Exo 20:14, 17 | Clarke | e4.org | THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT Against adultery and uncleanness . Verse 14. Thou shalt not commit adultery. ] Adultery, as defined by our laws, is of two kinds; double , when between two married persons; single , when one of the parties is married, the other single. One principal part of the criminality of adultery consists in its injustice . 1. It robs a man of his right by taking from him the affection of his wife. 2. It does him a wrong by fathering on him and obliging him to maintain as his own a spurious offspring-a child which is not his . The act itself, and every thing leading to the act, is prohibited by this commandment; for our Lord says, Even he who looks on a woman to lust after her , has already committed adultery with her in his heart . And not only adultery (the unlawful commerce between two married persons) is forbidden here, but also fornication and all kinds of mental and sensual uncleanness. All impure books, songs , paintings , &c., which tend to inflame and debauch the mind, are against this law, as well as another species of impurity, for the account of which the reader is referred to; . That fornication was included under this command we may gather from St. Matthew, , where our Saviour expresses the sense of the different commandments by a word for each , and mentions them in the order in which they stand; but when he comes to the seventh he uses two words, μοιχειαιπορνειαι, to express its meaning, and then goes on to the eighth, &c.; thus evidently showing that fornication was understood to be comprehended under the command, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." As to the word adultery, adulterium , it has probably been derived from the words ad alterius torum, to another's bed ; for it is going to the bed of another man that constitutes the act and the crime . Adultery often means idolatry in the worship of God.

‏ Exodus 20:14

THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT

Against adultery and uncleanness.

Verse 14. Thou shalt not commit adultery.] Adultery, as defined by our laws, is of two kinds; double, when between two married persons; single, when one of the parties is married, the other single. One principal part of the criminality of adultery consists in its injustice. 1. It robs a man of his right by taking from him the affection of his wife. 2. It does him a wrong by fathering on him and obliging him to maintain as his own a spurious offspring-a child which is not his. The act itself, and every thing leading to the act, is prohibited by this commandment; for our Lord says, Even he who looks on a woman to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And not only adultery (the unlawful commerce between two married persons) is forbidden here, but also fornication and all kinds of mental and sensual uncleanness. All impure books, songs, paintings, &c., which tend to inflame and debauch the mind, are against this law, as well as another species of impurity, for the account of which the reader is referred to; See Clarke on Gen 38:30. That fornication was included under this command we may gather from St. Matthew, Mt 15:19, where our Saviour expresses the sense of the different commandments by a word for each, and mentions them in the order in which they stand; but when he comes to the seventh he uses two words, μοιχειαιπορνειαι, to express its meaning, and then goes on to the eighth, &c.; thus evidently showing that fornication was understood to be comprehended under the command, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." As to the word adultery, adulterium, it has probably been derived from the words ad alterius torum, to another's bed; for it is going to the bed of another man that constitutes the act and the crime. Adultery often means idolatry in the worship of God.

‏ Exodus 20:17

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT

Against covetousness.

Verse 17. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house-wife, &c.] Covet signifies to desire or long after, in order to enjoy as a property the person or thing coveted. He breaks this command who by any means endeavours to deprive a man of his house or farm by taking them over his head, as it is expressed in some countries; who lusts after his neighbour's wife, and endeavours to ingratiate himself into her affections, and to lessen her husband in her esteem; and who endeavours to possess himself of the servants, cattle, &c., of another in any clandestine or unjustifiable manner. "This is a most excellent moral precept, the observance of which will prevent all public crimes; for he who feels the force of the law that prohibits the inordinate desire of any thing that is the property of another, can never make a breach in the peace of society by an act of wrong to any of even its feeblest members."