Judges 17:4-5 So when he returned the money to his mother, she took 200 silver coins and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into an image and an idol. And these were placed in Micah’s house. Micah set up a shrine for the idol, and he made a sacred ephod and some household idols. Then he installed one of his sons as his personal priest.
Micah stole from his mother. The he returned the money and with it she had an idol cast. That idol was taken into Micah’s home, where he established an altar, created a sacred ephod and made one of his sons a “priest”. Do you not see how my children sin against me? Do you not see how, since days of old, you have been attempting to maneuver yourselves out from under my rule, yet creating a duplicate system to that which I established for you? You worship because you were created to worship, but you were created to worship me, not some idols you have created. In Micah’s days they created symbolic idols our of precious metals. They set them up on altars and literally worshipped them. Today, you are much more sophisticated. You do not create rudimentary altars, you worship what gives you pleasure. And you worship those things by your decisions, your choices, your daily life and focus. You are seeing the results of an entire history of your enemy leading you, my children, into worshipping everything but me. And so many of you are blind to the fact that anything you worship other than me is a representation of your enemy. In those decisions, in your focus, in all of it what you really worship is him. (2022)
Amanuensis 