Rabbi Eliezer offered a mordantly funny interpretation of the phrase "elohim acherim" (other gods) in the Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael. He connected "acherim" not to "otherness" but to renewal, arguing that idol worshippers constantly "renew" their gods, cycling through them like disposable possessions.
The scenario he described is vivid. A man has a god made of gold. Then he needs gold for something else, perhaps to pay a debt or buy food. So he melts down his golden god and makes a new one out of silver. When he needs silver, he melts that god down too and replaces it with one made of copper. When the copper is needed, the god becomes iron. When the iron is needed, it becomes lead.
Each time, the worshipper creates a brand new deity and discards the old one without a second thought. The god of yesterday is the raw material of today. There is no loyalty, no relationship, no continuity. The idol is only as valuable as the metal it is made from, and the moment that metal has a better use, the god disappears.
Rabbi Eliezer cited (Deuteronomy 32:17) as his proof text: "new ones, newly come," which he read as a description of this endless cycle of disposable deities. The verse mocks the very concept of novelty in worship. These gods are always new because they are always being replaced.
The teaching exposes the absurdity at the heart of idolatry. A true God does not depend on the worshipper for His existence. But an idol depends entirely on its maker, and the maker can unmake it whenever something more useful comes along.