Exodus 22: 28 ( the command)
God's command about other gods
The bible is one of the Holy Scriptures. It is recorded in the bible that Moses brought the children of Israel out of Egypt so that they can serve their God, the God of their father. Moses is also known as a law giver because he did not only receive the Ten Commandments from God for the people of Israel but he also gave them many other laws. Moses was able to do that because he heard the voice of God. That is Moses was a prophet of God so he served as a link between God and the Children of Israel.
As we read the scripture, it is important for us to know the instructions that were from Moses as a person and that which he got from God.
The first part of the Ten Commandment in Exodus 20 is, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” The first commandment, may be said, acknowledges that the God of Israel is aware that there are other gods. God went further to say why he would not accept such. He said that he is a jealous God.
Then in Exodus 22:28 God instructed, “Thou shalt not revile the gods nor curse the ruler of thy people.” That is same God told Moses despite that you and my people should not worship other gods yet do not revile the gods. It shows that the God of Israel wants his people to respect the gods of others even though they are forbidden to worship such gods. Many religious and biblical scholars seem to ignore that command in an attempt to prove the supremacy of their God and they can so easily use same scripture to defend their claims. Isn’t it surprising?
No matter how surprising it can be, what should surprise us most is why God would give Moses such instruction even why he is against those other gods. That is what many people today fail to think about. Those that understand why God said that are those that understand the need of religious tolerance and what it really means to do unto others as we would want others to do to us.
Just as it was mention in the hub “King Solomon and his God’s given wisdom,” it can be said that King Solomon followed this divine direction but he moved his God to jealous when he worshiped those gods. The writer was not even aware of this command before he began his global call for religious tolerance, religious freedom, to end hate speeches for religious reason, and the urgent need for us to obey the golden rule. However, the only thing that kept him going even when he was ignorant of this verse and when some religious men/ women and even his family were against his stand in life was that he was certain that it was his primary reason of existence, the reason he came to dwell among men and there was nothing he could do about it. That is why he earnest welcomes the friendship of those men and women that understand the need of such movement in this current age of globalization.
Now God, himself, instructed do not revile the gods.
