Exodus 34:17

“Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.] Made of a melted liquid, whether gold, or silver, or brass, poured into a mould; and though graven images are not mentioned, they are included, a part being put for the whole, as appears not only from the injunction to break images in general, whether graven or molten, (<023413>Exodus 34:13) but from the second command, which expressly forbids the making and worshipping of them; but “molten” ones are particularly mentioned, because it is probable they were chiefly such the Canaanites worshipped, and especially, because the calf the Israelites had lately made and worshipped was a molten one.”

“The precepts contained in these verses are, for the most part, identical in substance with some of those which follow the Ten Commandments and are recorded in “the Book of the covenant” (Exo. 20–23; see Exodus 24:7). Exodus 34:13 Cut down their groves - This is the first reference to what is commonly known as grove-worship. The original word for “grove” in this connection אשׁרה 'ăshêrāh is different from that so rendered in Genesis 21:33. Our translators supposed that what the law commands is the destruction of groves dedicated to the worship of false deities Judges 6:25; 2 Kings 18:4; but inasmuch as the worship of asherah is found associated with that of Astarte, or Ashtoreth Judges…”

“Exo 32:8; Lev 19:4; Isa 46:6, Isa 46:7; Jer 10:14; Act 17:29, Act 19:26 Exodus 34:18”

“The true way to worship Jehovah is then pointed out, first of all negatively, in the prohibition against making molten images, with an allusion to the worship of the golden calf, as evinced by the use of the expression מסּכה אלהי, which only occurs again in Lev 19:4, instead of the phrase "gods of silver and gold" ( Exo 20:23); and then positively, by a command to observe the feast of Mazzoth and the consecration of the first-born connected with the Passover (see at Exo 13:2, Exo 13:11, and Exo 13:12), also the Sabbath ( Exo 34:21), the feasts of Weeks and Ingathering, the appearance of the male members of the nation three times a year before the Lord ( Exo 34:22, see at Exo 23:14-17),…”