“I HAVE been looking at those references you wrote out for me, Aunt Edith,” said Charley, “and I see that even while Joshua was alive the tabernacle had been moved from Gilgal to Shiloh; for when Joshua was dividing the land into seven parts he cast lots in Shiloh before the Lord.’” “Yes; in the beginning of the chapter, which tells us of the division of the land, we read that ‘the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there.’ Allusion is now and then made to the ‘house of the Lord at Shiloh’ in the book of Judges, and in the last chapter we read of a yearly feast which caused the people to assemble there; but during those troubled and lawless times we find very little mention of the sanctuary of Jehovah.”
“In the time of Samuel the tabernacle must have been still at Shiloh, because, you know, when the people were beaten by the Philistines they said they must fetch the ark from Shiloh that it might give them the victory; don’t you remember, Aunt Edith?”
“Yes, Charley: the people who had so long forgotten their God remembered in their distress the wonderful deliverances He had given them in past times, and they sent for the ark which had been carried in solemn procession around the walls of Jericho, until they fell with a sudden crash, and the doomed city was taken in the vain hope that by its presence amongst them they should be saved from their enemies.”
“Oh, do go on to that time,” said Charley; “for I never could understand how it was that the ark of God could be taken captive by the Philistines.”
“First will you tell me, Auntie,” said May, “where Shiloh was, and whether there is any part of the tabernacle there now?”
“Shiloh was a town in that part of the land which was given to the tribe of Ephraim, situated in the hill country, not far from Bethel. It was an important place during the time that the ark rested there, and the people went to it every year, to the feasts of the Passover, of Pentecost, and of Tabernacles. It is now called Seilun, and is marked only by an old tower and a great many broken pillars lying about.”
“I thought I should like to know about Shiloh, because it was there that Hannah went to pray for her son, and she brought him there that he might belong to God, and came to see him every year, with the little coat she had made him. Now will you tell Charley about the ark being taken, and me, too, for I don’t understand how such a thing could be.”
“Such a thing never could have been, dear children, if the people of God had not forsaken Him, until at last He allowed the very sign of His Presence among them to pass into the hands of their enemies. You remember how plainly God had told them they were to destroy every vestige of false worship; that, as children of the living God, they were to have nothing to do with the profane customs of the people whom they had allowed to remain in the land, but to go up to the place where God had placed His name, and worship Him there. If you read the history carefully, you will see how very soon they began to make terms with their enemies, letting them live close beside them, under tribute; and how, at last, they began to tamper with their idolatrous worship—perhaps led away by admiration of their religious festivals, which were very grand and showy—and to pay homage to their representations of various objects of nature, particularly the sun and moon. We read of even Gideon having an ephod, or priestly robe, which seems to have been, in some degree, an object of worship. The men of Ephraim had a golden image; Micah a silver idol.”
“I remember even the priests were wicked in the time of Eli,” said May; “perhaps that was partly why God allowed the ark to be taken. It seemed as if His people did not care to have Him for their God any more.”
“And you know,” added Charley, “God had said that the family of Eli should never more be His priests; because Hophni and Phinehas despised God’s offering, and taught the people to think nothing of them.”
“Terrible things, indeed, were done at Shiloh; but at last the solemn moment came when what had been spoken by God to Samuel was to be fulfilled. When the Israelites were beaten in a great battle fought with the Philistines in the plains of Esdraelon, they seem to have thought the presence of the ark among them would act as a charm, and give them a sure victory. ‘Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of Shiloh unto us,’ they said, ‘that when it cometh it may deliver us out of the hands of our enemies.’ So they fetched the ark from Shiloh.”
“But had God told them He would be with them?”
“No, May; they might bring the symbol of His presence into the battle, but they only did it to their own confusion. The Philistines were afraid when they heard the shout of the people at sight of the ark, for they said, ‘God is come into the camp. Woe unto us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods, the gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues?’”
“They did not know that the Israelites had offended their mighty God, and so He would no longer do wonders for them,” said Charley.
“Terror only nerved them to fight more fiercely, and with their iron chariots they won a great victory; 30,000 Israelites perished, and the conquerors carried off the ark in triumph to their own country, and placed it in the temple of their fish-god Dagon.”
“How long did the ark remain in the country of the Philistines?” asked Charley.
“Seven months. At the end of that time they sent it back, horror-struck at the mysterious Power which accompanied it. Wherever they moved it, from city to city, the strange gods were overthrown, and famine and disease fell upon the people.”
“Where did the Israelites set up the ark when it was sent back to them, Aunt Edith?”
“The Levites received it, May, and removed it to Gibeon, where it remained until the time of David.”
“Did you say Eli was the last priest at Shiloh?” asked Charley. “I thought,” he continued, “that Samuel was a priest.”
“It has been well remarked,” replied his aunt, “that the priestly office must needs have ceased at a time when all that gave it importance was in the enemy’s hands, and the sign of relationship with God had been given up by Him to the enemy. In Samuel God raised up a prophet, by whom He made known His will. But of Samuel we cannot speak tonight. We must pass on to the period when David, having become established in the kingdom as the king after God’s heart, laid siege to Jerusalem, and took the stronghold of Mount Zion, which he made his royal residence, and which, when the ark was placed there, became the great sanctuary of the nation. You will find Mount Zion very often spoken of in the Psalms. It is believed that the sixty-eighth Psalm was sung when the king himself went in state, with 30,000 people, and brought the ark from Gibeon, with joy and shouting.”
“Oh, yes; and David danced for joy.”
“You are thinking of the second removal of the ark, May. After Uzza had been struck dead for touching it, it remained in the house of Obededom until the tent which David prepared for it on Mount Zion was ready (1 Chron. 15:11And David made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent. (1 Chronicles 15:1)). Then, as it was borne on the shoulders of the Levites, the king, not in his royal robes, but in a linen dress, showed his joy by dancing ‘before Jehovah with all his might,’ as they ‘brought up the ark of Jehovah with shouting and with sound of trumpet and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Jehovah, and he blessed the people in the name of Jehovah.’”
“Perhaps David was thinking of another glad day that was coming, when there was to be a wonderful time of rejoicing, and a grand procession.”
“You mean when the ark was carried by the priests from the sanctuary on Mount Zion across the beautiful bridge which had been made to connect the two hills, and set down in its place under the overshadowing wings of the golden cherubim in the magnificent temple built by King Solomon on Mount Moriah,” said their aunt.
“Oh, Aunt Edith I should have liked to have seen that procession! We were reading the chapter, which tells of the dedication of the temple, last Sunday, and I remember it is said that the tables of stone which Moses put into the ark at Horeb were still there, and that the priests and Levites, dressed in their white robes, carried the beautiful golden vessels, and that the Levites who were singers, and priests who were trumpeters made one sound in praising the Lord; it must have been beautiful; a joyful sound, indeed.”
“You know, Charley,” said May, “although you were not there to hear the beautiful music, you can tell the very words they sang; I remember them because I learned the Psalm in which the verses are,” and May repeated, “‘O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever.’”
“It has been thought that several of the Psalms were sung then, and that some of them had been especially written to celebrate the joyful day to which David looked forward though he knew he should not see it: it is probable that Psa. 24. was sung just as the ark was borne in through the court of the temple to its new resting-place— ‘Lift up your heads, Oh, ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in.’ Do you remember, Charley, what was the particular sign which God gave of His having taken up His abode among His people in the wilderness?”
“Oh, yes,” cried both the children, “and now the same bright cloud which had rested on the tabernacle came and filled the beautiful house which Solomon had built for God to dwell in with glory; it says ‘the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord;’ see, I have found the place, May,” and Charley pointed to 1 Kings 8:1111So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. (1 Kings 8:11). “God, whom the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain, was pleased to dwell in the house which had been built for His name, and we cannot wonder that the joyful Feast of Tabernacles, for the dedication of the temple took place at that time of the year, was prolonged another seven days, and that the people so favored by their God ‘went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness Jehovah had done for David His servant and for Israel His people.’”
C. P.