Was it okay to covet someone's house not belonging to your neighbor?

[tonychanyt]

Was it okay to covet someone's house not belonging to your neighbor?

Let's see the context. Ex 20:

13“You shall not murder.
14“You shall not commit adultery.
15“You shall not steal.

Three universal commandments.

16“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

Was it okay to give false testimony against someone who lived in a different neighborhood?

No.

Strong's Hebrew: 7453. רֵ֫עַ (rea or rea) — 186 Occurrences

H7453-neighbor was polysemantic. BDB:

1. friend, intimate 2 in weaker sense, fellow, fellow-citizen, even another person,, with whom one stands in reciprocal relations 3 in reciprocal phrase אִישׁ ֗֗֗ רֵעֵהו Genesis 11:3 they said one to another

H7453 was a frequent word that could mean "fellow human being".

17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

From the context, I understand the word "neighbor" in the broad sense.

Good News Translation:

"Do not desire another man's house; do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns."

According to Ex 20:17, was it okay to covet someone's house not belonging to your neighbor?

No, you shall not covet the house that belongs to another fellow human being.

 

[Rose_bud]

Neighbour could also be surroundings nations. For example, alluded to in the text, when Israel coveted the government of its surrounding people groups 1 Samuel 8 resulting in a human king (monarchy) in lieu of God (Theocracy).

 

[David Lamb]

Was it okay to covet someone's house not belonging to your neighbor?

Let's see the context. Ex 20:


Three universal commandments.


Was it okay to give false testimony against someone who lived in a different neighborhood?

No.

Strong's Hebrew: 7453. רֵ֫עַ (rea or rea) — 186 Occurrences

H7453-neighbor was polysemantic. BDB:

1. friend, intimate 2 in weaker sense, fellow, fellow-citizen, even another person,, with whom one stands in reciprocal relations 3 in reciprocal phrase אִישׁ ֗֗֗ רֵעֵהו Genesis 11:3 they said one to another

H7453 was a frequent word that could mean "fellow human being".


From the context, I understand the word "neighbor" in the broad sense.

Good News Translation:


According to Ex 20:17, was it okay to covet someone's house not belonging to your neighbor?

No, you shall not covet the house that belongs to another fellow human being.

I would say that "neighbour" is far wider in application in the bible than the way use the word (people who live next door, or in the same area as us). The dictionary I looked at for the Hebrew word translated "neighbour" says:

"1) friend, companion, fellow, another person
1a) friend, intimate
1b) fellow, fellow-citizen, another person (weaker sense)
1c) other, another (reciprocal phrase)"

I certainly don't believe that the commandment means that God wouldn't mind if we were to covet the house of somebody in a far-off country.