The First Commandment:
No Other Gods Before Me
October 26, 2008
The Reverend Anne Felton Hines
From the fifth book of the Torah, the Book of Deuteronomy: “Moses called all Israel together and said to them, ‘Listen, Israel, to the laws and customs that I proclaim to you today….Yahweh our God made a covenant with us….not with our ancestors, but with us, with all of us alive here today. On the mountain, from the heart of the fire, Yahweh spoke to you face to face….’”
Over the past few years, the laws of which Moses spoke – what we know as the Ten Commandments – have become quite a matter of controversy, as fundamentalist Christians have tried to have them displayed on various government properties. In some cases they have won their court battles, and in other cases they have lost. (Guess which side of the battle I usually come down on? J)
Unfortunately, I think these controversies have resulted in Unitarian Universalists – and probably even many progressive Christians and Jews –losing sight of any good that might be contained in these laws that have guided both Judaism and Christianity for so many centuries. So I’ve decided to embark on a ten-part series to explore what meaning, if any, each of these Commandments have for us today. It won’t be a continuous series, as there are too many other sermon topics that need addressing at particular times of the church year. But I will try to get through all ten by the end of June or July.
To understand the importance of what is often called the “Laws of Moses,” we need to remember the story that led up to them – as told in the Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy (as well as the movie with Charlton Heston!). As you know, the Israelites had been slaves for generations in Egypt. And Moses – by birth not Egyptian, but raised by the Egyptian king’s daughter – had fled Egypt after killing an Egyptian who he’d seen hitting one of the slaves.
While in exile, Moses married and became a shepherd; he was happy in this peaceful existence. But one day, God appeared to him as a burning bush, and persuaded Moses to return to Egypt and lead his people, the Israelites, to freedom. Once back in Egypt, Moses went to Pharoah and pleaded for him to let the Israelites leave in peace.
But Pharoah was a stubborn man, and he kept refusing – even as God sent plague after plague – water that turned to blood, frogs, horseflies, boils, locusts, etc.; it became pretty disgusting. The story tells us that God finally sent the worst plague of all: the death of all the first-born in Egypt – “passing over” the first-born of the Israelites. And on the night of all those deaths, the Israelites gathered up what they could, and left their homes for the land promised to them by God. It is this event that is re-told by Jews every year at Passover.
According to the Bible, it was about three months after leaving Egypt that the Israelites arrived at the base of Mount Sinai – “perhaps the most important place mentioned in the first five books” of the Bible, according to author Bruce Feiler. But despite its importance, no one seems to agree which mountain is actually Mt. Sinai! Biblical scholars and scientists have suggested twenty-two different possibilities, “from Egypt to the Sinai, from Israel to Saudi Arabia.”
Feiler tells of one legend that says the mountains of the world were all arguing with each other as to whom should host God. Each bragged of its greatness, except for Mt. Sinai, which said, “I am low.” So, says the legend, God chose Sinai because of its modesty – though the mountain is apparently only half the height of the Colorado Rockies, so perhaps that’s all it meant by claiming it was “low!”
At any rate, it is located in the Sinai desert, and when Feiler climbed to the top of it, he discovered the crater of an extinct volcano – which might explain why the Bible describes it as covered in clouds and shaking violently!
The story tells us that God calls to Moses out of the clouds, and instructs him to climb to the top of the mountain, where He presents Moses with stone tablets on which are written the first ten laws – or commandments – which the Israelites are to follow.
Peter J. Gomes, minister of Harvard’s Memorial Church, writes that “Before delivery of the Commandments, the people are a rowdy assortment of individuals with private and personal agenda; after the law, they become the ‘people of God.’”
Indeed, after returning to the people, Moses builds an altar, sacrifices burnt offerings, and sprinkles the blood of an ox on both the altar and the people, saying that this is the blood of the covenant between them and God. Writes Walter Wangerin, Jr.: “It was a sign that God and the children of Israel were now bound by a Covenant. God was their God; and they were God’s people.”
And it was the very first of these Commandments that established that relationship clearly: “I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you lived as slaves. You shall have no other gods to rival me.”
Why would God need to make such a demand? Because the story occurs at a time when the worship of numerous gods and goddesses was the norm. My friend Rev. Jim Nelson at Neighborhood Church in Pasadena points out that at that time, the “world was imbued with power and mystery, and the gods represented that. The Hebrews brought something new: a god concerned with morality.”
But this new God understood the ease with which we humans can abandon our god. You may recall that when Moses first returns with the tablets of stone, he finds that the people – led by his brother Aaron, of all people! – have grown so restless and distrusting that they have built a golden calf, which they are now bowing down to in worship. Moses becomes so enraged at this that he throws the tablets on the ground, causing them to shatter, and he has to return to the mountaintop to get a second edition.
Humans are fickle, and need reminding why our god deserves our loyalty. “I brought you out of Egypt where you lived as slaves,” Yahweh reminds them.
German theologian Paul Tillich defined faith as reflective of that which is of “ultimate concern” to us. What does our life reflect? he asked. This is our god – “the one before which we have no other.” Says Rev. Nelson, “The first Commandment has to do with ultimacy, with what lays claim to our lives. It is,” he contends, “about obedience.”
So what is it you give your “obedience” to? Or perhaps your “allegiance?” What is your God?
Our country is in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression – though not yet as bad as that was. And of course, there is much finger-pointing going on, with many people deserving of blame. But what seems clear is that at least part of the blame rests with the banks and mortgage lenders who preyed on the vulnerabilities of Americans longing to own their own home, but unable to afford it. Seeing an opportunity to make huge amounts of money, these lenders offered so-called “sub-prime” loans to people who normally would not have qualified. And not surprisingly, at some point – usually because of sudden increased interest rates – the home owners were unable to pay their mortgage, and homes went into foreclosure. It is a story of tragic human consequences.
And it is clear to me that the people who gave out these loans, knowing fully the high risk they were taking, did so not out of any altruistic desire to help lower income people own their own homes, but merely out of a desire to make more money. Whatever religious faith these men and women might espouse, the god they were now worshiping was the god of Greed.
Our own Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that “A person will worship something; have no doubt about that….That which dominates our imaginations and our thoughts will determine our lives and character. Therefore,” he said, “it behooves us to be careful what we worship, for what we are worshipping we are becoming.”
Before I entered Seminary, I worked for five years at the Alcoholism Council of Greater Los Angeles – a referral and information center for alcohol and drug addiction. Most of the staff – both paid and volunteer – were recovering alcoholics. I became well acquainted with courageous stories of people rising up from the depths of alcoholic despair, placing their faith in a Higher Power – and a 12-step program – that could move them from the “slavery” of addiction to the liberation of sobriety.
So it always felt doubly tragic to counsel addicts who, no matter how hard they tried, continued to turn away from a god of love and hope, and to remain enslaved to the god of drugs.
Indeed, I have witnessed this within my own family – having an older brother who almost died from alcohol and drug addiction, but who has been “clean and sober” for over 25 years; and having a cousin who was never able to turn away from alcohol for long, and finally lost his family and his life from it. For both men, alcohol was their god from early in their lives; as one says in Alcoholics Anonymous, they were “powerless over” the drug. But only one was able to finally abandon that destructive god, and put his faith – his loyalty – in a god that would lead him to life.
The first Commandment given to the ancient Israelites established monotheism – a rejection of the worship of many gods, and the acceptance of only one. This became the god of Christianity, and later of Islam.
But I think what’s more important in that Commandment isn’t the monotheism, but the admonition to know who or what our god is, and to remain loyal to that god. Moses said to his people, “You must love…your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength.”
We all have something that is of “ultimate concern” to us – to which we give our loyalty, with all our heart and soul and strength, and which represents true freedom to us. What is that for you?
Is it the god of ego? Of power? Of money and property? Or is it the god of compassion? Of mercy? Of unity and family?
And what would it take for you to abandon your god or gods – to slide into worshipping something else?
It has been said, with a chuckle, that if God had been a Unitarian Universalist, Moses would have been given a list of “Ten Suggestions” instead of Commandments! And indeed, I always say that our Unitarian Universalist Principles are “guides” for how we ought to live our lives, as opposed to a Creed.
But in fact, our seven Principles don’t begin with the words, “We suggest an affirmation and promotion of the worth and dignity of every person,” etc. Rather, they state unequivocally that “We affirm and promote”…worth and dignity, justice and compassion, encouragement of spiritual growth, the search for truth and meaning, the right of conscience, world community, and the interdependent web of all existence. These Principles are what we, as a religious community, hold as our “ultimate concern.” They are what we attempt, as best we can, to give our loyalty and obedience to. And we do this because we know them to be liberating – for our lives, and for the lives of others.
And yet, it is not always easy to remain loyal to these Principles of our faith. I wrestle with them when I am tempted to speak ill of another person; and often I fall short.
I wrestle with them when I want to spend money for something I suspect has been made with slave labor; and often I fall short.
I wrestle with them when I seek the balance that brings spiritual deepening in the midst of a chaotic life; and often I fall short.
The God of the Israelites made a Covenant with His people, and created of them a community, so that they would not have to struggle to understand their God, or to live God’s laws, alone.
We, too, need not struggle alone. We have our community of faith – this church – where we can explore together who or what our god is; to whom or what we give our loyalty.
And we have this church – this wonderful group of fellow seekers – to which we can turn for wisdom, for strength and for courage as we seek to live lives of integrity and trust – always knowing that we are embraced by the Holy Spirit of Love.
Had I been in charge, I would have added one more Commandment: You Shall Always be Grateful. May we never cease to give thanks for this life we have been granted. And may we live it with Love.
© 2008-2010 Anne Felton Hines. All rights reserved.
