There is a point to God's rules, particularly the commandment that puts Him first and requires there to be no other gods before Him. Though it may be hard to understand when we feel that God's rules are keeping us from doing something we want to do, they are actually for our benefit. God wants us to follow His good laws so that we may live happy, healthy, peaceful lives. His rules help us to do just that. Living for God is how we were designed to live.
But if we choose to put something else before God, then all bets are off. What was particularly troublesome in the Ancient Near East (in Canaan) was the worship of a god named Molech. Molech wasn't a god like Israel's God. Israel's God required devotion and obedience and the sacrifice of grain and flocks and herds. Molech wanted your child, your own flesh and blood. Offering living human babies and children to Molech was the way to placate this god and have him grant your prayers. It was a pernicious practice, and it was sick.
In Leviticus 20 and in other places, God expressly warned His people against going in for Molech-worship. He knew that if the Israelites adopted the practices of the nations that they were displacing, they would become just like those who He had rejected for their violence. Sure enough, future generations of the Hebrews would indeed offer their children to Molech, tragically trading their real God for a false one.
God does not countenance competition. Not because He can't stand it, but because we can't. God's rule was the death penalty for offering children to Molech (vs. 2). The crime of human sacrifice was so serious in God's eyes that it could not be tolerated.
What message would it send if God permitted the worship of false gods like Molech? Why can't false gods be tolerated and co-exist alongside the Lord God?
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