The cherubim were placed atop the Ark of the Covenant and were positioned to look upon the mercy where God spoke with Moses and was an earthly representation of the Throne of God. The mercy seat was also where the yearly sin offering was sprinkled. The Ark of the Covenant was placed in the Holy of Holies and was not used for venerating God. Also after the construction of Solomon’s Temple only the High Priest had access to the Ark and then only once a year, so the cherubim were not part of the daily worship or veneration for the sons of God.
Numbers 21:4-9
4 Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. 5 And the people spoke against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food." 6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. 7 So the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, because we have spoken against the LORD and you; intercede with the LORD, that He may remove the serpents from us." And Moses interceded for the people. 8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he shall live." 9 And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it came about, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. NAS
The bronze serpent prefigured Christ. It was set on a standard and a man bitten by a serpent had to look up at the bronze serpent in order to be healed.
2 Kings 18:4
4 He removed the high places and broke down the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah. He also broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it; and it was called Nehushtan. NAS
God commanded that
no images be made for worship and when the sons of Israel chose to burn incense before an image it was destroyed.
Exodus 20:4-6
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
NAS
Leviticus 26:1
26:1'You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God. NAS
Paul wrote this concerning the Law:
Galatians 3:24
24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. NAS
Catholics and Orthodox Churches can rationalize the use of images in worship and veneration all you want but the fact is God prohibited their use for good reasons.