subcreation, idols
It becomes clear why the prohibition against idols must be absolute, for once they are made, they create a situation from which there can be no return to the original position. Once man, undirected by God, creates an object, God has then one of two choices. He can disown the object, thereby acknowledging human authority over that one sphere of creation and thus contracting the territory of creating that belongs to him. Alternatively he can (as in the passages just cited) extend the boundary of his authorship to include that object as well, thereby restoring to himself the entire ground of creation but now including within that province an instance of artifice so diminutive that it discredits the entire enterprise. Either response involves the recognition of a limit within divine creation.
Elaine Scarry, The Body in Pain