The Gods of the Nations Are Real

The Old Testament could have dismissed the neighbouring gods as carved wood and nothing else. Sometimes it mocks the statues exactly that way. But the same books also name those gods as elohim and treat them as something.
1 Kings 11:33 lists Ashtoreth of the Sidonians, Chemosh of Moab, Milcom of the Ammonites - all called elohim. Deuteronomy 32:17 applies the word to the shedim, which your translation renders demons. And in Judges, Jephthah negotiates with the king of Ammon by saying: will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? He does not pause to explain that Chemosh is imaginary.
No biblical writer thought these beings shared Yahweh's attributes. But nobody argued they were nothing either. That is why the first commandment is phrased the way it is. You do not forbid loyalty to a vacancy.
Scripture links:
- 1 Kings 11:33 - "Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab."
- Judges 11:24 - "Will you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you?"
- Deuteronomy 32:17 - "They sacrificed to demons that were no gods."
- Exodus 20:3 - "You shall have no other gods before me."
Real, created, ranked far below - and off limits.