King Ahab desired the land next to his palace. It was owned by one Navot who had a vineyard on the plot. The king thought it would make a nice royal garden. He tried to buy the area from Navot, but Navot refused; the land had been in his family for generations. King Ahab was used to getting his way. He sulked and cried and refused to eat until his wife, Izevel (Jezebel) came up with a plan. She sent out a royal order to the local authorities asking them to find some people to falsely testify against Navot that he had blasphemed God and the king. The deed was done and Navot was stoned to death as pumishment for an uncommitted crime. The king took possession of the vineyard. (I Kings 21)
This is a story about the dangers of coveting someone else’s things (as Maimonides notes), the last of the 10 commandments. “Thou shalt not covet.” How can the Torah command us concerning a feeling? It starts inside the heart, as a kind of restless yearning for another’s things, but, as the story demonstrates, it quickly moves into the realm of action; indeed, because of his jealousy, Ahab violates three other of the 10 commandments as well, bearing false witness, stealing, and killing. Thoughts and deeds are intimately connected.
The first of the commandments is also a thought commandment: “I am the Lord your God.” And in a way, in violating that last coveting one, King Ahab also violated the first. What was the problem with his attitude? It was the problem of a king – namely, arrogance and ego-centrism. He thought he ruled the world, that whatever he wanted, he could have. His actions were a denial of the existence of a much grander King in this world.
King Ahab’s story is any coveter’s story writ large. Coveting is acting like a king, thinking that you somehow deserve what someone else has, that you are above others, that you have the power to decide who gets what in this world. As the Ahab story demonstrates, even thinking this way is extraordinarily dangerous.
The first commandment is the key to breaking such thoughts; it is the antidote to kingship feelings, reminding us of our small place in the universe and of a power that is beyond our comprehension. We are left with a sense of calm in place of the restlessness of coveting, and also with a feeling of comraderie for our fellow humans. If God is the only one above, then the rest of us are all down below together; none of us has complete control; we are all struggling along in the same boat, and so, in place of envy, we come to feel great joy at one another’s success.
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I love the question, and love the answer, but I want (covet) more.
ReplyDeleteIt's OK to think "I want a (generic) vineyard next to my house." It's even OK to think "I want my neighbor's vineyard, and I will offer him money to sell it to me."
What if he says no; can I offer him twice it's value to sell it to me, without being guilty of a sin? I think so. Three times its value?
The same is true if he has food that I need to feed my children. I think I can desire to purchase that food without being guilty of a sin.
Perhaps there is a point when the answer is an unalterable "no;" you are to poor to afford the food, or the vineyard is not for sale at any price. At which point "you get what you get and you don't get upset" -- for the reasons you describe so nicely.
But if this is true, identifying the line is not very easy.
I think the key must be in the word "covet." It's okay to want something that another has,especially if he or she is willing to sell it. But covet denotes a kind of yearning that is, in itself, ungracious and unhealthy. As Rachel explains so well, it is this yearning that needs to be countered by humility.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully articulated point about coveting! Belief in a supreme ultimate owner of everything who apportions every person his share guarantees prevention of coveting. But nonbelievers don’t go around taking things from others. Ibn Ezra suggests that being raised with boundaries one cannot cross prevents not just the action following coveting but even the coveting itself. His examples: a poor country lad does not covet a beautiful royal maiden, for he knows that she is not within his reach. Similarly, individual raised with an absolute prohibition of incest do not desire their mothers or sisters.
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