Then the LORD said to Moses, “This is what you are to tell the Israelites: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.
God spoke to you from heaven itself, not as some prince condescending to beggars, yet you turn to silver and gold images as if He were absent or unknown. This is the sin He means to crush: you have seen no form, heard only His voice, and that very silence about His shape forbids you to make one. Keep communion with God by His word, not by idols.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 20:22-26
An altar of earth, thrown up quickly and cast down when done, shows plainly what God requires: simplicity and plainness in worship, not the pomp and gaudy show of idolaters. Where He records His name and manifests Himself, there you may sacrifice; but no permanent monuments, no carved stone, no display.
AI summary
the Lord said unto Moses--It appears from Deu 4:14-16, that this injunction was a conclusion drawn from the scene on Sinai--that as no similitude of God was displayed then, they should not attempt to make any visible figure or form of Him.