“The Non-Commandment Commandment in the Ten Commandments”

  There are some who believe Commandment #1 of the Ten Commandments is the first commandment in the Torah. It is not. The first order is found right in the beginning of Genesis when God says to Adam and Eve, p’ru u’revu, “Be fruitful and multiply.” 

  The first of the Big Ten is, in fact, not really a commandment at all; it doesn’t say “Thou shall,” or “Thou shall not.” It says, “I am the Eternal your God who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the House of Bondage.” It is the second commandment which states, “You shall have no other gods before you.”

  So why is that sentence considered a mitzvah? Inherent in it is, “Thou shall acknowledge Me,” and that would have the commandment structure, but in my opinion that would be beneath God. What the sentence states is, in so many words, “Hey, look, the proof is in the pudding. What other deities could do what I did? Your awful days are over; I’m the one who got you out. Doesn’t that tell you something?” And then the second commandment tells us, “You shall have no other gods (lower-case “g”) before me” that complements the first.

  Others say that the first commandment includes what we say is the second, connecting “I am…” and “…no other gods,” but that’s because they don’t understand the power of the first, the “mystery” of the words, the allure of figuring out the puzzle. Again, another example of what makes the Torah and our tradition so fascinating.