Category: Life

1 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim
whose name was Micah.

2 And he said to his mother,
The 1,100 shekels (13 kg) of silver that were taken from you,
about which you cursed and also spoke about in my hearing,
behold, I have the silver with me; I took it.
And his mother said, Blessed be you by the Lord, my son!

3 He restored the 1,100 shekels of silver to his mother,
and she said,
I had truly dedicated the silver to the Lord
from my hand for my son
to make a graven image and a molten image;
now therefore, I will restore it to you.

4 So when he restored the money to his mother,
she took 200 pieces of silver
and gave them to the silversmith,
who made of it a graven image and a molten image;
and they were in the house of Micah.

5 And the man Micah had a house of gods,
and he made an ephod and teraphim
and dedicated one of his sons, who became his priest.

6 In those days there was no king in Israel;
every man did what was right in his own eyes.

7 And there was a young man in Bethlehem of Judah,
of the family of Judah, who was a Levite;
and he sojourned there.

8 And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah
to sojourn where he could find a place,
and as he journeyed he came to the hill country of Ephraim
to the house of Micah.

9 And Micah said to him,
From where do you come?
And he said to him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah,
and I go to sojourn where I may find a place.

10 And Micah said to him,
Dwell with me and be to me a father and a priest,
and I will give you ten pieces of silver each year,
a suit of clothes, and your living.
So the Levite went in.

11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man,
and the young man was to Micah as one of his sons.

12 And Micah consecrated the Levite,
and the young man became his priest
and was in the house of Micah.

13 Then said Micah,
Now I know that the Lord will favor me,
since I have a Levite to be my priest.

Judges 17

How many of you have an altar in your home, a physical one, with little statues? That is wrong because God said:

4 You shall not make yourself any graven image [to worship it]
or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above,
or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth;

5 You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them;
for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
to the third and fourth generation
of those who hate Me,

Exodus 20:4-5