Shemot (Exodus) 20:20 (23)
Lo ta'asun, iti: elohei chesef ve'elohei zahav, lo ta'asu lachem.
You shall not make anything, to be with Me: elohim of silver or elohim of gold, you shall not make them for yourselves.

Shemot (Exodus 20:4)
You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

Silver is kesef in Hebrew - The root is kasaf, which means to long for deeply. Silver is a valued metal. Gold is zahab in Hebrew, comes from a root that means to shimmer. There is a brilliance to gold. The one thing that we should long for more than anything is YHVH Himself. Brilliance (Glory) should be given to YHVH alone.

A carved image is a physical representation of a god, an "artistic" rendering of a god’s powers, or the physical representation of spiritual forces including angelic beings.

Shemot (Exodus) 32:1-4
When the people saw that Moshe delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aharon, and said to him, "Come, make us elohim, which shall go before us; for as for this Moshe, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him. Aharon said to them, "Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me. All the people took off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aharon. He received what they handed him, and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it a molten calf; and they said, "These are your elohim, Yisra'el, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt." (Exodus 32:1-4)

It is quite possible that the people of Yisra'el didn't really intend to make new gods (elohim) for themselves, but thought they were representing Elohim, because they attributed their redemption from Egypt to these images. But in doing so, they disobeyed the Torah of Elohim, which they had earlier sworn they would obey.

Shemot (Exodus) 24:3
And Moshe came and told the people all the words of YHVH, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which YHVH hath said will we do.

To whom then will you liken Elohim? Or what likeness will you compare to him? A workman has cast an image, And the goldsmith overlays it with gold, And casts silver chains for it." (Isaiah 40:18-19)

The text says, "Do not make, with me" - What does "with me" mean? We should not make an image of anything associated with YHVH and worship it.

There is one instance that YHVH told them to make a brass serpent, so that they would look at it and be healed from the snake bites they received from speaking against Him. This is a foreshadow of the redemptive work of Yeshua.

As Moshe lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:14-15)

But there is a problem that arose later on... the people began to worship the image of the serpent.

Melachim B (2 Kings) 18:4
He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah: and he broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moshe had made; for to those days the children of Yisra'el did burn incense to it; and he called it Nechushtan.

A thing that YHVH Himself had commanded had become an idol.

I believe that even if such an image is not worshipped, we should not possess it. For example, let's say I go to Mexico and I see in a souvenior shop a model of the Aztec sun calendar. This object has representations of foreign gods on it. Even if I have no intention of worshipping the image, I do not think that it is something I should purchase.

Bereshit (Genesis) 31:19
Now Lavan had gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the terafim that were her father's.

The terafim is a little image of having human form used to aid in meditation. Some say that it was to prevent her father from worshipping them (Bereshith Rabbah 74; Rashi). I don't think she had any intention of worshipping the terafim. Nonetheless, Rachel should not have taken the image.

Elohim said to Ya'akov, "Arise, go up to Beit-El, and live there. Make there an altar to Elohim, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esav your brother. Then Ya'akov said to his household, and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign elohim that are among you, purify yourselves, change your garments. Let us arise, and go up to Beit-El. I will make there an altar to Elohim, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. They gave to Ya 'akov all the foreign elohim which were in their hands, and the rings which were in their ears; and Ya'akov hid them under the oak which was by Shekhem." (Bereshit/Genesis 35:1-4)

According to Josephus, this included the terafim that Rachel had taken from her father. Others say that these were the artifacts plundered from Shechem (Targum Yonathan; Rashi). Either way, they were to put them away from among them and purify themselves of them.

Let no one deprive you of the prize by delighting in his mystical asceticism and his veneration of angels and delving into his visions and being vainly puffed up by the thoughts of his flesh and not holding on to the Head, out of whom the body being fully supplied and being be’ichud (united) together through the joints and ligaments, grows with the growth of Hashem." (Colossians 2:18-19)

Anything that takes us away from a pure relationship with YHVH is an idol.