The Lord had a divine right to institute such laws upon mankind. He is our Creator. He also had a right stemming from His merciful redemption of the Jews out of slavery. Being His people by redemption, He had the right to set down the laws by which they should live to His honour and glory and pleasing. But also these laws were for their good and their blessing. “Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey,” Deuteronomy 6:3.
What was given to the Jews was not merely for that nation. Rather, it was the sum total of the morality God expects of all mankind. It is the ‘schoolmaster of Jew and Gentile. “Wherefore the law was our (note this is first person plural possessive) schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith,” Galatians 3:24.
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” verse 3.
Please remember that the LAW is not the WAY TO LIFE but rather is a WAY OF LIFE. “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, . . . for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified,” Galatians 2:16.
I suggest that what is here commanded is for the following reasons.
1. This is a sin most common amongst mankind. How shameful it is that the Lord should have to COMMAND us to remember this truth!
The nations of the world have ever multiplied gods unto themselves, Genesis 11:4. And so it has ever been. “When ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods,” 4:8. Many leaders in our land worship false gods, the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary to name but two.
2. Sadly, it is all too common amongst Christians. The hymn writer, Robert Robinson, wrote: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” Christians do wander and do set up other gods. Paul urged the Colossians: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God,” 3:1-3.
When Peter denied the Lord Jesus, he did so because he made a ‘god’ of his own well-being and safety. Rather than seeking “first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,” Matthew 6:33, he sought first to safeguard himself.
Many believers do that with regards their own interests, their family affairs, their businesses. Such is idolatry. Paul said that “Covetousness . . . is idolatry,” Colossians 3:5. Covetousness is greediness, a desire for much more than we need. Even the highest in the house of God can be guilty of this. “A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not . . . . covetous,” 1 Timothy 3:2-4.
3. If we make a god of some earthly interest or pursuit, we will soon be led astray into ruin and grief. Covetousness is one of the works of the flesh and as such it can only bring grief if yielded to. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting,” Galatians 6:7-8.