Coyert
Scarcely now in nse, except for game, and then generallv spelt raver, 'covert' is used in AV for— 1. 'A covered place,' 2 K 1(>"; 'the c. for the sabbath that they had built in the house ' (Heb. Klh. T|5'p, kerg ^po, LXX t4» BeijUXiov t^s <ra9rt/)oi, KV 'the covered way for the sabbath,' RVm 'covered place'). 2. Any shelter, as Is 4" 'a c. from storm and from rain'; or hiding place, as Job 38" ' the young lions . . abide in the c. to lie in wait ' ; I S 25* ' she [Abigail] came down by the c.
of the hill,' that is, where the hill hid her from view ; cf. 1 Mac 9" ' hid themselves under the c. of the moontain.' J. Hastings. COYET 'The law had said. Thou shalt not covet' (Ko 7'); 'Covet earnestly the best gifts' (1 Co I'2"), and 'covet to prophesy' (14»). It is not St. Paul that offers this startling contradic- tion ; he uses two different words, 4iri$vfUu in Ro, s'7;X6u in 1 Co ; it is AV only. The older Eng. VS.S have generally 'lu.
st' in quoting the com- mandment, or where they have 'covet' they give some other word in 1 Co, as 1 Co 12" Wyclif ' sue,' Kheims 'pursue'; 14*" W. 'love,' R. 'be earnest.' RV has ' desire earnestly ' in 1 Co. ' Covet' (from Fr. convoiter, Lat. cupere, cupiditare), scarcely used now in a good sense, was at first quite neutral = eagerly desire, as Caxton (1483), ' She ever covey ted the pees and love of her lord.' 'Covet after,' as 1 Ti 6'", is obsolete. (The Gr.
in this place is dpiyiji, and RV gives ' reach after,' a happy change, ipiyu and ' reach ' being phonetically as well as idiomatically identical.) J. HASTINGS. C0YET0OSNES8 The verb covet and its parts are used in a wider .sense in the Scriptures than the noun covetousness, which has alw ays a reference to property, and is a rendering of the Heb. Vi? and the Gr. TrXtopt^la.
In OT there are found frequent denunciations of this sin, which is brought into close connexion on the one hand with violence (Jer 2'2", Hab 2"), and on the other with fraud (Jer 8'°); and this connexion shows that action as well as desire to get another's goods is meant (Mie 2"). The forms of the sin singled out for rebuke are usurj-, seizing the land of the weak and poor, selling debtors into slavery, and taking bribes to pervert justice.
The judges to be chosen by Moses were to be men 'hating unjust gain' (Ex 18'^). Covetousness brought ruin on Achan and his house (Jos 7''")- Samuel in laying down office asserted his innocence of this sin (1 S 12*). Turning to NT, we find that Jesus warned men against covetousness, wherewith His opponents the Pharisees were charged (Lk 16"), and enforced His warning with the parable of the Rich Fool (Lk joia-si). St.
Paul in several of his letters includes covetousness, which he calls idolatry (Col 3'), among the very worst sins (Ro l"", Epli 5', 1 Co 6'°). He had to defend himself against the charge of covetousness in connexion with the collection for the poor at Jerus. (I Th 2», 2 Co 8 ; cf. Ac 20^'). There were some teachers in the Church whose aim was worldly gain (2 P 2*) ; and accordingly one of the necessary qualificationsof a bishop was freedom from the love of money ( 1 Ti 3').
The remedy for covet- ousness as for the anxiety about food and raiment, which hinders undivided service (Mt C""**), is trust in God's fatherly care and abiding faithfulness (He 13°). Regarding the sense of 'covet' in the tenth commandment (Ex 20"), it is held by some that it includes not only the desire to have another's property, but also the effort to make it one's own (Schultz, O.T. Theol., Eng. tr. ii. p. 52). In Dt 5" with its more inward morality, only the desire may be referred to.
In St. Paul's reference the inwardness of the law is asserted (Ro 7'). He might claim to be blameless in outward acts, but this command- ment convicted him of sinfulness in his wishes, not for gain simply, but also for other unlawful objects. A. £. Garvie.