Different Life: 6th CommandmentНамуна

Jewish scribes see a parallel in the sixth commandment to an earlier one: “You shall have no other gods before me.” Both call for monogamy. The whole covenant at Sinai can be compared to a marriage covenant. God doesn’t want us to substitute someone else for the one we should love.

Loyalty is critical in marriage. Many people (and many gods) can be quite attractive. But they are not equal substitutes. You cannot just replace one with another. There is something deeper about God and our spouse that God wants us to find.

The sixth commandment invites us to search for what’s deeper. In him, and in our spouse. It can be easier at times to be with a substitute. Here, I don’t have to give as much of myself. This is dangerous and deceptive. For marriage to work, it has to move beyond the superficial to the irreplaceable. There’s no one like God. There’s no one like your spouse.