What does Judges 18:31 mean?

Micah's carved and metal images, false objects of worship for the Lord, have traveled some distance. He had these made after confessing to stealing silver from his mother (Judges 17:1–5), attempting to protect him from her curse on the thief. Of course, the idea that such an object could protect or bless anyone was nonsense from the start (Isaiah 2:8; Habakkuk 2:19; 1 Corinthians 8:4). Now all his religious artifacts have been stolen (Judges 18:14–20) by Danite raiders. They are now being used as objects of worship by a false priest in a false center of worship at the very northern edge of Israel's borders. The use of idols directly disobeys the second of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:4–5).

The writer of Judges adds here that the carved image was used in this way while the true house of God was at Shiloh. Deuteronomy 12:5–6 spelled out clearly that God must only be worshipped at the place of His own choosing. During this time in Israel's history, He had identified Shiloh as that place. That's where the ark of the covenant rested, perhaps in an actual temple structure called the "house of God." Dan's idolatry in this area seems to have lasted until the entire nation was taken captive (Judges 18:30) by the Assyrians in 734 BC.