At first glance, the 1st and the 2nd commandments may seem to mean the same thing. But do they?
1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
The first two commandments are not the same thing just repeated.
The first is God's command that no other gods should be worshipped at all, whether added in with the worship of Himself or after Him in line.
The second is God's command that there should not be any types of images made to be worshipped. (It is important to note that this means images intended to be worshipped, not artistic expressions. ) Whether the image is of something real or something made up in your mind. God is Spirit and there is no image that can be worthy of Him.
Jesus said-
"God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24
Paul also says-
" Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things." 1 Romans 1:22-23
As humans, we are often tempted to worship images of things. We see something that looks good to us and we can easily put it above God. Whether it is money, possessions, sex, fame or even our families. Let's remember that God is the only one worthy of our worship. When we put God first a wonderful thing happens, all the other good things will begin to fall into line where they belong and the bad things that we are tempted to worship will begin to fall away.