Commentaire sur L’Exode 20:2

That is the command that He commanded us to believe in God. And that is that we believe that there is an Origin and Cause, that He is the power of all that exists. And [the source of the command] is His saying (Exodus 20:2), "I am the Lord your God." And at the end of the Gemara, Makkot (Makkot 23b), they said, "There were 613 commandments stated to Moshe at Sinai [...] What is the verse [that alludes to this]? 'Moses commanded to us the Torah' (Deuteronomy 33:4)" - meaning to say, the numerical value of [the word,] Torah. And they asked about this and said, "That is 611." And the answer was, "They heard, 'I am the Lord, your God, and '[You] shall have no [other gods]' (Exodus 20:2, 3), from the mouth of the Almighty." Behold it has been made clear to you that "I am the Lord, your God," is included in the 613 commandments. And that is the command about belief in God, as we explained. (See Parashat Yitro; Mishneh Torah, Foundations of the Torah 1.)

אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים WHO HAVE BROUGHT THEE OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT — That act of bringing you out is alone of sufficient importance that you should subject yourselves to Me. Another explanation: because He had revealed Himself to them at the Red Sea as a mighty man of war and here He revealed Himself as a grey-beard filled with compassion, as it is stated in connection with the Giving of the Law, (Exodus 24:10) “and there was under His feet as it were a brick-work of sapphire”, which is explained to mean that this (the brick-work) was before Him at the time of their bondage; “and there was as the essence of heaven” (i. e. joy and gladness) when they had been delivered (cf. Rashi on Exodus 24:10), thus the Divine Glory changed according to circumstances, — therefore He stated here: Since I change, appearing in various forms, do not say, “There are two divine Beings”; it is I Who brought you forth from Egypt and Who appeared to you at the Sea (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 20:2:2). Another explanation: because they then heard many voices, as it is said (v. 15) “the people heard the voices (הקלות)” — voices coming from the four cardinal points and from the heavens and from the earth — therefore God said to them, “Do not say there are many Deities”. — Why did God say in the singular אלהיך, “Thy God”, (as though speaking to one person alone)? To afford Moses an opportunity to speak in defence of Israel at the incident of the golden calf. This, is exactly what he did say, (Exodus 32:11) “Wherefore, O Lord, doth Thy wrath glow against Thy people”, for not to them didst Thou give the command, “There shall be to thee no other gods” but to me alone! (Exodus Rabbah 43:5)

I AM THE ETERNAL THY G-D. This Divine utterance constitutes a positive commandment.²⁶⁰See my Hebrew commentary, p. 388. on the position of the Hilchoth Gedoloth on this point. Ramban thus sides with Rambam, who, in his Sefer Hamitzvoth, counted this as the first commandment. See my translation, “The Commandments,” I, pp. 1-2. He said, I am the Eternal, thus teaching and commanding them that they should know and believe that the Eternal exists and that He is G-d to them. That is to say, there exists an Eternal Being through Whom everything has come into existence by His will²⁶¹The universe is thus a result of design, and not merely of necessity. See Guide of the Perplexed, II, 18. and power, and He is G-d to them, who are obligated to worship Him. He said, Who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, because His taking them out from there was the evidence establishing the existence and will of G-d, for it was with His knowledge and providence that we came out from there. The exodus is also evidence for the creation of the world, for assuming the eternity of the universe, [which precludes a Master of the universe Who is in control of it], it would follow that nothing could be changed from its nature.²⁶²“If you believe in the eternity of matter, it leads to the conclusion that if G-d should desire to shorten a fly’s wing or lengthen an ant’s foot, He would not be able to do it” (Ramban, in his sermon, “G-d’s Law Is Perfect,” Kithvei Haramban, I, p. 146). The miracles preceding the exodus, in which G-d’s mastery of the powers of nature was demonstrated, thus refuted the doctrine of the eternity of matter and established that of Creation. And it is also evidence for G-d’s infinite power, and His infinite power is an indication of the Unity, as He said, that thou [i.e., Pharaoh] mayest know that there is none like Me in all the earth.²⁶³Above, 9:14. This is the intent of the expression, Who brought thee out, since they are the ones who know and are witnesses to all these things.