I just came across a post on somebody’s weblog asking the question of why does the First Commandment end with the admonition, “You shall have no other gods before me.” They went into a rather lengthy analysis of this from a Christian perspective, which I thought left out a lot of important points.

Whether or not you’re a Christian (or a Jew, I guess), the fact of the matter is that religions are not just spiritual structures erected to honor the glory of God. They are also social, cultural & historical phenomenon, and deserve to be looked at as such. This isn’t meant to reduce religions, but it helps highlight the fact that religions help answer human needs.

As far as I understand it, the First Commandment (whatever its spiritual implications) has very practical, historical roots. It is a common fallacy to believe that ancient Hebrews were a united people, either politically or spiritually. In fact, they were more like a loose network of tribes, each with their own traditions, land & deities. Among them, innumerable gods and goddesses were worshipped. There is even evidence which says that Yahweh originally had a female counterpart/bride named Asherah.

In any event, the First Commandment partly reflects an attempt to bring all these diverse peoples and traditions under a single common umbrella. It’s en excellent example of religious syncretism, and it’s extremely important to look at the wording: “gods before me.” They were smart enough to realize that people wouldn’t willingly get rid of their tribal and folk religions, but it was not such a big deal for them to go on worshipping their gods, as though they were vassals to the monarchic god of the Israelites.

This is, in fact, the same tactic which allowed the Catholic church to subsume diverse European paganism into itself. They allowed local peoples to continue worshipping (some of) their folk gods, but just changed their names and stories to be Saints. The rise and spread of Islam is another fabulous example of this. Mohammed managed to unite historically and religiously diverse Arab tribes under the common banner of Allah. Christians are of course quick to point out that when other religions like Islam do this, but are notoriously opposed to looking at the roots of both Christianity & Judaism where it does the same thing: combine diverse religions into one “monotheism” (in name only) for the purposes of social unity. I guess they feel like it somehow cheapens their religions to consider the fact that humans actually had a hand in their crafting. But I think it rather shows their resiliency and adaptability to sustain people’s religious and social needs.