Shiloh

Location

Shiloh is an ancient sanctuary town in the hill country of Ephraim, about twenty miles north of Jerusalem. Modern Khirbet Seilun preserves the name and much of the site. It sits at about 2,300 feet in a natural bowl of the central highlands.

Biblical importance

Shiloh was the first great sanctuary of Israel after the Conquest. The tabernacle — the tent of meeting Moses made in the wilderness — was set up here under Joshua (Joshua 18:1) and remained for over three centuries, until the Philistines captured the ark in the days of Eli (1 Samuel 4). It was at Shiloh that Hannah prayed for Samuel and where Samuel was raised in the priesthood.

Important biblical events

• Joshua 18:1 (KJV) 'And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there.'
• Judges 21 (KJV) The tribes at Shiloh.
• 1 Samuel 1-3 (KJV) Hannah's prayer, Samuel's birth, Samuel's call ('Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth').
• 1 Samuel 4 (KJV) The Philistines capture the ark; Eli's sons die; Eli dies; the glory departs.
• Psalm 78:60 (KJV) 'So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men.'
• Jeremiah 7:12 (KJV) '…go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.'

Related People

• Joshua — who set up the tabernacle here.
• Samuel — the boy who grew up here.
• Hannah — his mother, who prayed here.
• Eli — the aged priest.
• The sons of Eli (Hophni and Phinehas) — whose wickedness led to the loss of the ark.

Connected Places

• Jerusalem — twenty miles south, where the ark eventually came to rest.
• Bethel — the earlier northern sanctuary.

Christian tradition

• Christian pilgrimage attested at Shiloh in Byzantine and later periods.
• The site is one of the oldest continuously identified sanctuary sites in Israel.
• Jeremiah's word about Shiloh (Jeremiah 7) is one of the great biblical warnings that God is not bound to a location — He is bound to His covenant.

Household reflection

Shiloh teaches the household that God's presence is a gift, not a possession. The tabernacle stood at Shiloh for three centuries; when the priests failed, the ark went — and the glory with it.

Every household needs its Shiloh — its place of quiet prayer, its listening place — and every household must remember that God is loyal to hearts, not to buildings.

Room connections

Where this entry meets the household in the wider house of CrossAIHub.

• Read (Library) — Read 1 Samuel 1-4 aloud as the Shiloh unit.
• Pray (Chapel) — Pray Samuel's word at every morning: 'Speak, LORD; for thy servant heareth.'
• Family (Kitchen Table) — Discuss with the children how a place can be holy without being God.
• Sing (Choir Room) — Sing 'Here I Am, Lord' (Dan Schutte, 1981).
• Learn (Workshop) — Study Jeremiah 7 — the sermon that used Shiloh as a warning to Jerusalem.

Further reading

Joshua 18, 1 Samuel 1-4, Psalm 78, Jeremiah 7 in the KJV.

Any good archaeology of Khirbet Seilun.

Elsewhere in the Atlas

• Samuel
• Hannah
• Joshua
• Jerusalem
• Return to the atrium — the Atlas's main room.