Micah and the Ephod

I'm reading through Judges at the moment. It is always a challenging book. It does not go out of its way to be politically correct. The story of Samson, in its entirety, is absolutely bizarre. I read about Micah and his ephod yesterday. Now, there's a story for which I can see no reason for it being in the Bible. A wandering tribe of Israelites come across this little shrine where an ephod (sort of like a priest's shirt/collar/breastplate) and an idol were kept and worshipped or used as aids to worship. The tribe appropriates these things, and their priest, and wander off to attack an unsuspecting and presumably undefended people. They take their land and live happily ever after. Nothing in this story seems to be consistent with the behaviour that God expects of his people. It doesn't talk about God himself. Perhaps it is just an example of the godlessness of the time.
But stories like this make a nice counter balance to stories such as Daniel's which seem almost too good to be true! It leaves us with the sense that the Bible is not God's spin-doctor, but that he is willing that things be told as they are.