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It has been made plain that we are to worship none other than the Deity of Israel who is the Creator of the whole universe. It makes sense that if Yahweh is the Creator and the only Deity, then no other object in the universe deserves that worship. But there is another aspect of idolatry we should be aware of. Look at the following passages.
(15) You shall take extreme care for your lives - because you didn't see any form on the day that YHWH spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire - (16) so that you don't become corrupt, and make for yourselves a carved image, even the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, (17) the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, (18) the likeness of anything that crawls on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth; (19) and so that you don't lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, any of the host of heaven, that you be driven away and worship them, and serve them, which YHWH your Deity has distributed for all the peoples under the whole heaven. (Deuteronomy 4:15-19)
And He [YHWH] said, You cannot see my face, because no man shall see me and live. (Exodus 33:20)
To whom then will you liken Deity? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? (Isaiah 40:18)
What do we see here? The first passage shows a principle that is a matter of life and death, because it says "you shall take extreme care for your lives". It is of a fundamental importance. To summarize it, we can say that it is saying that the Almighty has not revealed any form to anyone whatsoever, as can be seen by the next verse quote (Exo 33:20). And because of this fact, nothing that the human eyes see can be used to be a form of Yahweh in order that you should worship it. The list in Deuteronomy 4 is quite comprehensive, and the principle is universal to all physical forms. So this is to say that you cannot give Yahweh a physical form. Once you have a physical form and try to worship it as Deity, as Yahweh, then you are not worshipping Yahweh, who explicitly says there is no physical form that you can worship. Even if you should try to pin his name on that physical object, you are not worshipping him but something else.
The idea that you can use any physical object to represent Yahweh is further removed by the rhetorical question said by the prophet Isaiah. This question, when read in context, leaves us with the conclusion that there is no one that you can say is similar to Deity and there is no likeness at all that you can compare with him. Because of this, the context and other places in the Hebrew Scriptures say that it is foolishness to try to choose or make a form or image and worship him with it.
Now all these verses have a universal application. Deuteronomy 4 shows that no likeness can be used to worship Yahweh. This is true whether you are a Israelite or not. There is no point in pointing to the heavens either and any of the celestial objects out there, since, according to the last verse, they were distributed for the service of people on earth, i.e., for them to use for times and seasons (see Genesis 1:14-19). So it is a foolish thing to worship tools, things that we use, things that were made for certain services. It's a bit like a king worshipping his servants. Also Exodus 33:20 is universal because Yahweh speaks of man, in general, not being able to see him. And Isaiah 40 is set in a context which highlights the foolishness of the gods of other nations (see Isaiah 46, noting what verse 5 says).
So no man can use the excuse to say that the Bible is a Jewish book with rules only for Jews/Israelites. It contains principles that cover every human being. Yahweh shouldn't be given a physical form.
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