1st and 2nd Commandments

1st commandment - "Thou shall have no other gods before me" Exo 20:3

Seems like a reletively easy commandment to follow in my opinion. Not a lot of meat to dig in to on the surface but let us look a little below the surface by asking a few questions and hopefully a few of you readers will respond to this.

Question: In this command is God acknowledging the existence of other "gods"? and if so what are some of these "gods"

The word that we translate for before is also used in the Old and New Testaments for a different word....besides! This word surely changes the way this commandment reads.

Question: So if God is or isn't acknowledging the existence of other "gods" why did he feel the need to give this command?

The men teaching in my bible study almost compounded the 1st and 2nd commmandments on a surface level to answer these questions and I am curious if I am the only one who really doesn't think that these two commands are explanation for one another.

2nd commandment - "You shall not make for yourself and idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above and on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth" Exo 20:4

Question :What is an idol?

Websters defines it like this which I like : "an image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed." SO an idol is a representation of a believed to exist deity or god. So an idol is not a god thus you can not link these two commandments together on that foot. They are separate and they can stand alone with out using one another as an explanation.

Final Question : Are material objects such as a car or cloths idols? aka is the "American Lifestyle" a "god"?