After these tribes had received their portion, all Israel assembled at Shiloh. “And the land was subdued before them.” Shiloh signifies rest or peace, there the people “set up the tabernacle of the congregation.” Shiloh is henceforth Israel’s center. The tabernacle was God’s, and Israel being God’s people, it was “the tabernacle of the congregation.”
Until the believer has divinely given peace, he cannot worship in spirit and in truth. If the consciousness of the load of sin bows down a soul, there is no ability to sing the song of praise “Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” And although the believer may be assured of his acceptance in the Beloved, and know the forgiveness of sins, yet if his conscience accuse for unconfessed transgression, until restored to communion with God, he cannot worship Him. It is when at rest in the finished work of Christ upon the cross, and at rest in His holy presence, that the believer in spirit and truth worships the Father.
Jehovah had given Israel victory and possessions, “the land was subdued before them.” If they had not conquered their foes, and received their inheritance, they would have required Jehovah’s promise of victory instead of being at liberty to assemble around His tabernacle. If we are asking God to bless us, we are not at that time worshipping Him, for prayer is seeking benefits from God; neither is hearing of His grace worshipping Him, for this is learning of His goodness; yet both prayer and preaching may and should lead the soul into adoration. The heart of the worshipper is a vessel filled by God and overflowing with thanksgiving; a heart, which lacking nothing delights in Him who made it rich. Worship is blessing the Giver of the gifts Himself, and not alone for the gifts He bestows.
At Shiloh were the one altar and the one tabernacle; this was Israel’s center, and around this divinely appointed center the circle of the twelve tribes was drawn. The breadth of the circle would be according to the multitude of the children of Israel, the center could never vary. Thither would each faithful heart of the vast congregation turn, as every compass points to the one common attraction. Christ is God’s center for His people, and around Him is the circle of His redeemed. “Unto Him shall the gathering of the people be” (Gen. 49:1010The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. (Genesis 49:10)). Christ alone is the object of each heart’s adoration. God has given no other attraction for His people. Christ will be the center in the glory, and even now upon the earth, despite all the divisions of language and of race, yes, and of creeds and isms, Jesus only is the center for His people.
Israel’s tabernacle was the common inheritance of the nation, the chief of the fathers and the humblest of the people worshipped there as one people, for Jehovah’s one people they were, and He dwelt among them. It was as a body, therefore, and not simply as individuals, that Israel worshipped at Shiloh, all the Lord’s congregation looking to the Lord’s tabernacle.
There could be no divinely owned association of the tribe save where the glory of God was – at Shiloh. True association of God’s people ever has God’s presence in it, it is fellowship of heart and purpose in the light of God. “If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)). Christ is the only center of true fellowship, and there cannot be true fellowship among those who are united to Him and to each other, unless this be practically recognized. Christians are now God’s circle upon the earth of which Christ is the center. God has made them, though many, one body by His Spirit who dwells in them, and this oneness no power can disturb; but notwithstanding the perfection of the unity of the Body, unless Christ be foremost in His people’s hearts, the oneness will not be manifest.
In the days of Israel’s freshness and simplicity, as we read in the Twenty-first chapter of the Book of Joshua, they regarded with feelings of abhorrence the erection of another altar, considering it nothing short of rebellion against the one God and His one congregation. As time elapsed, the people at large departed from the Lord, and the union of their tribes was broken; then self-will and independence erected other altars (1 Kings 12:27-3327If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. 28Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 29And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan. 30And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. 31And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi. 32And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Beth-el, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Beth-el the priests of the high places which he had made. 33So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense. (1 Kings 12:27‑33)), and at length Israel became the “children of the captivity”; still, the faithful heart, true to the one God and one congregation, turned from the stranger’s land towards the place where the glory of Jehovah stood, and linked itself in spirit with the twelve tribes of Israel (1 Kings 18:3131And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: (1 Kings 18:31); Dan. 6:1010Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. (Daniel 6:10)).
How welcome is the scene here described. God’s people prospered with victory over all their foes, surrounded with an inheritance greater than all their needs, assembled in one body, and in the excellence of God’s peace worshipping Him as one spirit.
It foretells a brighter day of the gathering together of the scattered tribes of Israel to the Christ they now reject. And it has its encouragement for the Christian believer. We find, in John 17, the union of God’s people which nothing can sever (John 17:1111And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. (John 17:11)), and their union displayed upon the earth a testimony to the world (John 17:2121That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. (John 17:21)), and their union which shall be displayed in the glory (John 17:2323I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:23)), in that coming day of peace and rest, the one undivided company of God’s people shall behold the glory of the Lord Jesus, which the Father has given Him. Then all hearts shall be united eternally, then all shall be fixed undistractedly upon Christ, then “shall all see eye to eye.” Until that day dawns, though the testimony of the oneness of Christ’s people is not manifested upon the earth, may it be the anxious care of each believer to endeavor “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”