6. Music Lessons

I have never been quite sure about the ingredients of the word “covet” as it is used in the last one of the Ten Commandments. It may involve what is latterly known, in academic circles, as “class hatred,” the bitter envy of the have-nots in their mental attitude toward the haves. Or, it may be a warning to the man who has little or nothing that he must not flatten his nose against the rich man’s windowpane and wish that he had this fortunate fellow’s luxuries. If the poor man persisted in that course, it might put bad ideas into his head, such as theft. In any case, the Commandment against covetousness seems to be candidly intended for the protection of the man of property.

Indeed, a close examination of these Mosaic laws which traditionally regulate the conduct of Jews and Christians reveals a special interest in the affairs of people in the higher-income tax brackets.

For example: In the Commandment which concerns the proper observance of the Sabbath Day, the law makes a man see to it that not only his immediate family must abstain from work, but his beasts of burden, and his manservant and his maidservant, and his week-end guests.

The fact is that the overwhelming majority of the people who hold the Ten Commandments in high esteem as their moral laws do not entertain guests on the Sabbath or any other day, nor do they have a maidservant, much less a manservant.

Quite obviously, the Commandment against wishing one had what the rich man has is a good law which should be obeyed for the poor man’s own sake, if for no better reason.

But it might be appropriate to add another Commandment, at that point, intended to ease this “class hatred” implied by the laws prohibiting covetousness; something like the following:

When thou in thy camel’s-hair coat, or thy wife or thy daughter in their minks, drive thy big Cadillac, ye shall not splash muddy water on the clothing of them who wait on the corner for the bus.

In short, if a law against wishing is in order, so is a law against showing off. No; I’m not rabble-rousing: I do not live on that side of the tracks, myself. But I’m telling you that we Americans cannot afford to be split up into classes. Our Master gave us an effective cure for that trouble when he said, “A new Commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.”

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