In enumerating to the Children of Israel the requirements of the "Law," great emphasis, by way of constant repetition, is placed upon this commandment, number one of the Ten Words, or Ten Commandments. Moses further warned his people, "... Beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. Ye shall not go after other gods.... "(Deut. 6:12-13)
Abinadi, like the great Law Giver, Moses, made the fact important that God, the Lord Omnipotent, is the mighty Ruler of all, that He is the Giver of all good, who must be obeyed. Abinadi also showed that by God's power, their fathers were brought out from Egyptian bondage and were led, by His watchful care, to a land where His purposes would find fulfillment.
"Great and marvelous are the works of the Lord," hence, "Thou shalt have no other God before me." The commandment given does not only mean lesser gods, but all other gods who, in some hearts, may rival the pre-eminence of the True and Living God. But the commandment is that thou shalt have no God save Yahweh, the Creator and the Maker of all. Of Yahweh they knew; He it was who went before them out of Egypt in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night; He cared for them through tribulation, and He provided for their wants. There was no other God, real or unreal, to whom they owed obeisance. "Who is like unto Thee, Almighty God?" "The Lord, our God, is not many gods, but one Lord." Therefore, Moses taught that ye shall bow down and worship Him, the only "True and Living God." In his teaching this commandment, Abinadi was filled with the spirit of prophecy.
The priests of King Noah grew in laziness. In their desire to please the people, the priests spent their days in idle praise and in placing before the king's subjects the vain hope that the gods they made of wood, and stone, and metals, which they could both see and touch, would bring them joy and happiness far beyond any promised by the "God of their fathers" whom they had never seen. The flattering words of Noah's priests caused his people to pay, willingly, the burdensome taxes that he put upon them. "Thus did the people labor exceedingly to support their iniquity," and thus did the laziness of the priests and the wickedness to which it gave birth lead the people to become worshipers of idols and gods they fashioned after the things they imagined controlled every turn of life.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. (See Mosiah Chapter 13:12.)