The Targumic rendering of the prohibition against images goes further than the Hebrew — and further than most readers notice. "Sons of Israel, My people, you shall not make, that you may worship, the likeness of the sun or the moon or the stars, or the planets, or the angels who minister before Me; idols of silver, nor idols of gold, ye shall not make to you" (Exodus 20:20, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan).
The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan names the specific temptations. Sun and moon — the two great lights, worshipped across every civilization. Stars and planets — the astral gods of Babylon, Persia, and Egypt. And then a forbidden image that startles: the angels who minister before Me.
Angels. The Targum anticipates a sophisticated Jewish error. Someone might say: I do not worship the sun; I worship the angel who governs the sun. Closer to God, yes? Purer? The Targumist cuts off the argument at the root. No image, even of the highest created being. Angels serve God; they are not to be served themselves.
This is a remarkable anti-mediation theology. In a world full of cults of intermediaries, the Targum insists that the prohibition of images includes the messengers of God, not just pagan deities. A Jew does not reach God through icons of angels, because God needs no icon and an angel is never the destination.
Silver and gold are the final clause. These are the raw materials. Whatever you melt, whatever you carve — you shall not make it to worship. The medium is never the loophole.
The takeaway: the line between devotion and idolatry is not drawn around bad things. It is drawn around the substitution of anything — even a holy angel — for the Presence of God itself.