The Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael addresses a precise legal question about the commandment in (Exodus 20:5): "You shall not bow down to them and you shall not serve them." The question is whether bowing and serving are one combined offense or two separate ones.
The problem arises from (Deuteronomy 17:3), which describes a person who goes "and serves other gods and bows down to them." In that verse, serving and bowing appear together as a single sequence. Reading that verse alone, one might conclude that a person is only liable if they both serve and bow down to an idol. Doing just one without the other might not constitute a violation.
The Mekhilta argues that the verse in Exodus resolves this ambiguity. By stating "You shall not bow down to them" and then separately "you shall not serve them," the Torah treats each act as an independent prohibition. Bowing down is forbidden in itself. Serving is forbidden in itself. A person who bows but does not serve has violated the commandment. A person who serves but does not bow has also violated it.
This distinction matters enormously for legal practice. The Torah is not describing a single complex act of idolatry that requires multiple steps. It is identifying two separate forms of forbidden worship, each carrying its own liability. The conjunction "and" does not mean both are required. It means both are independently prohibited.
The Mekhilta's careful parsing demonstrates how the rabbis read every word of the Torah as legally precise, with nothing redundant and nothing accidental.