Crafted Images Contrast with the Living Creator

Do not learn the nations' dread of sky-signs or nailed gods

Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not; they must needs be borne, because they cannot go.

The satire must not become ridicule of present religions, artisans, cultures, or Jewish neighbors, and it does not forbid all visual art. Wood and metal that must be carried are contrasted with a God who speaks. Craft itself is not the sin.

The living King made the earth; Jacob's portion is not like the images

But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion. Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.

Jacob's portion affirms Israel as inheritance, not a setup for supersession. 'Brutish' targets the idol-maker's claim, not ethnic insult. Creation power, not mockery of neighbors, is the contrast's weight.