Hey Maggie,
It’s super interesting that you brought up the fact the icons were thought to defend themselves and bleed when attacked – that adds a whole separate level of complication. I think it is definitely evidence of the amount of significance they paid to the created icons rather than God himself and that they maybe spent more time believing in the created images than their deity. The fact that the people went through the struggle of giving the arts human characteristics is even more evidence how much they cared about worldly creations and false idols.