Exodus 20:3: “You shall have no other gods before me. (ESV)
The first of the Ten Commandments is often understood as the commandment that naturally leads to the ones that follow. It makes sense for this to be first because the second follows from it, and the third from that. Yahweh prefaces these words by saying that He is Yahweh, their God who brought them up out of slavery in the land of Egypt. Then He launches into this first commandment.
The First Commandment Then
What is this commandment prohibiting? While it may initially seem simple, a closer inspection yields surprises. At first glance, the commandment seems a simple prohibition against having any other gods. You shall have no other gods is simple enough. It is a claim to exclusivity, meaning that Yahweh should be the only god the Israelites worship. But the commandment does not end there. Yahweh adds the prepositional phrase "before me." And this is what makes the commandment more nuanced than it may first appear.
The phrase that is translated, "before me," is somewhat vague. We might use this phrase to refer to order. This would mean that God wants to be the first god, the best, number one. It could mean that God wants to be treated as the best of the gods, who receives worship first. The worship of Yahweh happens before the worship of any other god. But these possible interpretations do not reflect what the phrase, "before me" means.
The preposition "before" in English is two words in Hebrew that are literally translated as "before my face” or "by my face.” This is a common phrase that refers to being in someone’s presence (some examples are Gen. 11:28; 33:19; 34:6; Leviticus 10:17). So, in using the phrase “before me,” Yahweh is speaking about other gods in His presence. In short, He prohibits it.
It is helpful to remember how common polytheism was then and is today. We need look no further than the immediate context of the passage, which mentions the Israelites coming out of Egypt. We know that Egyptians at this time had multiple deities. Many interpreters correlate each of the ten plagues of Egypt to Egyptian gods.
According to the Christmas movie Elf (starring Will Ferrell), the second statement in the Code of the Elves is that there is room for everyone on Santa's “Nice List." Given the popularity of polytheism (the worship of multiple gods) in world history, it is easy to see why Yahweh’s first commandment would clarify that there is not room for everyone on the “Worship List." Worship was split between multiple gods among the people, with some favoring certain gods over others, but typically with a chief deity or two.
In effect, this command is a prohibition against all other gods. When he speaks about what is before his face, we should first remember that the people themselves are before his face. He has saved them out of Egypt, and now he is with them and they are with him (cf. Exodus 19:7-9). Israel is before Yahweh's face at Sinai. So, for Yahweh to command that there be no other gods before him, he is saying that there can be no worship rendered to anyone or anything other than Yahweh. Yahweh will not share his glory, will not share his worship. All glory and honor and power and dominion belong to him.
The first commandment, then, is a demand for monotheism. Yahweh demands that He not be one divine allegiance among many, but that this be an exclusive relationship. While the other gods the Israelites and others might worship are not real, the worship is. And this is what Yahweh is demanding. Israel’s list of gods to worship must be cleared of all deities save one. Yahweh will not share worship with anyone or anything. It all belongs to Him.
Explaining the falseness of other gods is secondary to a commitment to worship Yahweh alone. You don't have to know that other gods are false to know that Yahweh is real. And once you come to know Yahweh, you quickly discover that those other gods are nothing (cf. Psalm 115:4-8). Israel was taught that lesson over and over again. But the history of the Old Testament demonstrates that Israel never really learned the lesson.
The First Commandment Now
Since polytheism is less prevalent among us today, what are we to make of this commandment for us? It seems less obvious to us today how we might be in danger of having other gods before Yahweh. Nevertheless, if we consider the commandment in terms of its function to prevent divided or shared worship and devotion to Yahweh, we can see how this commandment is relevant for living for God through Christ.
The fact is that our worship and devotion are often split along various lines. We are people who tend to diversify our investments. We do not generally like to have all our eggs in one basket. And yet, when it comes to our life and worship, God demands just this. It seems to me that we tend to think of our lives in terms of parts that can be divided and distributed among various recipients. We conceive of our families, perhaps, as rightly demanding a good chunk. We devote much of our time to our careers, a healthy dose of devotion to friends, and perhaps some to educational pursuits and hobbies or political involvement. And we do not neglect to give God his "fair share" of our devotion. We worship him on Sundays, and we profess faith in him. Nevertheless, I believe this conception of our lives leads to a breaking of this first commandment.
The first commandment of the ten serves to reorient our life and worship before God. I cannot bring any claims to my devotion to my worship with God. Is my worship of God exclusive, or do I have divided allegiances? Is there an area of my life that is set aside for something or someone else? Is my worship divided? Is my commitment split among various deities? Do I, in effect, have multiple deities on my “worship list”?
We may not be in danger of bringing figurines of gods to our worship services, but this does not negate our propensity to idolatry. Without the statuettes to provide natural boundaries to the object of our worship, our worship is limited only by our imagination. We may set no idols on the pews next to us, but we may carry a thousand in our hearts.
We must carefully consider what this command to have no other gods before Yahweh implies for us today. If we are to live for God through Christ, then other gods must be rooted out of our lives and hearts. Our devotion to God through Christ must be singular, with all other loves and pursuits flowing out from our devotion to Him and subordinated to Him. Our living for God through Christ is always coram deo, before His face. Because we live always before Him, we must constantly keep other gods out of our lives.