Exodus 20:3 - "You shall have no other gods before me."Wow, if God is even concerned with being the greatest among his peers (?) - why would we expect humans, societies, nations or the Universe to function any differently?
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You wouldn't expect it to be any different, primarily because the bible was written for and by humans; hence,the Biblicial God acts very much like a human-a sociopathic human-but a human all the same.
Hi UBJ. The reason I believe that God tells us to have no others before Him is that those "others" would be idols. Any god that man fashions cannot truly be God, then we'd be above Him if we fashioned Him. He tells us this, not because He's an egomaniac, but because we can be. We are "like children" we think we know all, but just like a teenager who thinks she's smarter than her parents, we feel we're smarter than God, with our very limited understanding. We tend to feel that if we cant process it through our intellects then its not true or its flawed. So like some parents do with their teenagers, God tells us to do what He tells us to and to trust Him to be correct. We worship the Lord not for His edification, but for our own--to stay on the right course.
This is a provocative take on this commandment and certainly one that makes me think a bit.
I think that this commandment serves as a teachable moment if you will where God is telling us NOT to put our trust and faith in anyone or anything other than Him. His acknowledgment of "other gods" is an acknowledgment that man will manufacture other gods NOT that they actually exist.
But, as I said - this is a very provactive question.
SjP,
Of which God are you referring? A Christian God?
@ Anon - Are you a henotheist?
The wording of this text suggests that God is (although my understanding is quite different).
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