Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 20:3

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." — Exodus 20:3 (ASV)

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. —Hebrew: There shall be to you no other god before me. The result is the same, whether we translate Elohim by “god” or “gods;” but the singular verb shows that the plural form of the name is a mere plural of dignity.

Before me —literally, before my face— means strictly, “side by side with me”— i.e., “in addition to me.” God does not suppose that the Israelites, after all that He had done for them, would discard Him and substitute other gods in His place, but fears the syncretism which would unite His worship with that of other deities.

All polytheisms were syncretic and readily enlarged their pantheons, since, once the principle of unity is departed from, whether the plurality is a little greater or a little less does not signify much.

The Egyptian religion seems to have adopted Ammon at a comparatively late period from Arabia; it took Bar, or Baal, Anta, or Anaïtis, Astaret, or Astarte, Reshpu, or Reseph, etc., from Syria, and it admitted Totuu from Ethiopia.

Israel, in later times, fell into the same error and, without intending to apostatize from Jehovah, added the worship of Baal, Ashtoreth, Moloch, Chemosh, Remphan, etc. It is this form of polytheism against which the first commandment is directed. It asserts the sole claim of Jehovah to our religious regards.