John Calvin Commentary Exodus 20:3

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

You shall have no other gods before me. In this commandment, God directs that He alone should be worshipped and requires a worship free from all superstition. For although it seems to be a simple prohibition, yet we must deduce an affirmation from the negative, as will become clearer from the following words. Therefore, He sets Himself before them, so that the Israelites may look to Him alone, and claims His own just right, so that it may not be transferred elsewhere.

Not all agree on the interpretation of the words, for some interpret the word פנים,²⁷⁸ panim, as “anger,” as if it meant, “You shall not make for yourself other gods to provoke my anger.” I admit that the Hebrew word is often used in this sense. The other interpretation, however, seems more correct to me: “Do not make for yourself gods before my face.” Yet still, a difference of opinion remains, for people do not agree about the particle על, gnel. Some explain it as, “Do not make for yourself gods above me, or whom you might prefer to me;” and they quote the passage in Deuteronomy 21:15-17, in which God forbids a man, if he has two wives and children by both, to transfer the rights of primogeniture to the second before the face of the first-born.

But though we admit that a comparison is made there between the elder and the younger, it would still be too narrow an interpretation here to say that God demands nothing more than that other gods should not obtain the higher place; whereas He neither permits them to be compared to Him, nor even to be joined with Him as companions;²⁷⁹ for religion is defiled and corrupted as soon as God’s glory is diminished in the slightest degree.

We know that when the Israelites worshipped their Baalim, they did not substitute them for God in such a way as to put Him completely aside and assign to them supreme power. Nevertheless, this was an intolerable profanation of God’s worship and, moreover, an impious transgression of this precept: to choose for themselves patrons in whom some part of the Deity should reside. This is because if God does not alone possess the pre-eminence, His majesty is to that extent obscured.

I consider, therefore, the genuine sense to be that the Israelites should not make for themselves any gods whom they might oppose to the true and only God. For in Hebrew, the expression before the face, generally means over against; therefore, God would not have companions imposed upon Him and placed, as it were, in His sight. Meanwhile, it seems probable to me that He alludes to that manifestation of Himself which should have kept His people in sincere piety, for true and pure religion was so revealed in the Law that God’s face, in a way, shone forth in it.

The case was different with the Gentiles, who, although they might rashly make for themselves false gods, still would not do so before the face of God, which was unknown to them. Let us then understand, after all, that only those are accounted the legitimate worshippers of God who renounce all figments and cling to Him alone.

Nor can it be doubted that these words encompass the inward worship of God, since this commandment differs from the next, by which external idolatry will be seen to be condemned. It is well known that people can make gods for themselves in ways other than statues, pictures, and visible forms. If anyone were to adore angels instead of God, or foolishly imagine some other secret divinity, no one will deny that they would offend against this Law.

God, therefore, calls for the affections of the heart, so that He alone may be spiritually worshipped. The expression “before my face” can be aptly related to this, because, although the impiety of those who secretly turn aside to false worship and cherish their errors in their hearts might evade the eyes of men, their hypocrisy and treachery will not escape God’s notice. From this, it also follows that the one God is not rightly worshipped unless He is separated from all figments. Therefore, it is not enough to use His name unless all corruptions opposed to His word are laid aside. Thus we arrive at the distinction between true religion and false superstitions; for since God has prescribed to us how He would have us worship Him, whenever we turn away in the slightest degree from this rule, we make other gods for ourselves and degrade Him from His rightful place.

²⁷⁸ פנים, signifying properly the face or countenance, is sometimes used by metonymy for those passions which shew themselves in the countenance. — W.

²⁷⁹ Addition in Fr., “encore qu’on les estime inferieurs;” even though they be counted his inferiors. “encore qu’on les estime inferieurs;” even though they be counted his inferiors.