1. Judges 17:5 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is so problematic about Micah’s shrine?

Judges 17:5 (ESV)

5 And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and household gods, and ordained one of his sons, who became his priest.

This shrine was literally a house of God. This is Micah’s own tabernacle, which was a violation of Deuteronomy 12:1–7, where God had declared that when Israel settles in the land, they are to worship only where the Lord would authorize, in Shiloh, and that is where the priests and Levites were to serve. That is not very far away from where Micah lived. But Micah has gone to the expense of building a house of God, his own place for God to dwell, at a place of his own choosing. Micah’s shrine is another option to the tabernacle in Shiloh, and the high priest there.