No Other Elohim
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Our first Scripture reading this morning is from the First Commandment as found in the book of Deuteronomy:
“ ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“ ‘You shall have no other gods before me.
For our second reading, I want to turn back one chapter, and hear Moses as he expounds upon the First Commandment:
“For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”
May God bless this, the reading of His holy and infallible Word.
Who are the Elohim?
Who are the Elohim?
In both Exodus 20 and in Deuteronomy 5, we read the words, “have no other gods before me.” The Hebrew word, which our English bibles translates “gods” is the Hebrew word elohim. The English word “gods” is only one of many possibilities. An elohim is any being with great authority, power and status. By definition, the LORD is an elohim; by creation, angels are elohim (Ps 8:5); and in addition, political rulers, the rich, celebrities, journalists and academics can all be elohim. In other words, anyone who holds a high position of authority, status or power, elohim.
I point this out because the false “gods” we can worship is a much broader group than we realize. The other day, I was in Gabler’s pharmacy waiting for a prescription to be filled, to pass the time I walked over to the news stand. There, I saw the faces of Tom Cruz, Prince William and Princes Tate, and the cover of Physiology Today staring at me. All of these are examples of elohim and all can become false “gods” to us. Some people worship them. Other people take what they say as authoritative. Others place their trust and hope in them.
As I was preparing this message, I could not help but think of scene in the classic movie Singing in the Rain. In this film there is a Hollywood star by the name of Lina Lamont. In the transition from silent movies to talking movies she was not fairing so well in the box office. It is being suggested to her that now would be a good time for her to retire. She rejects this suggestion saying, “People? I ain’t people. I am a shimmering, glowing star in the cinema firmament.”
Perhaps you did not realize this, but in the Bible, angels are refer to as “stars”. In addition, the pagans referred to their false gods as “stars”. Sometimes our words reveal more than we intend, for many people entertainment and sports “stars” are their gods!
So, what are we to make of all these elohim? That question brings us to the next point:
No Other Elohim Can Do What God Has Done
No Other Elohim Can Do What God Has Done
In our second text today, Moses asks Israel a question:
“For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.
Moses goes on to list four things that God has done, that no other elohim has done. The first is this:
No Other Elohim have Demonstrated His Glory and Might as the LORD Has
No Other Elohim have Demonstrated His Glory and Might as the LORD Has
In our text today, Moses calls Israel to recall all the mighty deeds God did in the Exodus and at Mount Sinai, and then asks them, “has any other elohim done such a thing? The answer is clearly no.
As we turn to the New Covenant, this truth is even more clearly demonstrated. John begins his gospel by saying:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Then an event even more glorious than the Exodus and Mt. Sinai happened:
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Compared to the brilliance of Jesus, all the elohim of this world are like dim shadows! There is no other god like our God!
The second thing Moses calls us to consider is how God revealed His Word.
No Other Elohim have Revealed His Word as the LORD Has
No Other Elohim have Revealed His Word as the LORD Has
Twice in this passage, Moses reminds Israel that they heard God speak to the from out of the midst of the fire on Mount Sinai. However, how have we heard God’s voice under the New Covenant? We have heard it directly from the Second Person of the Trinity. Let me read to you what happened upon the Mount of Transfiguration:
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”
The parallels between what happened upon the Mount of Transfiguration and Mount Sinai were not an accidental coincidence, this was very intentional on God’s part to teach us that God has spoken to us through Christ in way unlike any other elohim have spoken to us.
The third thing Moses points us to is election.
No Other Elohim have Elected a People For Himself as the LORD Has
No Other Elohim have Elected a People For Himself as the LORD Has
Moses speaks of this election in two places in our text today. The first is found in Deut 4:34
Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
The Second is found in Deut 4:37:
And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power,
One of the differences between true religion and false religion is who elects whom. In false religion, we elect our elohim. We see this for example, in how people’s self-esteem raises and falls with how many “followers” they have in social media. Whether these people realize it or not, they are attempting to be an elohim, a person of status. The fallen angels, who are behind all the false religions of this world, are driven by this same lust for power. They are attempting to make a people for themselves by having as many people as possible “follow” them.
God is not like that at all, He has the power to make Himself a people by the power of His sovereign choice. Let us look at what John says in his opening chapter again:
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
At first, this verse sounds like people are choosing God, but by the end of the verse it is clear that this is not the case at all. Only those who are “born of God”, will receive and believe in the name of Jesus. John rules out all human merit and effort, “not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man”. No other elohim have the power to do this, only the LORD can.
Finally, Moses calls us to consider how God has delivered His people.
No Other Elohim have Delivered His People as the LORD Has
No Other Elohim have Delivered His People as the LORD Has
Again, let us look at Deut 4:34:
Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
His deliverance of His people was even more glorious under the New Covenant. Returning to the first chapter of John we read:
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
What other elohim have done this? None!
Having reminded Israel of these four great truths, Moses concludes by saying:
know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
This is the essence of the First Commandment. We are to have no other Elohim beside the Lord.
Have No Other Elohim Beside the LORD
Have No Other Elohim Beside the LORD
Next Sunday, I am going to spend a whole message on what it means to have no other god before the LORD, but for now I do want to speak to one aspect of this. Most Hebrew words have a range of meaning, and as you will note in the footnotes of your pew Bibles, the First Commandment can be translated “beside me”. Sometimes, the truth being expressed in Hebrew is so great it exhausts the full meaning of this Hebrew word. That is the case here, it means both “before” and “besides”!
Next Sunday I am going to focus on “before”, today I want to focus on “besides”.
What the First Commandment is saying is that we should place no other elohim besides God.
Imagine a sacred place in your heart. This is the highest place of honor in your heart. Whose throne do you see there?
My guess is that all of your will say, “I see God’s throne there.”
Good! Now, I want to ask you a second question, “Is there any other throne there, even a smaller one?”
Before you answer, be careful. Remember who we have learned elohim are?
You cannot have any other authority that you place beside God.
You cannot have any other object of worship beside God.
You cannot have any other hope beside God.
There cannot be any other throne in your sacred place. It is not enough to to have the LORD as our chief elohim. He must be our ONE and ONLY elohim.
This is the difference between true religion and false religion. The pagan nations around Israel all had one chief god, but these gods did not mind other gods beside them. For example, the chief god of the Babylonians was Marduk. Marduk did not mind that the eight gates of Babylon were named after other gods as long as he was worshiped as the chief god. God is not like this, He will tolerate no other gods beside Him!
The religion that is practiced by most Americans today is not that different than the religion of Babylon. America’s chief deity is “Jesus”, but alone side Jesus is whole pantheon of other gods.
The First Commandment calls us away from all this. It call us to remove all the other thrones until there is just one throne remaining—the Throne of the LORD God!