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 you will be attentive to all that I have said to you, and you will not {profess} the name of other gods; it will not be heard in your mouth.
The man Micah had for himself {a shrine}, and he made an ephod and teraphim, and {he appointed one of his sons} who became a priest for him.
Their idols [are] silver and gold, [the] work of human hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; read more. they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell; [they have] their hands, but they cannot feel, their feet, but they cannot walk; they cannot utter a sound in their throats. [Those who] make them become like them, [as does] everyone who trusts in them.
And [the] artisan encourages [the] {goldsmith}, [the] one who makes smooth with [the] hammer [encourages the] one who strikes [the] anvil, saying of the soldering, "It [is] good!" And they strengthen it with nails [so] it cannot be knocked over.
[The] {woodworker} stretches out a line; he makes an outline [of] it with marker. He makes it with knife and makes an outline [of] it with compass. He makes it like [the] image of a man, like [the] beauty of a human, to dwell [in] a temple.
And it {becomes fuel for a human}, and he takes some of it and grows warm; also, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also, he makes a god and bows in worship; he makes himself an image and bows down to it!
They carry it on [their] shoulder; they support it and they set it [in] its place, and it stands in position. It cannot be removed from its place; even [when] he cries out to it, it does not answer. It does not save him from his trouble.
But you {who forsake} Yahweh, forgetting {my holy mountain}, who set a table for Fortune, and who {pour out} a jug of mixed wine for Destiny,
The children [are] gathering wood, and the fathers [are] kindling the fire, and the women [are] kneading dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out libations to other gods for the sake of provoking me to anger.
He decorates it with silver and gold, they strengthen it with nails and hammers, so that it does not stagger. They [are] like scarecrows in a cucumber field, they cannot speak. Indeed, they must be carried, for they cannot march. You must not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil; furthermore, to do good [is] not in them."
Silver beaten from Tarshish is brought, and gold from Uphaz, the work of [the] craftsman and [the] hands of the goldsmith. Blue and purple [are] their clothing, all of them [are] the work of skillful people.
And you took {your beautiful jewelry} [made] from my gold and from my silver that I had given to you, and you made for yourself {male images}, and you prostituted with them. And you took the clothes of your beautiful finished cloth, and you covered them and my oil and my incense you set {before them}.
Nebuchadnezzar the king made a statue of gold. Its height [was] sixty cubits [and] its width [was] six cubits; he set it up in the valley of Dura in the province of Babylon.
They appointed kings, but not through me; they made officials, but without my knowledge. [With] their silver and gold they made idols for themselves for their own {destruction}.
And now they sin again, and they make for themselves a molten idol, idols from their silver metal according to their understanding, all of them the work of skilled craftsmen. To these they say, "Sacrifice!" People are kissing bull calves.