<P> The Shema and its accompanying blessing / curse reveals the intent of the commandment to include love for the one, true God and not only recognition or outward observance . In the Gospels, Jesus quotes the Shema as the first and Greatest Commandment, and the apostles after him preached that those who would follow Christ must turn from idols . The Catholic Catechism as well as Reformation and post-Reformation theologians teach that the commandment applies in modern times and prohibits the worship of physical idols, the seeking of spiritual activity or guidance from any other source (e.g. magical, astrological, etc .), and the focus on temporal priorities such as self (food, physical pleasures), work, and money, for examples . The Catholic Catechism commends those who refuse even to simulate such worship in a cultural context, since "the duty to offer God authentic worship concerns man both as an individual and as a social being ." </P> <P> "Elohim" (אֱלֹהִים) is one of the names of God in the Hebrew Bible . Though it has the masculine plural ending, it does not mean "gods" when referring to the god of Israel, and in such cases is (usually) used with singular verbs, adjectives, and pronouns (for example, in Genesis 1: 26). In the traditional Jewish view, Elohim is the name of God as the creator and judge of the universe (Genesis 1: 1 - 2: 4a). H430 אלהים' ĕlôhı̂ym el - o - heem': Plural of H433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative: - angels, X exceeding, God (gods) (- dess, - ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty . According to some contemporary scholarship, the Second Commandment is presented in deliberate distinction to the Golden Calf, which represents moral systems that place undue emphasis on the worldly categories of power, beauty, and the works of our own hands . </P> <P> It is part of the narrative developed in the texts that would later be collected in the Hebrew Bible during the 7th century BC, establishing a long history of national identity, originating with the remote founding - father Abraham, to whom the God that would later identify Himself as Yahweh first revealed Himself . The name Yahweh comes up in the narrative of the Book of Exodus, where Moses encounters God at the burning bush . At this point, God reveals His proper name Yahweh for the first time, identifying Himself as identical with the God already encountered by Moses' ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel): </P> <P> Thus you will say to Israel's sons: "Yahweh your fathers' deity, Abraham's deity, Isaac's deity, and Jacob's deity--He has sent me to you;" This is My name to eternity, and this is My designation age (by) age . </P>

Scripture thou shalt have no other gods before me