I am Jehovah thy God who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
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Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Moses is repeating the ten commandments to a new generation at the edge of the promised land. He starts where God started: God names Himself first, and the commands follow.
The commandment does not stand alone. God first names Himself as the One who brought Israel out of Egypt. That order carries the whole meaning.
It was on this very ground that, long ago, God sought to be known as God by the Jews. He claimed to be worshipped by them as the one only God, because He had shown Himself their Redeemer. "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me." In this act He had made Himself known as God, full of grace and power for captive sinners. If we do not know Him in this way, we do not know Him as He truly is. Any thought about God that clashes with this is only the work of a darkened creature's mind, busy with its own idolatry.
That sequence settles what obedience is for. It is never the price of rescue.
The ways of God are very precious. God must be true to Himself. He did not command obedience so that they might be redeemed, but because they were redeemed.
The phrase is not about ranking God highest in a list. Adding a second god does not leave the first in place.
The first commandment is absolutely basic, "You shall have no other gods before Me" (v.7). The moment another god is brought in, whatever people say about it, it is not merely added as an object alongside God. It is always put before God. Some may claim it is only meant as a reminder of God. But this is Satan's deception, for such things will always give a wrong idea of God.
Most of the ten commandments tell people what not to do. That shape is not accidental. It diagnoses the people who received it.
But God presented it here mostly in a way that exposed the condition of man. It came not in positive commands but in negative ones. That is a most humbling proof of man's state. He loved sin so well that God had to forbid it. In the greater part of the ten commandments, in short, it was not "You shall," but "You shall not." That is, it was a prohibition of man's will. He was a sinner, and nothing else.
Israel broke this command soon after receiving it. Their own jewellery became the calf they called their god.
From these earrings Aaron made a metal calf, finishing it with an engraving tool (vv. 2-4). He announced to them that this was their god who brought them out of the land of Egypt! Can we imagine such brazen folly as this? There is a serious lesson here. Our idols, whatever they are, take their character from what decorates or pampers the flesh — the golden earrings. Ears are for hearing, but Israel was not hearing the first commandment God had given them, "You shall have no other gods before Me."
Jesus displayed in full what the command asked for. One writer applies the command to Him and points to His own words.
We may apply each of the first four commandments to Him... "You shall have no other gods before Me." Every act of the lowly Man showed this. God's thought in that command showed itself in Him; God filled all His thoughts... Here was One who could say with all the energy of His holy soul, "The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance."
The commandment reaches far past carved images. The test is not the shape of the object but the grip it has.
You do not need to bow down to a block of wood or a stone to be an idolater. Whatever commands the heart is an idol. Giving the heart to that thing is idolatry, and the one who gives it is an idolater... Take that one great, crying, universal sin of "covetousness." What does the inspired apostle call it? He calls it "idolatry." How many hearts are commanded by money!
- Rescue first. God calls Himself the Redeemer who brought Israel out of slavery before He asks for anything. Obedience follows rescue. It never buys it.
- Then exclusivity. A second god is never added beside the true One — it always pushes in front of Him and twists our idea of God.
- The form accuses. "You shall not" is a prohibition of man's will, and its very wording shows what the people already were.
- Israel proved it. Israel shaped the calf from the gold they wore; idols still take their shape from whatever pampers us.
- Christ fulfilled it. God was in all His thoughts, and He alone answered the command that exposes every other heart.