Hi,
But just a few pages following in Exodus 25:18 God says: “For the two ends of the throne of mercy you are to make two golden cherubs; you are to make them of beaten gold.” Here God is asking them to fashion two cherub images of gold to be put in the holiest of places! Exodus 20:4 is all about not worshiping false gods—not about using images.
In Numbers 21 God tells Moses to fashion a seraph serpent, mounted on a pole and to have those who had been bitten by serpents to look at it and they would be healed. It was clearly a sign of the Messiah who would heal the world of sin, mounted on a cross.
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.