You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.
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
And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone,.... If they chose instead of an earthen one to make one of stone, as they might in rocky places, where they came, and in such an one where they now were, Mount Sinai, under which hill an altar was built, Exo 24:4, thou shall not build it of hewn stone; which would require time and...
Ye shall not make with me gods of silver - The expressions here are very remarkable. Before it was said, Ye shall have no other gods Before me, אל פני al panai, Exo 20:3. Here they are commanded, ye shall not make gods of silver or gold אתי itti With me, as emblems or representatives of God, in order, as might be pretended, to keep...