The Torah permits the making of cherubim — golden winged figures — atop the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies (Exodus 25:18). These are not merely decorative. They are the precise location where God's voice speaks to Moses, the place where heaven meets earth. But the Mekhilta spots a dangerous conclusion someone might draw from this permission.
"Do not say: Since the Torah permitted this in the Temple, I shall do the same in synagogues and in houses of study" (Exodus 20:20). The logic seems reasonable on its surface. If sacred images are acceptable in the holiest place on earth, why not in lesser holy spaces? If God Himself commanded golden figures in His dwelling, surely a synagogue could benefit from similar adornment.
The Torah shuts this reasoning down with three words: "You shall not make for yourselves." The cherubim in the Temple were made for God, at His explicit command, for a singular purpose in a singular location. The moment a person replicates those images "for yourselves" — for human spaces, human purposes, human aesthetic preferences — the act crosses from obedience into idolatry.
The Mekhilta draws a sharp boundary. What God commands for His own house cannot be generalized. The Temple operated under unique rules that applied nowhere else. Sacred objects in sacred space served a divine function. Copied into ordinary settings, those same objects become violations of the second commandment. The permission was specific. The prohibition is universal.