Judges 17:3

3. I had wholly dedicated Rather, I have wholly dedicated. Her purpose to sanctify the silver unto the Lord seems to have originated with the pleasure with which she received it from the hand of her son.

Graven image and a molten image The former was carved out of either metal or wood, the latter cast or poured; but the difference of form or make between the two is hard to determine. Keil conjectures that the graven image was an image of a bull, like the golden calf at Sinai. But these images were not meant for idols to be worshipped, though they naturally led to idolatry. They seem to have been looked upon as household or tutelary gods, not to be worshipped as gods, yet to be reverenced as talismans. This act of Micah and his mother was, however, a coming nearer to idolatry than the act of Gideon in setting up his famous ephod in Ophrah, and yet this home idolatry of Micah may have been a consequence of Gideon’s wrong example. Compare note on Judges 8:27.

Now therefore I will restore Rather, and now I restore it to thee, that is, for the purpose of making images to place in Micah’s house of gods. Judges 17:5.