‘And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother, and his mother said, “I truly dedicate the silver to Yahweh from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image.”
His mother was so pleased that he had owned up and returned the silver that she dedicated sufficient to Yahweh to make a graven image and a molten image. The graven image would be made of wood and covered with silver, while the molten image would be made totally of silver. What these represented has caused endless controversy, and in the end we must admit that we do not know. The descriptions ‘graven image' and ‘molten image' (see Deuteronomy 27:15) were the contemptuous descriptions of a writer who thoroughly disapproved of what Micah did and may thus not be fully representative of what they actually were.
But any theory must take into account that there were two different ‘images' (Judges 18:18). Some have therefore suggested a graven wooden silver-coated image with a molten silver decorated base (this would be supported by the use of ‘it' in Judges 17:4). Furthermore we must take into account the emphasis on the facts that she was seeking to please Yahweh, that Hebrew has no word for goddess (and thus goddesses were unknown in Yahwism) and that images of Yahweh are rarely found, if they occur at all, in archaeological digs, and thus that images of Yahweh were at no stage an accepted norm. Thus neither of these last were seen as acceptable at any stage to an Israelite, even in syncretism, as an aspect of Yahwism.
The graven image was the central feature (Judges 18:30-31). It may be that this was therefore a miniature representation of the Ark of the Covenant as conceived in Micah's mind, including the cherubim with their wings over the throne. Such would be considered a graven image by the writer as not being the true Ark, and he would not wish to describe it as anything but a forbidden thing, and ‘a graven image'. The molten image could then have been Micah's representation of a further cherub as bearer of the Ark, the throne of Yahweh, possibly in the form of a base holding the Ark. A cherub is depicted as bearing the throne of Yahweh in 2 Samuel 22:11; Psalms 18:10. Compare also Ezekiel 1:10.
It is quite likely that the shape of a cherub was depicted as somewhat similar to those found in excavations at Samaria and in Phoenicia with human face, lion body, four legs and two conspicuous and elaborate wings for in Scripture they are regularly connected with lion, eagle and ox as well as man (1 Kings 7:29; Ezekiel 1:10; Ezekiel 10:14) and represent creation. At Byblos such beings were found supporting the throne of the king.
This would be seen as supported by the fact that when the priest went forward with the tribe of Dan ‘in their midst' he wore the ephod and carried the graven image and the teraphim, but not the molten image. As he was probably intended to picture Yahweh among His people, replacing the Tabernacle and the Ark, this demonstrated the secondary nature of the molten image and would support the idea that it was only a base.
Alternately the graven image may have been a silver bull seen as the throne of the invisible Yahweh (the god Hadad was pictured standing on a bull), with the molten image again a guardian cherub, possibly represented as a stand made to receive the bull. The golden bull or calf was the symbol that Israel tended to use when replacing the Ark (Exodus 32:1-8; 1 Kings 12:28-30; Hosea 8:6). And a bronze bull associated with a possible Israelite high place from the time of the Judges has been found. But the combination of bull and cherub is not known elsewhere. If the bull was elsewhere seen as the bearer of Yahweh it replaced the cherubim.
Another suggestion is that the two images suggest a god and a goddess, the wooden one coated with silver possibly representing Asherah, the molten one of pure silver possibly representing Baal, and possibly also Yahweh as well, as identified with ‘Baal' (‘Lord'). If this was so it was an indication of the syncretism that had taken place that this kind of hybrid situation was possible. But as the writer is so firm that Micah's mother was committed to Yahweh and was dedicating it to Yahweh this does not really seem likely. He had no time for the Baalim and the Asheroth. We consider the first option would seem to be the most likely and fits well with the final result.
“Now therefore I will restore it to you.”
His mother not only dedicated such silver as was necessary for the images to Yahweh but promised her son that he would have it restored to him for his ‘house of God' (or ‘gods').