Albert Barnes Commentary Judges 17:3

"And he restored the eleven hundred [pieces] of silver to his mother; and his mother said, I verily dedicate the silver unto Jehovah from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee." — Judges 17:3 (ASV)

Such a superstitious and unlawful way of worshipping Yahweh is entirely consistent with passages such as Judges 8:27; Judges 11:31; 1 Kings 12:28, and so on. This practice indicates little familiarity with the Ten Commandments, which, due to widespread illiteracy, were probably not well-known to the Israelites in those unsettled times.

The mother indicates that the consecration of the silver was for the benefit of her son and his household, not for her own selfish advantage. She also makes clear her adherence to her original intention of consecrating this silver for her son’s benefit.