You shall not have the gods of others in My presence.
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ג. לֹא יִהְיֶה לְךָ אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים עַל פָּנַי:
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לא יהיה לך: למה נאמר, לפי שנאמר (פסוק ד) לא תעשה לך, אין לי אלא שלא יעשה, העשוי כבר מנין שלא יקיים, תלמוד לומר לא יהיה לך:
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This is the second of the 10 commandments from Hashem. Rashi asks why this was said. He says that the reason it says “you shall not have” is because one needs to know that they cannot keep for themselves an idol that was already made.
What are other interpretations for this commandment? Where else in the Torah do we see the 10 commandments? Why did Hashem give us this commandment?
Tamar Dubin:
ReplyDeletewhat did hashem really mean when he said that "you may not have other gods in my presence"? i think he was trying to say that if you are god fearing, you shouldn't need to rely on other gods to believe in. if you have emunah in hashem, that should be enough. i think this can apply to our regular lives: when someone is talking to you, you would not be looking around the room for someone more interesting or a "back up" in case the conversation becomes dull to talk to. you are having a conversation with that person and you should devote your attention to them. therefore, you should not feel the need to walk away and start up a new one. if you include hashem in your life, he should be the only godly figure in it. he should not have to compete with other "gods" for the spotlight.
A little bit of a twist on the second commandment: In Vayikra Perek yud Chet pasuk chuf heh Ramban says that even though Hashem is the God of the whole universe He has a special role in Eretz Yisrael. He then quotes the story from melachim bet that when Jews were sent to galut a different nation who had always done avodah zara came to live in Israel and Hashem sent lions to eat some of them up. Why all of a sudden punish them now when they have been doing avodah zara all along? The answer is because the rules in Israel are different than outside of Israel because Hashem has higher expectations of people in Israel than of people in chutz laaretz, because Israel is considered Hashem's land. Ramban then quotes a Gemara saying that "if you don't live in israel it's as if you do not have a God". He then quotes the story that when David was running away from Shaul, there were some times when he ran outside of Israel and he said "I was pulled out of Hashem's land to worship other gods" According to Ramban due to the fact that Israel is considered to be Hashem's land, when someone leaves Israel they give up the leadership of Hashem. So too with avodah zara, when a person turns to other gods he is also giving up the leadership of Hashem.
ReplyDeleteWe see the Aseret Hadibrot again in Va'etchanan
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ReplyDeleteWhy did Hashem give us this commandment?
ReplyDeleteI think that Hashem gave this commandment to tell us not to worship Avoda Zarah, which was very popular in the time that the commandments were given. Rashi comments on the whole pasuk starting with "you shall not have", he talks about how you can not make for yourself idols. In another Rashi called "the gods of others" Rashi explains that the gods of others are not gods at all but they are things that people made for themselves as gods. The last Rashi on the
Pasuk "My presence" explains that as long as Hashem exists which is forever Bnei Yisroel should not be worshiping Avoda zarah. This shows that the only god Bnei Yisroel should be worshiping is Hashem