Reference: Images
Hastings
1. The making of an image implies a definite conception and the application of art to religion. The earliest Semitic religion (like that of Greece, Rome, etc.) was accordingly imageless. The first images were the stone pillar and the wooden pole or asherah (a tree fetish possibly of phallic significance). Then came real idols, at first for domestic use (as probably the teraphim, portable household gods), and subsequently those of greater size for public worship.
2. About 15 words in OT are used specifically for images. The earliest point to the process of manufacture
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And in all things that I have said to you take ye heed, and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.
And the man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not. They have eyes, but they see not. read more. They have ears, but they hear not. They have noses, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not. They have feet, but they walk not, nor do they speak through their throat. Those who make them shall be like them. Yea, everyone who trusts in them.
So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith, he who smoothes with the hammer, him who smites the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good, and he fastens it with nails, that it should not be moved.
The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. And he marks it out with the compasses, and shapes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.
Then it shall be for a man to burn. And he takes of it, and warms himself. Yea, he kindles it, and bakes bread. Yea, he makes a god, and worships it. He makes it a graven image, and falls down to it.
They bear it upon the shoulder. They carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands. From its place it shall not remove. Yea, he may cry to it, yet it cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
But ye who forsake LORD, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mingled wine to Destiny,
The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move. They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and do not speak. They must be carried, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good.
There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith, blue and purple for their clothing. They are all the work of skilful men.
Thou also took thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and made for thee images of men, and played the harlot with them. And thou took thy embroidered garments, and covered them, and set my oil and my incense before them.
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits, and the breadth of it six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made rulers, and I knew it not. They have made themselves idols of their silver and their gold, that they may be cut off.
And now they sin more and more, and have made themselves molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, Let the men who sacrifice kiss the ca