The First Commandment

The commandment seems simple enough. It is definitely a short statement, but as we ponder the command we realize there is a lot more here than first meets the eye.

I believe, like many people in the past, that most of the laws given after the Ten Commandments in the rest of the Pentateuch are case laws that are based upon the Ten Commandments. This means that The Ten Commandments are the basis for many of the laws that come after. This gets a little tricky to think through because there are three types of laws in the Pentateuch.

These three types are:

• Civil—These are laws that deal with the government of Israel in this context. There are times when there is application to be made to our own laws, but this deals mostly with the ordering of Israel as a physical nation set apart for God.
• Ceremonial—These deal with the different purity rites and ceremonies that were part of the physical nation of Israel that was a nation set apart for God.
• Moral—These are laws that are based upon God’s character. These things are wrong or right simply because they are wrong or right.

Now, what I am saying is that the civil laws and the ceremonial laws did pass away. But even though they are not in use today all three categories can help to inform us of what was meant by the Ten Commandments. Simply put, the laws put in place help us to interpret the meaning of the text.

What we will see is that this command calls us to devote our entire lives to God and to have no other god.

As Thomas Watson, the great Puritan author put it,

“The message of this commandment is that we should sanctify God in our hearts and give Him precedence above all created beings. There are two parts of this commandment: 1) We must have God for our God. 2) We must have no other god.”

Thomas Watson, taken from “The Ten Commandments”

As we dig through the Pentateuch we will find that there is both a positive aspect and negative aspect to all the commands. The negative command is given to protect something. Here, God is to be our God and we are to have no other gods. Our lives are to be totally devoted to Him and we are to worship no other gods.

2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:2-3 ESV

We Are To Have No Other Gods

There are many commands given throughout the Pentateuch pertaining to this aspect of the Law. And looking at them sheds light upon what is meant by this command. This is by no means all of the commands, but it is enough for us to gain an understanding of the command.

14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you–

Deuteronomy 6:14 ESV

9 “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, 14 for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this.

Deuteronomy 18:9-14 ESV

29 “When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, 30 take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?–that I also may do the same.’ 31 You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. 32 “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.

Deuteronomy 12:29-32 ESV

[Lev 18:21 ESV] 21 You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 18:21 ESV

In the worship of Molech, babies were given as sacrifices in worship. That is why you oftentimes see abortion associated with Molech in conversation today. And I think there is good reason to relate the two practices, but that is an entirely different conversation.

31 “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 19:31 ESV

It has traditionally been thought that dabbling in mediums, spirits, conjurers to seek answers from them is breaking the First Commandment.

I know that there aren’t a lot of people out there worshiping wooden idols, or sacrificing babies but this is actually more prevalent than you’d think. I am going to list off a few things that go on in our day to help apply this to today.

Mormonism is polytheistic. They believe there are more gods than one. And that people become gods.

In 2018 Newsweek ran an article entitled, “Number of Witches Rises Dramatically Across U.S. As Millenials Reject Christianity.” One paragraph in the article stated.

“The number of witches and Americans practicing Wicca religious rituals increased dramatically since the 1990s, with several recent studies indicating there may be at least 1.5 million witches across the country. A Trinity College study conducted in 1990 estimated only about 8,000 Wiccans in the U.S., but the increase has been led by a rejection of mainstream Christianity among young Americans as well as a rise in occultism.”

Newsweek, “Number of Witches Rises Dramatically Across U.S. As Millenials Reject Christianity

And to add to this, my wife recently told me that there was a book for sale at a popular bookstore called, “How to Become a Witch”.

Here is the danger that I see, as our culture embraces polytheistic religions there may very well be a danger out there of “other gods”. When a person, or a society, rejects God they don’t replace that with nothing. They replace it with something. Oftentimes it is paganism. Oftentimes it is a paganism that they don’t understand to be paganism, such as discussing “Mother Earth”…which is a very pagan idea. Some go so far as to say that Mother Earth will have her revenge when discussing climate change. And they don’t seem to understand how pagan they are acting in the moment.

God alone is to be exalted and not other gods.

But I do think that it is the case that the greatest danger for us is still subtle. As Matthew Henry, the Puritan Commentator, stated,

“The sin against this commandment which we are most in danger of is giving the glory and honour to any creature which are due to God only. Pride makes a god of self, covetousness makes a god of money, sensuality makes a god of the belly, whatever is esteemed or loved, feared or served, delighted in or depended on, more than God, that (whatever it is) we do in effect make a god of.”—Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry, from Matthew Henry’s Commentary

John Calvin famously said that the human heart is an “idol factory”, repeatedly creating or finding new things to give the place of glory and honor that is God’s alone.

We Are To Treat God As God Over Our Lives

Because God is our God we are to live lives that are set apart for Him, worship and adore Him above all others, live as if everything is His even our own lives, and trust Him.  In short, I am saying that we are to treat God as if He really is God over our lives.

God is holy. He is our God. And so, we are to be holy.

1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.

Leviticus 19:1-2 ESV

The word “holy” means “cut or separate”. We are God’s people, therefore we are to live separate from the world and devoted to Him.

What would we say about a person who says that they worship and adore God but have no desire to live separate from this world? Do you want to live separate from this world?

The second thing we notice is that we are to worship and adore God above all others. This idea is presupposed in the command itself and is seen elsewhere in the Scriptures. Texts like Psalm 29:1-2 make that plain.

1 A Psalm of David. Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.

Psalm 29:1-2 ESV

You will notice that many of the commands we look at in the following section deal with how we are to dispose of our things in the context of worship. But this does cause us to think through some things in our lives.

What are some things in our society that take the place of worship and adoration that is reserved for God alone?

I would argue that sports and entertainment does that for a lot of people. I also think that seeking after a life of leisure is a problem in our day.

The third thing we notice is that we are to live as if everything is His and can be disposed of as He pleases. This also means that we should be willing to bring our offerings before the Lord. Here is a list of passages of Scripture that deal with this idea.

You will notice in these texts that the firstborn of animals and the people’s own children were to be “sanctified” or set apart for God’s usage. Obviously, animals and people were set apart in different ways, but God is God and it’s all His.

1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.” … 11 “When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, 12 you shall set apart to the LORD all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the LORD’s. 13 Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. 14 And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 15 For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ 16 It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.” … 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

Exodus 13:1-2, 11-16, 22 ESV

29 “You shall not delay to offer from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me. 30 You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep: seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to me.

Exodus 22:29-30 ESV

19 All that open the womb are mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20 The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed.

Exodus 34:19-20 ESV

26 “But a firstborn of animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the LORD, no man may dedicate; whether ox or sheep, it is the LORD’s.

Leviticus 27:26 ESV

19 “All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the LORD your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 You shall eat it, you and your household, before the LORD your God year by year at the place that the LORD will choose.

Deuteronomy 15:19-20 ESV

11 The LORD said to Moses, 12 “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the LORD when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. 13 Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the LORD. 14 Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the LORD’s offering. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the LORD’s offering to make atonement for your lives. 16 You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the LORD, so as to make atonement for your lives.”

Exodus 30:11-16 ESV

This is payment of a tribute offering to the Lord.

1 “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, 2 you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. 3 And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4 Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God. 5 “And you shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. 7 Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God. 11 And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you. 12 “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, 13 then you shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. 14 I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me. 15 Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ 16 “This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have declared today that the LORD is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. 18 And the LORD has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, 19 and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.”

Deuteronomy 26:1-19 ESV

This is offering of firstfruits to the Lord.

19 “The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Exodus 23:19 ESV

Again, this is an offering of firstfruits to the Lord.

26 The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

Exodus 34:26 ESV

And again, this is a command to give the firstfruits to the Lord.

What does this tell us about how we use our money, home, vehicles, and basically everything else in our lives?

Does God give us anything that is not His to dispose of as He pleases?

Lastly, we see that we are to trust God.

1 “When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 20:1 ESV

I love what Thomas Watson says about this. He really seems to hit the nail squarely upon the head.

“The immovable is undisturbed by any commotion. Only God is a sufficient foundation to build our trust upon. When we trust Him, we make Him God to us.”

Thomas Watson, taken from The Ten Commandments

And again he said,

“Faith cures the trembling in heart. It gets above fear, just as oil swims above the water. Trusting in God makes Him to be God to us.”—Thomas Watson

Thomas Watson, taken from The Ten Commandments

And Martin Luther’s words in his Large Catechism is also very helpful.

“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

That is: Thou shalt have [and worship] Me alone as thy God. What is the force of this, and how is it to be understood? What does it mean to have a god? Or, what is God? Answer: A god means that from we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress, so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him from the [whole] heart; as I have often said that the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. If your faith and trust be right, then is your god also true; and on the other hand, if your trust be false and wrong, then you have not the true God; for these two belong together faith and God. That now, I say, upon which you set your heart and put your trust is properly your God.”—Martin Luther, from Martin Luther’s Large Catechism

So, where do you turn when things go awry? Do you seek to fix it yourself? Do you seek help from God?

Before God

We don’t normally even think about the last part of this text. What is meant here when God says “before me”?

Question 54 of Keach’s Catechism, which was associated with the London Baptist Confession of 1689, stated.

“Q. What are we especially taught by these words, “before me,” in the first commandment?

A.These words, “before me”, in the first commandment, teach us, that God, who sees all things, takes notice of, and is much displeased with the sin of having any other God. (Deut. 30:17, 18; Ps. 44:20-21; Ps. 90:8)”

Keach’s Catechism Question 54.

As Matthew Henry stated,

“In the last words, “before me”, it is intimated, (1) That we cannot have any other God but He will certainly know it. (2) That it is a sin that dares Him to His face, which He cannot which He will not, overlook.”—Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry, from Matthew Henry’s Commentary

When we sin, we do it before God. And this sin is especially heinous to the Lord. It is a sin that “dares Him to His face”.

Does God know when we have kept His Law? Does God know when we have broken His Law?

Conclusion

I said last week that we will examine ourselves against God’s Laws using the three uses of the Law. These three uses were as a mirror, the civil use, and as a guide to understand what pleases God.

When we consider the First Commandment in the mirror sense we ask ourselves questions like these.

How have you failed to keep the First Commandment? Do you need to repent of some things before the Lord? The idea is that we are driven to Jesus by our failures because in Him we find forgiveness of sins.

When we consider the First Commandment in the Civil sense there is a bit of trouble applying it. But, I would argue that honoring the One True God does have a tremendous affect on the morality of a society. And, I would also argue that the loss of this is a huge part of the reason our society is in the moral rot that it is in.

When we consider the First Commandment as a guide we will ask questions like these. Do you better understand what pleases God? Do you understand some changes that need to be made in your life to live in a way that pleases Him?

Let us be a people who devote our entire lives to God and have no other gods.

R. Dwain Minor