Exodus 20:3, “You shall have no other
gods before me.”
The Ten Commandments are of central importance to the formation, establishment
and national life of Israel, in fact to all mankind and especially to the
believer in Christ. It is therefore beneficial for us to take time to consider
them individually.
What then is the first commandment? “You shall have no other gods before me.”
Why was it given?
It was given for a number of reasons, but we shall just look at three.
The people of Israel had just left Egypt
and were about to enter Canaan, they were going from one nation that worshipped
many gods, and coming into an area where multiple nations worshipped a whole
host of different gods. This commandment comes as a strong warning to the
Israelites not to cling onto the gods of Egypt, nor to go after the gods of the
Canaanite nations. The nation of Israel was to be unique by virtue of the fact
that they worshipped one God and worshipped Him exclusively. They were not to
have any other god, but God alone. They were God’s people and He was their God,
their relationship was to be one of faithfulness, God would be faithful to them,
and they were to be faithful to God.
This command is
issued by God and comes as binding upon all men because God is the only, true
and living God, all the others gods are false, a point made clear in the second
commandment. This truth that God is the only true God is one that will be
stated time and time again to the Israelite people through the prophets, as it
is a truth they failed to regard. There is one God and He alone is to be
worshipped and no other, for all others are but pretenders, either the lies of
the devil, or figments of men’s imaginations.
We see the love of
God in this commandment, for God is well aware of the great grief that will
come upon us if we do turn aside from worshipping Him alone. The worship of
other gods may seem appealing, but they will all lead to death and to the
eternal judgement of God. Furthermore, all the promises these so called “gods”
make to us will all be proved false and we and our families will find only
grief and distress, instead of joy and contentment. God’s desire is for us to
know and have life, and we can only know and have life in its fullest sense
when we worship Him and Him alone. This commandment is a commandment of love
and of life.
Our true, living, unique and only God, we
worship and adore Your great and majestic name. We pray that You would cause us
to rejoice in the reality that You are the only God, and You are a good, loving
God. May we seek after You and You alone, desiring only to ever worship You.
Amen.
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