Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 34:17

"Thou shalt make thee no molten gods." — Exodus 34:17 (ASV)

Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. —It is just possible that the Israelites when they worshipped the golden calf may have conceived that they were not breaking the second commandment, which forbade the adoration of any “graven image.” An express law was therefore made against “molten images.”