Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold. The prohibition restates the first and second commandments in the context of the theophany: having experienced the God who speaks from heaven, Israel is not to manufacture substitutes. The gods of silver and gold are the material inversions of the God who speaks from fire and darkness. Isaiah 46:6–7 mocks idols: they lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place and there it stands. It cannot move from its place. Even when someone cries out to it, it does not answer. The God who answered at Sinai cannot be replicated in metal. The prohibition is grounded in the absurdity of the contrast.

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