I think when it says, "Let US make.." it is referring to God and His Companion...
That is a new take on things. Very well could be. I have always thought the plural form of language God used in such teachings was the royal tongue usage. Because in the Bible His is called the Royal law.
Your idea though is new and could be just as valid.
We know if we study beyond the Bible those who are the teachers of the deep studies of scripture, such as Soteriology, Apologetics, and so forth, that the Bible has been edited over the years.
The first KJV for instance carried the Apocrypha. Now current versions do not unless someone seeks that copy out.
The American Standard Bible carries those what are now called, forbidden or lost books, as well. Many versions are now being published with that addition.
There's the contemporary language version out now. The Bible has not remained in its original form from the beginning. And it stands to reason that in a Patriarchal system like Judaism and then the Catholic influence that later followed the copied version after the Council of Nicea gathering, and the subsequent councils that convened over the centuries, that anything that would empower the female spirit would likely be deleted.
Women were thought to be the servants of the male. Even in American law in the early founding women were property to be controlled by the patriarch in their family. And later in their marriage house. It is not too far off the beam then to believe a female power in God's word would not be acceptable in those times.
And what a lesson that is too. That male bias toward the female sex, empowered by God to continue the bloodline of the human race and nourish the fruits of their womb from their own body, would be deemed by men to be less than. When God clearly created us to be far more than what is presented in Patriarchal ideologies, not just the Hebrew Christian, across the globe.
Also when the commandments were given, one of them was not to make any image of anything above …. and in Deuteronomy 16:21-22 I believe the problem was that they had made an image of her.
21 Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee. 22 Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the Lord thy God hateth.
I wonder if the remark about God hating such things was an addition that the scribes installed so as to make the prohibition more solid? God hates this so best not disobey for sure.
I did read that passage in chapter 16 as well. I think the problem was in Exodus the emancipated Israelite's lost faith in Moses leading them when they cast the gold the Egyptians gave them at their Exodus into the form of a calf. Their worship of that golden idol that was thought to be able to guide them through the desert where Moses failed, in their view, would likely be why graven images were later forbidden them.
I wonder if people today realize that would mean even the dove, or the cross, are not to be worn or displayed in the home or church?
Here are more verses I found interesting.
2 Chronicles 15: 16
16 And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. 17 But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.
AND
1 King 15:13-14
13 And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron. 14 But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa's heart was perfect with the Lord all his days.
some Bible translations say FOR Asherah, why not OF Asherah or TO THE sacred pole, why not OF THE sacred pole?
Now when I read of the Asherah pole I think of the ancient history related to the pagan May pole. A phallic symbol related to the fruitfulness of the communities or tribes.
Could this be the same meaning in that Hebrew era? After all, the prohibitions of mixing the bloodlines in early Hebrew history was related to keeping the tribal bloods pure. The continuation of a blood line would be of high importance. And the early Jews were polytheists as we know.
Good posts. Likely very unique for Christian discussion sites when so many topics can repeat themselves quite often.