WHEN the wanderings of Israel in the, wilderness had ceased, and when their battles in Canaan were over, they could rest. And when they could rest, the blessed God, who had journeyed with them through the wilderness, and who had led their victorious battles in Canaan, would rest, too. He found a place in Canaan where His tent should be erected; "the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there." (Josh. 18:1) Shiloh was the religious center for Israel. To Shiloh the men chosen to inspect the yet un-possessed land of promise were bidden return after their journey; and, having written a book, in seven parts, describing the good things not yet realized, they came again to Joshua to the host in Shiloh, and there Joshua divided the remaining land as an inheritance for the people.
In this act occurring in Shiloh, lies a suggestion for ourselves, for it is when we are before the Lord in our Shiloh, we learn what is yet to be possessed spiritually, and also the order of the possessions, and the way in which we are to enter upon and into their realization. All the land of promise was Israel's by promise, but only so much as was won, was their practical possession.
As time went on, Shiloh was no longer the honorable center in Israel's eyes that the tabernacle had made it. The early spirit of determination to maintain Jehovah's honor, as it expressed itself at Shiloh when the two and a half tribes set up their altar (Josh. 22:11, 12), had died away. Indeed, when the people fell to the gods of the heathen around them, what could Shiloh be to them, and what the house of God which was there? (Judges 18:31). And when Israel fell from Jehovah, it lost its practical unity, for the center forsaken, the circle could not exist. However, at the close of the strange story recorded in the book of Judges, the whole extent of which covers many years, Shiloh is once more spoken of as the place where yearly there was a feast to the Lord.
We may infer, that when Jehovah recovered backsliding Israel by the judges and deliverers He raised up on their account, the glory of Shiloh, and the presence' of the Lord there, began again to be precious in the eyes of His people. Thus we read in the beginning of the book of Samuel how Elkanah “went up out of his city " (which was in Mount Ephraim) " yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh."
It was to Shiloh that Hannah, Elkanah's praying wife, brought the infant Samuel as a gift, given her by the Lord, to be presented to the Lord. Her prayer, and her dedication of her Samuel to the Lord, are, and ever will be, precious to all mothers whose God is the Lord: " For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of Him: therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord."
A pious mother's prayers are like the spring which rises by the wayside, and as it flows, grows and pours out its waters for the blessing of many. Shiloh, for some time in the Bible story, shines with glory. Hannah's prayer and Hannah's gift were a fountain of blessing to Israel. Let the Christian mother trace the grand story of Samuel's life with Hannah before her mind; and particularly the third chapter of the book called by Samuel's name, which describes the manifestation by Jehovah of Himself to the child, and the revelation of Jehovah's word to the young prophet, who was recognized and known as such by Israel. It will cheer and invigorate the mother's spirit.
After Eli's death the tabernacle was but a memory of what it had been. The people of Israel, regarding the holy ark as a sort of charm, took it with them to battle, that "it may save us out of the hand of our enemies” (chap. 4:3). They lost the fight, and lost the ark. They lost it, but God took care of His own ark, even when it was captive in the hands of the Philistines. In the ark were the tables of the law; it was the depository of divine revelation, and the uncircumcised were not permitted to injure it. Eventually the ark was restored to Israel, but we hear little of Shiloh after this profane act of Israel. “He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He placed among men; and delivered His strength into captivity." (Psa. 78:60, 61). True, the priest wearing the ephod, and the prophet, who announced the mind of God, were still found in Shiloh (1 Sam. 14:3; 1 Kings 14:2); these holy men seemed to linger in love about the place which had once been so glorious. After a time, favored Shiloh became a word in the prophet's mouth of warning and of judgment. “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." (Jer. 7:12.)
Shiloh lay under a curse in Jeremiah's days, it was a standing memorial of God's anger against a rebellious people; yet to be recalled to the sight of Shiloh as it was, only made Israel more angry against the prophet than before, when he told them what should be done with them (chap. 26:6, 9). Shiloh is connected with the tent, as is Jerusalem with the temple, and what befell Shiloh, Jehovah declared should befall Jerusalem (chap. 7:14).
And now we have a picture, rendered from a photograph, before our eyes which speaks of the desolation of Shiloh. It is but stones and ruins! Once God's Name was there, once it was the life and the glory-center of Israel; what is it now? What a lesson lies herein to ourselves! God cares more for His Name than the place wherein He recorded that Name. Men-cling to the place, even when the glory has departed; God establishes His glory, and sometimes by the overthrow of the once-favored place.