In the spirit of my previous question, what's the point of the tenth commandment?
In Matthew 5:21-22 Christ reveals the true application of the sixth commandment:
You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' 22But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment (ESV)
And in vs. 27-28 he reveals the true application of the seventh:
You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Essentially what Jesus was doing was elaborating on these commandments - and teachings on the Ten Commandments (especially the second table) traditionally do so as well (see the Westminster Confession, for example): the fifth commandment tells us to honor and respect superiors and leaders, the sixth not to hate, the seventh not to lust, ect.
But when we come to the eighth commandment: "Thou shalt not steal" - it would seem the logical elaboration on it would be "lusting" after possessions in the same way that the seventh commandment ("wife stealing", in a sense) covers lusting after a woman. In other words, it seems like coveting - the tenth commandment - is already "covered" by the eighth commandment. I'm not saying the tenth commandment is unimportant, but it seems to me that if you're going to include coveting, why not include a prohibition against pornography or lust?
TL;DR: Why the tenth commandment when it's covered by the eighth?
As with my 2nd commandment question, i've got a general idea of what I think about it. However, i'm going to let this one sit and see if I can get better answers than what I've thought of. If nothing comes, i'll answer it myself. Cheers! :)