Judges 17:1-5 - He used them to make an idol

17:1,2

The accounts of the “judges”, i.e. the individuals who played a role in rescuing Israel from her foes, has now ended, and the book finished with accounts of everyday life in Israel. This is not a very edifying spectacle. The first account is of Micah. He had stolen eleven hundred shekels of silver from his mother, this was about thirteen kilograms of silver. His mother had uttered a curse. Nowhere under the Law were Israelites encouraged to utter curses, curses came from the Lord alone. His mother having uttered the curse is perhaps an indication of the extent to which the practices of the surrounding peoples had infected Israel. Having heard the curse, Micah decides to return the money to his mother. His mother’s response was to say “The Lord bless you, my son!”.

17:3-5

On receiving back the silver, the mother dedicated it to the Lord. So far so good, but then she says she will make an image. This was in direct contravention to the commandment not to make any image of the Lord. 200 shekels of the 1100 shekels of silver was used to make an image, we are not told what happened to the other 900 shekels. The image was put in Micah’s house. Micah had a shrine and a whole collection of idols!  He then installed one of his sons as his priest. So we see him having a form of “spirituality” as might say today, but a “spirituality” that bore no resemblance to what God actually wanted nor had commanded.