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 be watchful in all that I have said to you. And make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of your mouth.
And the man Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod and household gods, and anointed 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 do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see; read more. they have ears, but they do not hear; they have noses, but they do not smell; they have hands, but they do not handle; they have feet, but they do not walk; they do not mutter through their throat. The ones who make them are like them, and everyone who trusts in them.
So the artisan strengthens the refiner, and he smoothing with the hammer, him who struck the anvil, saying of soldering, It is good. And he made it strong with nails; it will not totter.
He fashions wood, and stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil; he shapes it with carving tools, and he marks it out with the compass, and makes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to sit in the house.
And it shall be for a man to burn; for he will take some of it and warm himself. Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread; yes, he makes a god and worships; he makes it a graven image and falls down to it.
They carry it on the shoulder, they carry it and set it in its place, and it stands; it shall not move from its place. Yes, one shall cry to it, yet it cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
But you are those who forsake Jehovah, who forget My holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who furnish the drink offering to Fate.
The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead 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 adorn it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers, so that it will not wobble. They are like a rounded post, and they cannot speak. They must surely be lifted, because they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them; for they cannot do evil nor good, for it is not in them.
Silver beaten into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the goldsmith. Violet and purple is their clothing; they are all the work of skillful ones.
And you have taken beautiful things of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made images of males, and fornicated with them. And you took your embroidered dresses and covered them, and you have given to their face My oil and My incense.
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits, and its breadth 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 with their silver and their gold, so that they may be cut off.
And now they sin more and more, and have made themselves a molten image of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves.