Why Is Shiloh Important in the Bible?

Jeremiah the prophet walked into the court of the temple, perhaps paused a moment, then proclaimed the words God had given him to say. These words enraged the priests and prophets who heard them, and they seized Jeremiah, saying, “You will surely die!” (Jeremiah 26:8).

What words had so angered these men?

Jeremiah had prophesied the destruction of God’s temple in Jerusalem if the nation failed to repent. The temple, he said, would come to the same end as the tabernacle in Shiloh years before (verses 6, 9; see also Jeremiah 7:1-15).

What had happened to the tabernacle in Shiloh? What was the implication for the priests and prophets of Jeremiah’s day, and what is the significance of Shiloh to Christians today?

Shiloh’s prominence in Israel’s worship

Before we can understand the meaning and impact of Jeremiah’s words, we must understand something of the history of Israelite worship. Neither Jerusalem nor the temple were at the center of Israel’s early religious or political life.

What eventually became Jerusalem was a small, seemingly impregnable fortress city called Jebus. The Jebusites were a people who defied the tribe of Judah, which “could not drive them out” (Joshua 15:63). The Jebusites remained in control of their city even during the reign of King Saul.

It was David who finally conquered the city (2 Samuel 5:6-9). He had begun his reign in Hebron, only defeating the Jebusites during his eighth year as king, about the time that he began to rule over all the tribes of Israel (verse 5).

David prepared for the construction of the temple in Jerusalem during his lifetime. However, God had specifically told him that he would not be allowed to build it because he had been a “man of war” (1 Chronicles 28:2-3).

So, where did Israel worship before the temple in Jerusalem was built?

The tabernacle of God

Under God’s direction, the tribes of Israel completed work on the tabernacle (or tent) at the very beginning of the year following their departure from Egypt (Exodus 40:17). Unlike the temple, the tabernacle was not a permanent structure tied to one place.

The story of Shiloh is a cautionary tale. It reminds us that we cannot take God for granted. God’s promises are sure, but He also expects us to remain faithful to Him. During their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the tabernacle was in their midst. It moved with Israel as the people traveled from Mount Sinai through the inhospitable desert, and it accompanied the 12 tribes as they entered the Promised Land.

Once Israel crossed the Jordan River, the first site where the 12 tribes camped was Gilgal (Joshua 4:19). This was also the first place on the western side of the Jordan River where the tabernacle was set up.

In addition to Gilgal, the tabernacle was pitched in Shiloh, Nob, Gibeon and Jerusalem. The word tabernacle is not always mentioned in references to these cities, but the context of the biblical passages lets the reader know that these cities all hosted the tabernacle at some time.

In Nob, for instance, David asked Ahimelech the priest for bread for his men as they fled from Saul. Ahimelech gave David some of the “holy bread” (1 Samuel 21:4), which would have been available only at the tabernacle.

The tabernacle remained in Shiloh from the time of Joshua (Joshua 18:1) until the time of Eli, a high priest near the end of the period of the Judges (1 Samuel 1:3). The tabernacle was in Shiloh longer, it seems, than anywhere else.

In fact, scholars believe it “appears to have had some permanent features” (The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol. 5, p. 578) because it was called a temple (1 Samuel 1:9, King James Version).

What happened at Shiloh?

The tragedy of Shiloh was both personal and national. It was a disaster for the people of Israel, but it was also a personal rebuke for Eli and his two sons.

As high priest, Eli held a position of great status as well as duty. The priesthood had been established for far more than simply offering sacrifices and conducting religious rituals. They had been given the sacred job of teaching Israel God’s laws (Leviticus 10:8-11).

Unfortunately, Israel often ignored those teachings, and even worse, the priests sometimes failed to fulfill their duty to teach the people. Such was the case with Eli and his two sons.

The Bible does not mince words, bluntly telling us that “the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the LORD” (1 Samuel 2:12). Eli may have understood more, even confronting his sons about their “evil dealings” (verse 23), but “they did not heed the voice of their father” (verse 25), and he did not remove them from the priesthood.

For this reason, God sent a prophet to Eli to let him know that he and his sons would be removed from office, and that all his descendants would die at an early age (verses 32-33). On top of that, they would become beggars, asking to fulfill some priestly role in order to have something to eat (verse 36).

Appalling tragedy

When disaster struck, the tragedy stunned the nation. The people of Israel were far from God, viewing Him as someone to appease with rituals and sacrifices while they pursued their own wicked goals. Like their fathers before them, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25) rather than obey God.

After losing 4,000 men in one battle (1 Samuel 4:2), the elders of Israel suggested taking the ark of the covenant from its place in the tabernacle to the battlefield. They reasoned that with the ark, which symbolized the very presence of God, they would easily defeat the Philistines (verses 3-4). The Israelites were treating God and His ark like a genie in a bottle, who would have to grant them victory.

What happened instead was shocking. Israel lost 30,000 soldiers. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed. Even worse, the ark of the covenant was captured (verses 10-11). God had not fought for His people, but had allowed the enemy to take the very symbol of His presence.

The people of Israel had taken God, His blessings and His protection for granted. It was a mistake that would long be remembered.

The significance of Shiloh in song

What happened at Shiloh is commemorated in the book of Psalms. Asaph, one of the Levites David “appointed over the service of song in the house of the LORD” (1 Chronicles 6:31, 39), composed a song celebrating God’s guiding hand in Israel’s history.

Much of the song, preserved for us as Psalm 78, describes Israel’s bondage in Egypt, its deliverance from Pharaoh’s army, and its efforts to take control of the Promised Land. The story of Shiloh is a bridge between the period of the judges and David’s reign.

Nine verses of this psalm are dedicated to Shiloh’s downfall (Psalm 78:56-64). The idolatry of the people of Israel (verse 58) was the reason that God “greatly abhorred Israel” (verse 59) and “forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh” (verse 60).

As a result, the nation’s site for worship was snatched from the tribe of Ephraim, whose tribal allotment included Shiloh (verse 67). Instead, the national venue for worshipping God was moved to Jerusalem, which lies in the tribal allotment of Judah (verses 68-69).

The significance of Shiloh in Jeremiah’s time

The tragedy of Shiloh resonated throughout the history of God’s people. The loss of the ark and the crushing defeat remained in the nation’s collective memory.

We return to the scene of Jeremiah in the court of the temple many centuries later. When he mentioned Shiloh, he was comparing his contemporaries with the idolaters of Eli’s time. Naturally, they were insulted. More than that, however, Jeremiah’s words seemed treasonous for a nation under threat from Babylon.

It was God, though, who had directed Jeremiah to confront the people gathered within the court of the temple. It was God who wanted His people to consider the fate of Shiloh and turn from their sins (Jeremiah 26:3).

Unfortunately, the people of Judah did not repent. The armies of Babylon destroyed the magnificent temple of God. Those same armies burned Jerusalem, leaving behind rubble. Most of the people died in the war and famine leading up to this destruction or were carried away to Babylon as slaves.

The significance of Shiloh in the Bible

Even though the people in Eli’s time refused to obey God, they falsely assumed that He would help them defeat the Philistines. Likewise, the people in Jeremiah’s time refused to repent, assuming that God would always be there to bless them and protect them.

They were both wrong!

What should this mean for us today? What is the significance of Shiloh in the Bible?

The story of Shiloh is a cautionary tale. It reminds us that we cannot take God for granted. God’s promises are sure, but He also expects us to remain faithful to Him. We cannot disregard His will and still count on receiving those “exceedingly great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4).

Simply warming a seat in church isn’t enough. Hearing sermons and reading the Bible aren’t enough. We must take to heart what we hear and what we read, turning from any behavior that is contrary to God’s will and His law. We cannot be satisfied being “hearers of the law,” but must rather be “doers of the law” (Romans 2:13; James 1:22).

As the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Galatia, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7). We must continually examine ourselves (verse 4), never taking God’s presence, His blessings or His protection for granted.

Remember the lessons of Shiloh.

For more on what the Bible says about cause and effect, and about blessings and curses, see “Why Is Our Modern World Under Ancient Curses?”

 

Sidebar: The Word Shiloh in Genesis

Many English Bibles, though not all, include the word Shiloh in Genesis 49:10, where it appears in a series of prophecies the patriarch Jacob (Israel) uttered about the respective destinies of his 12 sons. This passage has been the source of much scholarly debate.

In fact, an article in The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible admits, “It seems impossible to give a truly satisfactory explanation of the problem” (Vol. 5, p. 404). Even so, most scholars do not believe Jacob was referring to the city of Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

Jacob prophesied, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49:10).

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary says that the word Shiloh “is simply an untranslated form of the Hebrew expression meaning ‘one to whom it belongs’” (Vol. 2, p. 276).

As such, it can be seen as a reference to Christ, a descendant of David, born of the tribe of Judah. He is the rightful King to whom the scepter belongs.