male gender.

I don’t really agree with this last part. The commanment not to covet does not simply use a neutral masculine pronoun as a default. It says do not covet your neighbor’s wife. If it were meant to apply to woman I think it would have had an express provision. Just as the commandment to honor your father and mother expressly includes both sexes.

 

[Valke2]

Exodus 20:17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ***, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Seems like it covers anything for men or women.

But then why not say thou shall not covet anything that is thy neighbour’s and leave it at that?

 

[holdencaulfield]

Why is it that there is no commandment stating thou shall not covet your neighbor’s husband? Why does this commandment seem to apply to men only? Any thoughts?

No it applies to more than that.

“The ninth commandment warns against lust or carnal concupiscence.” (CCC 2529)

 

[Henry_Cornejo]

I don’t really agree with this last part. The commanment not to covet does not simply use a neutral masculine pronoun as a default. It says do not covet your neighbor’s wife. If it were meant to apply to woman I think it would have had an express provision. Just as the commandment to honor your father and mother expressly includes both sexes.

Here in the Philippines, a married woman goes to jail if convicted of adultery, having an affair with another man. The man involved is put to jail as well. However, adultery is not applied to married men. Instead, a married man goes to jail if and only if he is caught living with another woman as husband and wife. It is called concubinage. I come to believe that philandering is not a legal offense.I am not knowledgable in law. As far as I know, nobody has yet convicted of this crime!

I hope you feel this is outrageous. We do! The machos are happy about it. But people with strong Christian faith are in sorry state. Attempts has been made to equalize the penalty but it did not even passed the first reading in the House of Congress.

The essence is, “The pain of betrayal by the spouse is not limited to men. Women suffer excruciating pain with a philandering husband”. Why not apply the same penalty to both.

The culture of the Old testament was a male dominated one. The writers even treat God as HE. Thus, all superiority applies to male gender and treat the woman as less superior. Do God really has a gender as what we come to understand the word?

The Christian era usually use the words brothers and sisters. Use of these words made it clear that morality applies to both men and women. All under the loving care of the Father. Christ even spoke of the word neighbor to cover both sexes.

 

[FaithofAbraham]

But then why not say thou shall not covet anything that is thy neighbour’s and leave it at that?

I don’t know. The Tanach doesn’t explicitly prohibit lesbians either does it?

 

[Valke2]

I don’t know. The Tanach doesn’t explicitly prohibit lesbians either does it?

The Talmud does. But that would be another question with a different set of answers, including the fact that male prostitution was a cultic practice with pagan religions and that men may just not have believed women would do such a thing.

 

[lukewarm]

It’s an antiquated worldview where men dominated and believed women incapable of such acts (they sure are proving them wrong today, by all accounts women commit adultery as much or more than men). That IF the act occured it was because the man was pressing the issue, therefore the commandment is directed at men specifically, but I still think the commandment encompasses both sexes.

 

[ralphinal]

It’s an antiquated worldview where men dominated and believed women incapable of such acts (they sure are proving them wrong today, by all accounts women commit adultery as much or more than men). That IF the act occured it was because the man was pressing the issue, therefore the commandment is directed at men specifically, but I still think the commandment encompasses both sexes.

I think I agree. It used to be thought that women were not sexual creatures with lust and desire. I think that some people still feel this way.

Valke,
Is this the reason that some Jews keep the sexes segregated, especially married men and women?

 

[Valke2]

I think I agree. It used to be thought that women were not sexual creatures with lust and desire. I think that some people still feel this way.

Valke,
Is this the reason that some Jews keep the sexes segregated, especially married men and women?

The explanation for segregating the sexes usually centers around the “fact” that men can’t be trusted to ignore their baser instincts. As fo rsegregating the sexes during worship, there’s an explanation centered around how the Temple was set up and theirs the explanation that women would be distracting to the men. That it is not a good thing to mix up love of God with love of women (or children). We should be focused on our love of Hashem during prayer, not our family.

Personally, I participate in egalitarian services, with mixed seating.

 

[ralphinal]

The explanation for segregating the sexes usually centers around the “fact” that men can’t be trusted to ignore their baser instincts. As fo rsegregating the sexes during worship, there’s an explanation centered around how the Temple was set up and theirs the explanation that women would be distracting to the men. That it is not a good thing to mix up love of God with love of women (or children). We should be focused on our love of Hashem during prayer, not our family.

Personally, I participate in egalitarian services, with mixed seating.

My ex-wife was friends with a girl who was a Reform Jew. One summer, she studied in Isreal and came back WAY Orthodox. She would not sit at the same table that I was at.

I agree about distraction during prayer, but it is an antiquated idea that the women are distracting the men and the inverse is not correct.

 

[mercygate]

The explanation for segregating the sexes usually centers around the “fact” that men can’t be trusted to ignore their baser instincts. As fo rsegregating the sexes during worship, there’s an explanation centered around how the Temple was set up and theirs the explanation that women would be distracting to the men. That it is not a good thing to mix up love of God with love of women (or children). We should be focused on our love of Hashem during prayer, not our family.

Personally, I participate in egalitarian services, with mixed seating.

:bigyikes: You should have heard the screaming when a woman (sitting in the women’s section of the Jewish chapel where I work) could be heard reciting Kaddish for her father when the men were present across the aisle.

The way the men howled about it, you would have thought there were naked dancing girls in there!

 

[Valke2]

:bigyikes: You should have heard the screaming when a woman (sitting in the women’s section of the Jewish chapel where I work) could be heard reciting Kaddish for her father when the men were present across the aisle.

The way the men howled about it, you would have thought there were naked dancing girls in there!

That’s because, according to jewish tradition, men are idiots.