לא תחמוד. אנשים רבים יתמהו על זאת המצוה. איך יהיה אדם שלא יחמוד דבר יפה בלבו כל מה שהוא נחמד למראה עיניו. ועתה אתן לך משל. דע כי איש כפרי שיש לו דעת נכונה והוא ראה בת מלך שהיא יפה לא יחמוד אותה בלבו שישכב עמה. כי ידע כי זה לא יתכן. ואל תחשוב זה הכפרי שהוא כאחד מן המשוגעים שיתאוה שיהיו לו כנפים לעוף השמים. ולא יתכן להיות כאשר אין אדם מתאוה לשכב עם אמו אע''פ שהיא יפה. כי הרגילוהו מנעוריו לדעת שהיא אסורה לו. ככה כל משכיל צריך שידע כי אשה יפה או ממון לא ימצאנו אדם בעבור חכמתו ודעתו. רק כאשר חלק לו השם. ואמר קהלת (לאשר) [ולאדם שלא עמל בו] יתננו חלקו. ואמרו חכמים בני חיי ומזוני לאו בזכותא תליא מלתא אלא במזלא. ובעבור זה המשכיל לא יתאוה ולא יחמוד. ואחר שידע שאשת רעהו אסרה השם לו יותר היא נשגבה בעיניו מבת מלך בלב הכפרי על כן הוא ישמח בחלקו ולא ישים אל לבו לחמוד ולהתאוות דבר שאינו שלו. כי ידע שהשם לא רצה לתת לו. לא יוכל לקחתו בכחו ובמחשבותיו ובתחבולותיו. על כן יבטח בבוראו שיכלכלנו ויעשה הטוב בעיניו. והנה נשלם פירוש עשרת הדברים.
You shall not covet: Many people this commandment strange. How can a person not covet in his heart that which is beautiful [and] all that which appears pleasant in his eyes. I will give you a parable. Know, that a rational villager who sees that the king's daughter is beautiful will not covet her in his heart, to sleep with her, because he knows that this is impossible. Nor will this villager think like one an insane person who craves wings to fly in the sky, when it is not possible. Similarly a man does not desire to sleep with his mother, even though she is beautiful, as they have accustomed him from his youth to know that it is forbidden to him. So must every enlightened person know that a beautiful woman or money is not attained by a person because of his wisdom or knowledge; rather it is from that which God apportioned to him. And Kohelet said, "(to that) [and to the one that did not toil in it], will he give it as his portion" (Ecclesiastes 2:21). And the sages said (Moed Katan 28a), "Children, life and sustenance - [this] matter does not depend on merit, but rather on the constellation [that is, on luck]." And because of this, the enlightened one will not desire and not covet. And once he knows that God forbade him the wife of his friend, it is more removed in his eyes than the daughter of the king is in the eyes of the villager. Therefore, he will 'rejoice in his portion' and he won't place in his heart to covet and desire something that is not his. Since he knows that God did not want to give it to him [and that] he is not able to take it with his power and thoughts and machinations. Hence, he will trust in his Creator, that He will provide for him and that He will do what is good in His eyes. And behold, the commentary on the Ten Commandments is completed....
(א) ומלת חמד בלשון הקדש מתפרשת לשני טעמים האחד גזל ועושק וקחת של אחרים בחזקה ובאונס וכך ולא יחמוד איש את ארצך כי אם אין פירושו כן הנה תהיה הארץ רעה ולא בא הכתוב אלא לשבח והטעם השני לשון תאוה בלב ולא תצא לפועל. ... ורבים אמרו כי אין עון במחשבת הלב ואין עליהם שכר ועונש ויש ראיות רבות להשיב עליהן ולא אאריך רק אראה להם לב חורש מחשבות און הטיבות כי היה עם לבבך ולישרים בלבותם ומשה אמר בסוף בפיך ובלבבך לעשותו. ועיקר כל המצות ליישר הלב, ורובם זכר והמזיד והשוגג יוכיחו:
(1) The Hebrew word ḥ-m-d has two different meanings. One meaning is robbery, oppression, taking from others through force or coercion (as in, “no man will h-m-d=attack your land” [Exodus 34: 24] -- where the verse clearly does not intend to suggest that the land is undesirable). The other meaning is internior craving or desire that is not outwardly acted on. ... Many people have said that there is no sin in thinking in your heart, and that thoughts carry neither reward nor punishment. There are too many counterproofs for me to quote them all! But see “The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to God ” [Proverbs 15: 26], “You did well, insofar as it was your intention” [I Kings 8: 18], and “to those who are upright in their hearts” [Psalms 125: 4]. Moshe sums it all up when he says in the end of the Torah “in your mouth and your heart, to do it” [30: 14]. The core of all the commandments is the improvement of the heart, and most of them are essentially reminders; and the halakhic distinction between intentional and accidental sin proves this.
Do not covet etc: "Coveting" is desire for something which now belongs to others, and is consequently forbidden to us, that is, it is not for sale; and see, every desire and coveting come spontaneously into human hearts after seeing something desirable, but it is within one's capacity and will to stop that coveting as it emerges, and to distance it from one's heart when one knows that attaining the desirable thing is impossible for one, or one may keep it in his heart, and let its bonfire grow until one acts on it, when one knows that acting on it is possible. And God having said, do not commit adultery, do not steal, etc, forbidding the taking of what belongs to another, now God says, what belongs to our fellow must be in our eyes as if it were untterly unattainable by us, and having commanded us not to take what belongs to another we are now commanded not to covet it. And every one who covets is under this forbidding; violence comes lightly to him and seems possible, but anyone who reveres God's word, sees violence as prevented, and what doesn't belong to him is as if it were in the heavens, so that he cannot seize it and does not covet it. He rejoices in what he has and rejoices in his fellows' good fortune, loving them and beloved by them; but the other one spends all his days in the whirlwind of cravings and anxieties, coveting what he cannot have and aggressive toward his fellow, envious of his fellow, hating them and hated by them, and he will die in his lack of ethics; and see Ibn Ezra's words, which are apt.
You shall consign the images of their gods to the fire; you shall not covet the silver and gold on them and keep it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared thereby; for that is abhorrent to the LORD your God.
כל החומד עבדו או אמתו או ביתו וכליו של חבירו או דבר שאפשר לו שיקנהו ממנו והכביר עליו ברעים והפציר בו עד שלקחו ממנו אף על פי שנתן לו דמים רבים הרי זה עובר [ה] בלא תעשה שנאמר לא תחמוד. ואין לוקין על לאו זה מפני שאין בו מעשה. ואינו עובר בלאו זה עד שיקח החפץ שחמד. כענין שנאמר לא תחמוד כסף וזהב עליהם ולקחת לך חימוד שיש בו מעשה. כל המתאוה ביתו או אשתו וכליו של חבירו וכן כל כיוצא בהן משאר דברים שאפשר לו לקנותן ממנו. כיון שחשב בלבו היאך יקנה דבר זה ונפתה בלבו בדבר עבר בלא תעשה שנאמר לא תתאוה ואין תאוה אלא בלב בלבד. א התאוה מביאה לידי חימוד והחימוד מביא לידי גזל. שאם לא רצו הבעלים למכור אע"פ שהרבה להם בדמים והפציר ברעים יבא לידי גזל שנאמר וחמדו בתים וגזלו. ואם עמדו הבעלים בפניו להציל ממונם או מנעוהו מלגזול יבא לידי שפיכות דמים. צא ולמד ממעשה אחאב ונבות. הא למדת שהמתאוה עובר בלאו אחד והקונה דבר שהתאוה בהפצר שהפציר בבעלים או בבקשה מהן עובר בשני [ו] לאוין לכך נאמר לא תחמוד ולא תתאוה. ואם גזל עבר בשלשה לאוין.
9. Anyone who covets the servant or the house or goods of his neighbor, or anything that one can buy from him, and he pressures him unpleasantly and pesters him until he buys it from him, even for a high price, breaks the prohibition: "You shall not covet" (Exodus 20:17). But he has not violated this prohibition unless in the end he takes the object he coveted; just as we see in the verse [about idolatrous worship] "Do not covet silver and gold and take..." -- we call it coveting when it is connected to the action of taking.
10. Everyone who desires the house or spouse of goods of his fellow, or anything else that he could acquire from him, as soon as he thinks in his heart "How could I aquire that from him?" and his tempted about this, he violate the prohibition, "Do not crave..." -- and 'craving' means, only in the mind.
11. Cravings leads to coveting, and coveting leads to theft. Because if the owner shows no interest in selling even when offered a lot of money and pestered unpleasantly, he will end by taking it, as it says, "They coveted houses and stole them..." And if the owner stands up for himself to retrieve his property, or to prevent him from taking it, it will lead to murder. Go learn from the story of Achav and Navot!
12. So we've learned: the person who craves what belongs to another, violates one prohibition; and the one who buys something he has craved by pestering or begging its owner violates two prohibitions, "Do not crave" and "do not covet." And if he steals it, he violates a third.
Do not covet. Many wonder at this mitzvah. How can a person not covet in his heart a beautiful thing, something that his eyes see as desirable? The heart covets of itself, by it's own nature and against human choice. But see Ibn Ezra's comment...Consider that God commanded us to love saying "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart." What would have been missing from that verse if it had said, "with your heart," and what does the word "all" add? That the intention is for your heart to be entirely filled with the love of God, that is, it should be the only thing in your heart -- not that your heart should contain a mixture of loving God and craving worldly things! because then it would not be full of love of God, and if it were half for God and half for yourself we could not call call 'all your heart." See how it is with anyone who fulfills this mitzvah: once his spirit longs to rejoice with God and finally clings to God with much love every moment, seeing God's pleasantness and rejoicing in the glow of God's majesty, that one will also find great pleasure and wonderful sweetness and joy in it -- because his heart is always full of God's holiness, and is bound to God with strong bonds of love, and thus he fulfills 'all your heart,' because his heart is full to the brim with God's love! Consequently it's impossible for him to covet any desirably thing of this world, knowing that coveting is located in the heart and not any other part of us, so that once his heart is perpetually full of love of God, where is there room in the heart to crave and covet what belongs to someone else? It is like a cup full to the brim to which not a drop can be added. And so we see that nobody can transgress 'do not covet' unless he is already failing to observe the positive commandment of loving God with all our heart; he might love God indeed, but not only God - he loves God and also the desirable things of the world and the pleasures of human beings, and consequently he fails in 'all your heart.' And once that happens, the heart automatically begins to crave worldly things that are before his eyes, even if he knows its sinful and does not intentionally choose to do it; but it is the heart's nature to desire. Against his will, against his choice, but it is just impossible for love of God to sit 'like brothers together' with the love of pleasures, but rather each shoves the other and tries to banish it. But one who observes 'love the Lord your God with all your heart" can never have this problem, because his heart is perpetually bus anf ull of love of God and great joy. And indeed one whose heart is bound up with God's love will laugh at all the desirable things of the world, which end and pass away and are intrinsically contemptible, nor will he crave desirable women; and the desire of God to be with him will fill up the space for longing in his heart, and his heart's nature will be distanced from all the desires of this world -- will not desire them and will be disgusted by them! - but will have pleasure and play in clinging to God with love and joy, because that spirit will turn in its nature toward to good, and abandon the lacking.
לא תחמוד, The thing should seem to you wholly impossible, because its our nature not to covet things that are wholly unattainable. And it's like "Nobody will covet (h-m-d) your land" - because coveting it leads to stealing it, just as in the case of Achan (Joshua 7:21), "and I coveted them andn took them."
(יט) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוֹשֻׁ֜עַ אֶל־עָכָ֗ן בְּנִי֙ שִֽׂים־נָ֣א כָב֗וֹד לַֽיהוָ֛ה אֱלֹהֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל וְתֶן־ל֣וֹ תוֹדָ֑ה וְהַגֶּד־נָ֥א לִי֙ מֶ֣ה עָשִׂ֔יתָ אַל־תְּכַחֵ֖ד מִמֶּֽנִּי׃ (כ) וַיַּ֧עַן עָכָ֛ן אֶת־יְהוֹשֻׁ֖עַ וַיֹּאמַ֑ר אָמְנָ֗ה אָנֹכִ֤י חָטָ֙אתִי֙ לַֽיהוָה֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְכָזֹ֥את וְכָזֹ֖את עָשִֽׂיתִי׃ (כא) ואראה [וָאֵ֣רֶא] בַשָּׁלָ֡ל אַדֶּ֣רֶת שִׁנְעָר֩ אַחַ֨ת טוֹבָ֜ה וּמָאתַ֧יִם שְׁקָלִ֣ים כֶּ֗סֶף וּלְשׁ֨וֹן זָהָ֤ב אֶחָד֙ חֲמִשִּׁ֤ים שְׁקָלִים֙ מִשְׁקָל֔וֹ וָֽאֶחְמְדֵ֖ם וָֽאֶקָּחֵ֑ם וְהִנָּ֨ם טְמוּנִ֥ים בָּאָ֛רֶץ בְּת֥וֹךְ הָאָֽהֳלִ֖י וְהַכֶּ֥סֶף תַּחְתֶּֽיהָ׃ (כב) וַיִּשְׁלַ֤ח יְהוֹשֻׁ֙עַ֙ מַלְאָכִ֔ים וַיָּרֻ֖צוּ הָאֹ֑הֱלָה וְהִנֵּ֧ה טְמוּנָ֛ה בְּאָהֳל֖וֹ וְהַכֶּ֥סֶף תַּחְתֶּֽיהָ׃
(19) Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, pay honor to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make confession to Him. Tell me what you have done; do not hold anything back from me.” (20) Achan answered Joshua, “It is true, I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I did: (21) I saw among the spoil a fine Shinar mantle, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, and I coveted them and took them. They are buried in the ground in my tent, with the silver under it.” (22) Joshua sent messengers, who hurried to the tent; and there it was, buried in his tent, with the silver underneath.