Micah's theft

There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah. He said to his mother, "Remember that 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you? I overheard you when you pronounced your curse. Well, I have the money; I stole it. But now I've brought it back to you." His mother said, " God  bless you, my son!"  As he returned the 1,100 silver pieces to his mother, she said, "I had totally consecrated this money to  God  for my son to make a statue, a cast god." Then she took 200 pieces of the silver and gave it to a sculptor and he cast them into the form of a god.  This man, Micah, had a private chapel. He had made an ephod and some teraphim-idols and had ordained one of his sons to be his priest.  In those days there was no king in Israel. People did whatever they felt like doing. (Judges 17:1-6 MSG)

1100 pieces of silver are worth a lot of money. In their time, 10 pieces of silver is the wage for a year! So Micah actually stole millions of dollars, in today's sense from his mother. In the bible, it is stated in one of the 10 commandments not to steal and Micah violated it. Micah did not have the intention to return the silver to his mother! It is clearly seen from his motivation to return the silver. His motivation to return the silver comes from the curse, not the commandments. Worse, when him mother knows about it, she had realized that she cursed her son, and on the return of the silver, she blessed him. It was wrong for her son to steal, even from his own family members. However, she is condoning by blessing him instead. She should not be doing that but educating her son in the law. However, she did not parent very well...

In the next verse, two very disturbing things happened. His mom promised God to "wholly consecrate" the silver. However, she only used 200 pieces of silver to devote to God. Worse, her idea of devoting to God was to create an idol.

It is really really clear:
“You shall have no other gods before   me.    “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the  Lord  your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,  but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:3-6 NIV)

She had an idol as her God and she made an idol. So her idea of dedication to God was to violate the commandments and she did not hold to her promise.

That is why the author said: there was no king in Israel, people is their own judge.
In the days of Moses, Moses was the judge... In the days of Joshua, Joshua was the judge... And today, there is no judge.