(3) Thou shalt have no other gods before me.--Heb., There shalt be to thee no other god before me. The result is the same, whether we translate Elohim by "god" or "gods;" but the singular verb shows that the plural form of the name is a mere plural of dignity.

Before me--literally, before my face--means strictly, "side by side with me"--i.e., "in addition to me." God does not suppose that the Israelites, after all that He had done for them, would discard Him, and substitute other gods in His place, but fears the syncretism which would unite His worship with that of other deities. All polytheisms were syncretic, and readily enlarged their pantheons, since, when once the principle of unity is departed from, whether the plurality be a little greater or a little less cannot much signify. The Egyptian religion seems to have adopted Ammon at a comparatively late period from Arabia; it took Bar, or Baal, Anta, or Ana?tis, Astaret, or Astarte, Reshpu, or Reseph, &c., from Syria, and it admitted Totuu from Ethiopia. Israel, in after-times, fell into the same error, and, without intending to apostatise from Jehovah, added on the worship of Baal, Ashtoreth, Moloch, Chemosh, Remphan, &c. It is this form of polytheism against which the first commandment is directed. It asserts the sole claim of Jehovah to our religious regards.

Verse 3. - Thou shalt have. The use of the second person singular is remarkable when a covenant was being made with the people (Exodus 19:5). The form indicated that each individual of the nation was addressed severally, and was required himself to obey the law, a mere general national obedience being insufficient. No one can fail to see how much the commands gain in force, through all time, by being thus addressed to the individual conscience. No other gods before me. "Before me" literally, "before my face," is a Hebrew idiom, and equivalent to "beside me," "in addition to me." The commandment requires the worship of one God alone, Jehovah - the God who had in so ninny ways manifested himself to the Israelites, and implies that there is, in point of fact, no other God. A belief in the unity of God is said to lie at the root of the esoteric Egyptian religion; but Moses can scarcely have derived his belief from this source, since the Egyptian notions on the subject were tinged with pantheism and materialism, from which the religion of Moses is entirely free. Outwardly the Egyptian religion, like that of the nations of Western Asia generally, was a gross polytheism; and it is against polytheistic notions that the first commandment raises a protest.

Parallel Commentaries ...


You
לְךָ֛֩‪‬ (lə·ḵā)
Preposition | second person masculine singular
Strong's Hebrew

shall have
יִהְיֶֽה־ (yih·yeh-)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

no
לֹֽ֣א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

other
אֲחֵרִ֖֜ים (’ă·ḥê·rîm)
Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 312: Hinder, next, other

gods
אֱלֹהִ֥֨ים (’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

before
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

Me.
פָּנָֽ֗יַ‪‬ (pā·nā·ya)
Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 6440: The face


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OT Law: Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other gods before (Exo. Ex)