Thou shalt have no other gods... before me.?

Question

This is one of the TEN COMMANDMENTS... thou shalt have no other gods before me.

To me this indicated that God is saying there are OTHER GODS?

Wanna clarify? It is worded... no other gods... before me. Which indicates that it if fine to worship other gods... just that none should be placed higher than or before God?

I would love some scripture to help better understand this. I belive this is a Jewish and a Christian commandment or edict right? Seeking answers.

Answer 1

When that piece (actually piece of tradition) was invented, the surrounding culture was still polytheistic, with with special reverence for their particular tribal god. Only later was their god declared the only God, and that was largely for nationalistic reasons. A lot of Jewish thought in those days came about because of the Babylonian conquest. In order to maintain their national and ethnic identity, the Jews strengthened some of their statements about their god's superiority (e.g. the other gods didn't even exist).

Traces of this appear in different chapters of the Bible. For instance, the second creation story (the one with the snake) is just the older, Egyptian-influenced one. The first ("Let there be light" and such) was written after Babylon as a direct polemic against Babylonian religion. The Babylonians' official myth was that the world was created when Marduk killed a dragon and shaped the world out of its flesh and blood. The Jews countered that in the beginning there was only God (their god) and he made the world from nothing.

This is one way the Bible is quite useful--it gives us a picture not only of one brand of religious thought, but of how religions and cultures interact with each other and change each other. If it weren't for the series of empires in the Near East in those days, the world might not have monotheism (and it's debatable whether that would be a good or bad thing).

Answer 2

There are plenty of other gods. Not only the famous ones, the pagan variey, but ones that go by the name money, posessions, idols, etc.

When one worships, they give their time, money and general devotion to whatever it is. I remember a friend who had a motorcycle once. He spent time with his bike, he spent time and money on his bike and this even more than his family, at times. After he got saved, he began to realize that there were other things he was putting before God.

Jesus said, "You cannot serve God and mammon (money)." It is also written, "You cannot serve two masters." So, here it is in the New Testament the very same idea that there shall be no other god before the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The idea is clear, to me, that it is not OK to worship other gods, because worship places something higher than others. Jehovah God and Him alone is worthy of worship. After all, He created everything and it is not right to worship the creation above the Creator.

Answer 3

For God's commands against "other gods" or idols, look into Deuteronomy 7 and 12.

A search of the NIV bible reveals over 400 instances of the word "gods", so you can see that it is a very important thing to God. Hence, one of the 10 commandments.

An example of God's anger and jealousy regarding idols is Deuteronomy 32:16 - most people don't understand how anger and jealousy can be part of God's character, but here is the truth: God created mankind to bring him glory through their creative power, and their likeness to him. Everything in the world was created to bring God glory, and when we sin, we defame the name of God and do not bring him glory. God is jealous because all things belong to him and we only realize our true potential when we put God first in our lives and make his glory the center of our being.

God obviously knows that there are no other true gods beside him, but through the selfishness of our fallen self, we put money, power, and ourselves ahead of God and his plan for our lives.

I hope this helps. Contact me if you would like more scripture or detail.

Answer 4

The Commandment should be, Christians/Jews, thou shalt have no other Gods before me!

There are many places in the Bible that tell of other groups and people who held different beliefs. Most are Christian/Jewish enemies and they did their best to smite them in the name of their God.

Mithra protect us!

Answer 5

There is also another quote in the Gospel of Matthew "you cannot have two masters". This is linked to the first commandment of not having other Gods. It means not worshiping money, lust, or power because you can't serve those things and still serve God.

Answer 6

Abraham destroyed all alters to gods other than the one true God. This pleased God. The old testament is full of examples of destroying false idols. If you are a Christian, then there are no other Gods. You shouldnt worship false idols and treat them as if they are Gods.

Answer 7

Religion is just a bad idea overall. It's silly and uneeded. Think how much better, even a wee bit, the world would be with each other without religion.

Sorry. No real point to your question.

Me Myself and Death

Answer 8

The early books in the Old Testament DO talk about other gods, as many of the early people were monotheistic. Though this verse is usually interpreted as no idols instead these days.

Answer 9

They are right....the definition of god is an all powerful being or something one worships.....God is not saying that there are other gods....he's saying there are not any gods that are before him, and saying that we should not believe in false gods or make up gods.....like sun gods and stuff.

Answer 10

this command is against worshipping any God other than the one true God. all other Gods are false Gods.

Notice "gods" is not capitalized in the Bible in this context