Since YHWH and the Bible acknowledge other gods, does that mean that they literally exist? Exodus 20:3 (NIV) reads, "You shall have no other gods before Me."

According to the Tanakh (Old Testament), YHWH / Yahweh / (God) is an individual divine being, and the only God. 

Some sections of the Scriptures seem to state that He is the universe’s only (truly existing) God; however, others portray him as a supreme god among other gods (that actually exist).

Deuteronomy 4:35, “YHWH is God; there is none else beside him.” 

Isaiah 44:6–8, it says, “Thus says YHWH…: I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God… Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any.”

Thus, Yahweh is the only God that exists.



But in Exodus 15:11, after the Israelites escape slavery in Egypt, they sing, “Who is like you, O YHWH, among the gods [Elohim]?”

Deuteronomy 6:14: "Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you"

In Deuteronomy 10:17, it says, “For YHWH your God is the God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and terrible, who does not regard people or take bribes.”

In Psalm 95:3, it says, “YHWH is a great God, and a great king above all gods.”

And in Exodus 12:12, it says, “On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and smite every firstborn, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am YHWH.”



What are we to make of this, then? Are there lesser/other gods? Do the words used for god, perhaps, have other implied contextual meanings in some passages?
I'm sure much could be written about the specific meaning of the Hebrew word for gods, but let me focus on one important interpreter's take: Paul the apostle.  In 1 Corinthians 8:4–6, he quotes Isaiah and Deuteronomy to make his case that eating food sacrificed to idols is not inherently wrong:


  Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. [ESV]


Isaiah 41:24, the Lord speaks to the gods, saying:


  Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you. [ESV]


And Deuteronomy 4:39:


  the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. [ESV]


Paul interprets these passages to teach that these "so-called gods" have "no real existence." But then, do they have an "unreal" existence, as a reading of verse 5 might suggest? Idols do exist, he says, in the sinful hearts of men:


  Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. [Colossians 3:5, ESV]