“And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image: now therefore I will restore it unto thee.”
His mother said: ''Blessed be my son by the LORD'' (וַתֹּאמֶר אִמּוֹ בָּרוּךְ בְּנִי לַיהוָה) — the mother's response is remarkable for its spiritual inversion: rather than holding her son accountable for theft, she pronounces blessing upon him, specifically invoking the LORD. The phrase בָּרוּךְ בְּנִי לַיהוָה (baruch bni l'adonai, ``blessed be my son by the LORD'') suggests a kind of maternal religious sentiment that obscures moral accountability. The mother's blessing is contingent and theatrical: she had cursed the unknown thief and will now bless her known son. Yet the deeper problem is her immediate decision to consecrate the silver: ``Now I will set it apart to the LORD from my hand for my son to make a carved image and a molten image'' (וַגַּם־אָנֹכִי מַקְדִּישׁ אֶת־הַכֶּסֶף לַיהוָה מִיַּד לִבְנִי לַעֲשׂוֹת פֶּסֶל וּמַסֵּכָה).
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