What makes the passage even more ironic is the setting. All the action (the making of the carved image and a cast idol, the making of Micah’s son a priest, the hiring of a wandering Levite) takes place in the hill country of Ephraim, the very tribe where the tabernacle of Yahweh is located (i.e., Shiloh). It should be stressed, however, that even before the Levite enters the story, the implicit assessment of Micah’s shrine is negative since, according to Deuteronomy 12, the mere existence of a cult other than the one endorsed by God at the central shrine is condemned (Deut 13:12–18).
