[Let me start with the latter.

God’s qualified His divine punishment (the consequences of idolatry and iniquity) in Exodus 20:6.

The scene: Moses was revealing the 10 commandments.

Commandment two (Exodus 20:4) went like this:

You shall not make for yourselves an idol. You will not fashion an idol in the image of any thing in the heavens, on the earth, or below the earth.

Then came the qualifier, answering the question: Why?

The Lord God is a jealous God. He visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. He attends to the iniquity of those who hate Him.

Yet, He shows steadfast love to the thousands who love him and keep his commandments.

The qualifying structure gives me a hint. This commandment applies especially to the elites, the ones who fashion idols for a Public Cult.]