Judges 17:3

3 As he returned the 1,100 silver pieces to his mother, she said, "I had totally consecrated this money to God for my son to make a statue, a cast god."

Judges 17:3 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 17:3

And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver
to his mother
The whole sum, having embezzled none of it:

his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from
my hand, for my son to make a graven image and a molten image;
this she had done either before it was stolen, and it troubled her the more, and caused her the rather to curse the man that had taken it; or after it was stolen, that if it should be recovered again she would appropriate it to such an use; so Abarbinel; and by the Lord, or Jehovah, she doubtless meant the true God; for she had no intention to forsake him, but to worship him in and by these images, and which she designed for the use of her son and his family, that they might not go so far as Shiloh to worship at the tabernacle there:

therefore I will restore it unto thee;
for that use, and so gave him the money again, to be laid out in images, or to make images of it.

Judges 17:3 In-Context

1 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah.
2 He said to his mother, "Remember that 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you? I overheard you when you pronounced your curse. Well, I have the money; I stole it. But now I've brought it back to you." His mother said, "God bless you, my son!"
3 As he returned the 1,100 silver pieces to his mother, she said, "I had totally consecrated this money to God for my son to make a statue, a cast god."
4 Then she took 200 pieces of the silver and gave it to a sculptor and he cast them into the form of a god.
5 This man, Micah, had a private chapel. He had made an ephod and some teraphim-idols and had ordained one of his sons to be his priest.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.