The Prohibition of Believing in Other Gods

The Sefer HaChinuch in his introduction instructs us on the Sheish Mitzvot Temidiyot, The Six Constant Mitzvot. He details that one is obligated to fulfill these mitzvot on a constant basis, every single second of every single day. The mitzvot are listed as: 1) to believe in Hashem 2) not to believe in other gods 3) to perceive His Oneness 4) to love Him 5) to fear Him 6) not to stray after the thoughts of our heart and the sight of our eyes. Artscroll’s book on the Six Constant Mitzvos questions the functionality of being able to fulfill 6 mitzvot at one time constantly. Would we truly be able to do anything else with our lives? Are these mitzvot accomplished through thought in contrast to action? Is that a command that can be made of us?

Artscroll defines the premise behind these 6 Constant Mitzvot as being that of awareness. By mastering each one of these awarenesses and integrating them completely into our psyche, they will end up directing all of our actions. We will no longer have to actively refer to them, but it will be ingrained at our very core. This series will study each mitzvah, explore their meaning, and develop an understanding of how to build it into our lives. We will find that the mitzvot help us to develop an emotional bond with Hashem and reinforce our connection to Him. 

The second mitzvah, listed as “do not believe in other gods”, is one that is clear to us from the Aseret HaDibrot. Hashem Himself said at Har Sinai, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make to you a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of anything that is in heaven above, or that on the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them, nor shall you serve them…”¹. This mitzvah appears to be inextricably linked to the first mitzvah as believing in Hashem in and of itself dictates that one may not believe in any other gods.

Rabbi Yaakov Medan teaches that the prohibition itself actually includes within it 4 others. The statement of “You shall have no other gods before Me” can be explained further. “The first relates to acceptance in the heart: a person must neither believe in another god nor accept it as a god. The other three involve actions: the prohibition of making a graven image, prostration, and other forms of service (such as offering a sacrifice or burning incense or the like).”  Rabbi Yishmael in the Sifre extrapolates that if you don’t believe in Hashem then you will come to take other gods. On Bamidbar 15:27, “and if one soul should sin in error” the Sifre teaches refers to idol worship as this person clearly has not kept the first two mitzvot of believing in Hashem and having no other gods².

The second mitzvah, listed as “do not believe in other gods”, is one that is clear to us from the Aseret HaDibrot. Hashem Himself said at Har Sinai, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make to you a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of anything that is in heaven above, or that on the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them, nor shall you serve them…”.

Further, Bamidbar Rabbah³ explains this mitzvah by saying, “And so too the Holy One, blessed be He, when He said: ‘You shall have no [other gods before Me],’ they said: What king wants to have a partner?” The Rambam and the Yere’im also link these two mitzvot. The Rambam expounds on Chazal’s teaching of, “They heard ‘’I and ‘You shall not have’ from the mouth of the Almighty” by stating that these words were spoken to Bnei Yisrael and Moshe alike. These two mitzvot, the existence of Hashem and His unity, are “knowable by human speculation alone”⁴. And the Yere’im adds that Hashem commanded us to establish Him as our King in the first mitzvah. The second mitzvah builds on the first by clarifying that “we must not join some other deity to Him”⁵.

Considering this point brought out by the Yere’im, it becomes concretized when we view Rashi on Sanhedrin 63a in regards to the sin of the Golden Calf. “Were it not for the vav in he’eluka [which turned the verb ‘who brought’ into plural] – For they did not totally reject the Holy One, blessed be He, but they joined Him to another deity.” Rav Medan emphasizes that the distinction between the first two commandments is integral. “We can also see this…in Rashi’s view that the people of Israel did not become liable to annihilation when they said about the Golden Calf: ‘who brought you up from the land of Egypt’⁶ – because they did not deny that God brought them out of Egypt, but ‘merely’ joined another deity to Him”⁷.  

Interestingly this has halachic ramifications according to the Rema⁸. Adding to the words of Rabbeinu Tam⁹, he instructs that one is “permitted to enter into a business partnership with a non-Jew, and even accept an oath from him, even if his oath connects another deity with Hashem.” This is only because they don’t have in mind their “god” while simultaneously thinking of Hashem, the Creator of heaven and earth. A Jew on the other hand, is forbidden from this if they were the one to voice this oath in the same manner as the non-Jew¹⁰. 

The Meiri has a different perspective, “Even the commandment of ‘I [am the Lord your God]’ is a warning against idol worship, for the denial of His existence and the belief in a deity other than Him are both expressions of idol worship”¹¹. This would seem to equate the addition of another deity with the denial of God’s existence. The Noda b’Yehuda¹² agrees with the Meiri and is of the opinion that non-Jews are also bound by this second prohibition.

This commandment directly relates to  the verse found in Devarim 18:13, “You shall be whole-hearted with the Lord your God.” It is understood that it is not enough to simply serve Hashem, but ensconced in this mitzvah is the aspect of unity. Hashem is One, and we should not give any “power” to any other supposed deities. How is it though, that simply making a “graven image” or any manner of likeness would be giving “power” to these other “deities?” Does it matter if it is not a likeness of Hashem Himself?

The Rambam specifies that it is irrelevant who makes the graven image, rather it is dealing with the aspect of making something to be worshiped¹³. The majority of Rishonim agree with the Rambam on this point including the Mechilta. Rabbi Yehuda Halevi in his seminal work, Sefer HaKuzari, maintains that making a graven image is forbidden if it is intended to be in the likeness of God Himself. With this, he defends the actions of those who sinned with the Golden Calf saying that they created an image that was clearly not in the likeness of God, but was an “item” that they could direct their thoughts and minds to as a leader¹⁴. In this sense it was more of a small mistake than a lapse in complete judgment.

The last part of the prohibition includes serving or prostrating before this graven image or likeness. That would indeed backup Rabbi Yehuda Halevi’s take. At a simple level it would seem obvious that you could not serve this image in the way that you would serve Hashem. The Rambam in the 5th of his 13 principles of faith writes that it is not proper to worship anything or anyone that is lower or less than Hashem as they have no sovereignty or power of their own. “Do not make of them intermediaries in order to reach Him through them.” Then idolatry would include the ministering or worshiping of any other “beings” as a means to reach Him as they did erroneously in the times of Enosh in Sefer Bereishit. During those times, the Rambam recounts, the worshiping of other beings led to the forgetting of Hashem Himself¹⁵.

Taking the first two mitzvot of the Shesh Mitzvot Temidiyot as partners empowers us in our daily lives to consider the deeper meanings. When we place Hashem first, when we are aware that our daily existence is due to His, and when we are mindful that we should be directing our thoughts and actions to Him and only Him then we will maintain a constant state of mitzvah fulfillment. 

1. Shemot 20:2-5 ↩︎
2. Bamidbar 112 ↩︎
3. 8, 4 ↩︎
4. Guide of the Perplexed II, 33 ↩︎
5. Sefer Yere’im 242, old edition 63 ↩︎
6. Shemot 32:4 ↩︎
7. https://etzion.org.il/en/tanakh/torah/sefer-shemot/parashat-yitro/yitro-%E2%80%9Cyou-shall-have-no-other-gods-me%E2%80%9D
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8. Darchei Moshe, Yoreh Deah 151 ↩︎
9. Tosafot, Bechorot 2b, s.v. shema ↩︎
10. Rabbeinu Yerucham, Toldot Adam v’Chava 17:5 ↩︎
11. Beit Habechira, Horayot 8a ↩︎
12. 2nd series, 148 ↩︎
13. Sefer HaMitzvot, negative commandment no.2 ↩︎
14. Kuzari I, 97 ↩︎
15. Hilchot Avodat Kochavim 1:1-2 ↩︎