Questions on the Heptateuch 2.71

It is asked how the ten commandments of the law are to be divided: whether there are four up to the commandment about the Sabbath, which pertain to God himself, and the remaining six, of which the first is “Honour your father and mother,” which pertain to man; or rather whether those are three and these seven. For those who say those are four separate what is said, “You shall have no other gods besides me,” so that “You shall not make yourself an idol,” and the rest, where the worship of images is forbidden, is another commandment; but they want “You shall not covet your neighbour's wife, you shall not covet your neighbour's house,” and everything to the end, to be one. But those who say those are three and these seven want whatever is commanded about worshipping the one God, so that nothing else be worshipped as God besides him, to be one; and they divide these last into two, so that “You shall not covet your neighbour's wife” is one, and “You shall not covet your neighbour's house” another. Yet neither side doubts that there are ten commandments, since Scripture testifies to this. To me, however, it seems more fitting to take those as three and these as seven, because those that pertain to God seem to those who look more carefully to suggest the Trinity. And indeed what is said, “You shall have no other gods besides me,” is itself more fully unfolded when the worship of images is forbidden. Further, the coveting of another's wife and the coveting of another's house differ so much in sinning that to the one that is said, “You shall not covet your neighbour's house,” other things too are joined, Scripture saying, “nor his field, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his beast of burden, nor any of his cattle, nor whatever belongs to your neighbour.” But it seems to have distinguished the coveting of another's wife from the coveting of any other thing of another's, since it began both thus: “You shall not covet your neighbour's wife; you shall not covet your neighbour's house,” and to this it began to join the rest. It did not, when it had said, “You shall not covet your neighbour's wife,” connect other things to this, saying, “nor his house, nor his field, nor his male servant,” and the rest; but these plainly appear to be joined, which seem to be contained in one commandment, and distinct from the one where the wife is named. But in the case of what is said, “You shall have no other gods besides me,” it appears that the more careful working out of this matter lies in what is added. For to what does “You shall not make yourself an idol, nor any likeness of whatever is in heaven above and whatever is on earth below and whatever is in the water under the earth; you shall not worship them nor serve them” pertain, if not to what is said, “You shall have no other gods besides me”? But again it is asked how “You shall not steal” differs from what is commanded a little later about not coveting a neighbour's things. Not everyone who covets his neighbour's thing steals; but if everyone who steals covets his neighbour's thing, what concerns theft could have been contained in that general command about not coveting a neighbour's thing. Similarly it is also asked how what is said, “You shall not commit adultery,” differs from what is said a little later, “You shall not covet your neighbour's wife.” For in what is said, “You shall not commit adultery,” that too could have been understood. Unless perhaps in those two sins of adultery and theft the deeds themselves are marked, but in these last the coveting itself; and these differ so much that sometimes a man commits adultery who does not covet his neighbour's wife, when he has intercourse with her for some other reason, and sometimes he covets her and does not have intercourse with her, fearing the penalty. And perhaps the law wished to show this, that both are sins. Again, it is usually asked whether sexual immorality (fornicatio) too is included under the name of moechia. For this is a Greek word which Scripture now uses for the Latin; yet in Greek moechoi means only adulterers. But certainly this law was given not only to the men among the people but also to the women. For because it is said, “You shall not covet your neighbour's wife,” a woman ought not to think that nothing is commanded her here, and that she may lawfully covet her neighbour's husband. If, then, it is understood here from what was said to the man, although it is not said, that it pertains to the woman too, how much more is each sex bound by what is said, “You shall not commit adultery,” since that commandment itself can be referred to both, like “You shall not kill,” “You shall not steal,” and the others which in the same way, no one sex being expressed, seem to speak to both in common! Yet where one is expressed, it is certainly the more honoured, that is, the masculine, so that from this the woman too may understand what is commanded her. And accordingly, if a woman who has a husband is an adulteress by lying with a man who is not her husband, even if he has no wife, then certainly a man who has a wife is an adulterer by lying with a woman who is not his wife, even if she has no husband. But whether, if a man who has no wife, or a woman who has no husband, does it, they are held for transgression of this commandment, is rightly asked. For if they are not held, then sexual immorality is not forbidden in the Decalogue, but only moechia, that is, adultery; although every moechia is understood to be also fornicatio, as the Scriptures speak; for the Lord says in the Gospel: “Whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery.” Here certainly he called it sexual immorality (fornicatio) if she who has a husband sins with another, which is moechia, that is, adultery. So every moechia is also called fornicatio in the Scriptures. But whether every fornicatio too can be called moechia, no example of such a usage in the same Scriptures occurs to me for the present. But if not every fornicatio can also be called moechia, I do not know whether it can be found where in the Decalogue that sexual immorality is forbidden which men who have no wives commit with women who have no husbands. But if under the name of theft every unlawful taking of another's thing is rightly understood (for he who forbade theft did not permit robbery, but certainly wished the whole to be understood from the part, whatever of a neighbour's things is unlawfully taken away), then certainly under the name of moechia too every unlawful intercourse and unlawful use of those members ought to be understood as forbidden. And as to what is said, “You shall not kill,” it is not to be thought that it is done against this commandment when the law kills or God commands someone to be killed. For he does it who commands, when it is not lawful to refuse the service. In what is said too, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour,” it is usually asked whether every lie is forbidden, lest perhaps this commandment is not against those who say that one must lie when the lie benefits someone and does no harm to the one to whom you lie. For such a lie is not “against your neighbour”; so that Scripture seems to have added this for that reason, though it could have said briefly, “You shall not bear false witness,” as it said, “You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal.” But here is a great question, and it cannot be conveniently explained by those in a hurry, how we are to take, “You will destroy all who speak a lie,” and, “Do not wish to tell any lie,” and the rest of this kind.