Did "thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife" originally refer not to sex but to housework?

Question

In "Debt: The First 5000 Years" by David Graeber, there is a claim on page 129:

Even in the Bible, the admonition in the Ten Commandments not to "covet thy neighbor's wife" clearly referred not to lust in one's heart (adultery had already been covered in commandment number seven) but to the prospect of taking her as a debt-peon -- in other words, as a servant to sweep one's yard and hang out the laundry.

The citation is to a short "Editor's Corner" article by L. Randall Wray appearing Summer 1999 edition of the Journal of Post Keynesian Economics. I found it here. (The claim is on internal page 685, page 7 of the pdf).

In this article, the claim is repeated, with attribution to

Michael Hudson, "How the debt overhead led to financial crises in antiquity: from Babylonia to Leviticus, Financial tensions between tax collectors and creditors," lecture, Jerome Levy Economics Institute, March 6, 1998

I don't know how to follow the trail from here. Can anyone confirm or deny?

I'm wondering how this claim could even theoretically be substantiated -- do we have historical records that could tell us how the Bible was understood "originally"?

Answer 1

Context suggests that that commandment is more related to wealth than sex:

“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.” (Exodus 20:17, ESV)

Modern translations usually only render the Hebrew word here as covet about a half-dozen times, and those tend to also focus on wealth. Deuteronomy 7:25, for example, emphasizes the wealth connection:

The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.

In the NT, that connection is maintained; Jesus interprets the adultery commandment, not the coveting commandment, to refer to lusting after someone else's wife (Matthew 5:27–28). He too connects covetousness to wealth:

¹³ Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴ But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵ And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:13–15)

Answer 2

My take on this is that it's a misunderstanding based on the Protestant numeration of the 10 Commandments. The original commandments given to Moses, which number 17 or more distinct commands, were not numbered the "10 Commandments" as they are known today until many centuries after they were written down. The Catholic (and Lutheran) numeration of the 10 Commandments is based on Saint Augustine's numeration which separates "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife." (number 9) from "You shall not covet your Neighbor's goods." (number 10), whereas the Protestant numeration is based on Origen's numeration which combines "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house nor his wife nor anything that belongs to him." as number 10.

The numbering system doesn't matter all that much, except for when someone comes up with an erroneous interpretation/assumption based on how they are grouped.

The opening chapters of Genesis make it plain in the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden that a woman is not a man's "possession" like a horse or livestock. He is the "bone of his bones and the flesh of his flesh". (Genesis 2:23)

Do we have historical records that could tell us how the Bible was understood "originally"?

As far as how Christians have understood it, yes we do. Many of the early Christians (which are referred to as the "Church Fathers") have writings that have been preserved that we can refer to. Saint Augustine is considered one of these Church Fathers.

Answer 3

No.

The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is considered the most literal translation of the original texts.

The NASB translation of Exodus 20:17 says:

17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

It's important to distinguish between Bible translations and Bible Versions, which may differ in content (leading to different sets of commandments).