Tel Shiloh: Past and Present (Friday March 9, 2007)

Today we were privileged to combine a family simcha (joyous occasion) with a visit to an important historical site in the Jewish homeland.

One of our grandsons, Eliyah had turned three years old and was going to have his first haircut (halakah or upsherin). His grandparents, great grandmother, uncles, aunts and cousins were invited to join in the festivities. The upsherin is a rite of passage. In this case the child is completing one developmental stage and moving on to the next. He is no longer a baby. He will now wear tzitzit (fringes) and begin learning brachot (blessings) and the daily prayers. He and his family live in Eli and his parents decided that a guided tour of one of the interesting archeological sites in the area would be an educational experience for both the child and the rest of the family. It is never too early to teach a Jewish child his people’s history.

Tel Shiloh

The historical site we visited is Tel Shiloh, located in the modern yishuv of Shiloh, 20 miles north of Jerusalem and just down the road from Eli.
I was particularly interested in this field trip because I had recently read a book about Shiloh (God, Israel, and Shiloh: Returning to the Land by David Rubin.
Jerusalem: Mazo Publishers, 2007). The author expounds on the historical significance of Shiloh as well as the importance of the modern community. I know people who live there, but I had never visited the place. I was eager to see with my eyes what I had read about and imagined.

We were met at the Visitors Center by our guide Rahel who began the tour with a short film on the history of Shiloh.

Shiloh is mentioned in the Bible.

“The entire assembly of the Children of Israel gathered at Shiloh and erected the Tent of Meeting there…” (Joshua 18:1)

After the Exodus from Egypt and wandering in the wilderness for forty years the Israelites returned to Eretz Yisrael. They were led by Joshua Bin Nun and were commanded by G-d to conquer the Land .

“Moses My servant has died. Now arise, cross this Jordan, you and this entire people, to the land that I give to them, to the Children of Israel. Every place upon which the sole of your foot will tread I have given to you, as I spoke to Moses. From the desert and this Lebanon until the great river, the Euphrates River, all the land of the Hittites until the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your boundary.” (Joshua 1:2-4)


The conquest of the Land took many years. The Israelites established their first capital at a place called Gilgal where they set up the portable Tabernacle or Miskan and remained there for fourteen years.
At this point, Joshua decided it was time to move once again, this time to a more central location. He chose Shiloh. Located in the portion of the Land allotted to the tribe of Ephraim to which Joshua belonged, it stood on the north-south mountain ridge and was considered safe from enemy attack. It overlooked the north-south road known as the Road of the Patriarchs that stretched from Beer Sheba to Hebron to Jerusalem to Shiloh and on to Shechem and then northwards. The town had a nearby water supply known as Shiloh Creek. Joshua did not build the city of Shiloh. It was a Cannanite city with fortified walls: an ideal location from which to continue the conquest of the Land.

Yes, fourteen years had passed and still there were large areas of Eretz Yisrael that were still unconquered. Apparently, even then some factions were not too keen on holding onto our Land.

“…And the Land had been conquered before them, but there was left among the Children of Israel seven tribes that had not yet received their inheritance. Joshua said to the Children of Israel, ‘How long will you wait to come and take possession of the Land that the Lord, God of your fathers has given you?’” (Joshua 18:1-3)

Joshua subdued whatever Cannanite forces remained in Shiloh and established his capital there. He built a permanent Tabernacle or Mishkan with stone walls to house the Ark of the Covenant. Although nothing remains of the Mishkan (there is a model in the Visitor’s Center) it is believed to have occupied a high plateau area that now bears the name Tabernacle Plateau and remained the capital for 369 years. Pilgrimages were made three times a year to Shiloh for the holidays of Sukkot, Pesach and Shavuot.

Many important individuals in Jewish history are associated with Shiloh. A childless woman named Hannah, wife of Elkanah, came to pray at the Tabernacle, asking the Lord for a child. Her prayers were answered and she gave birth to a son. In gratitude she promised to give her son to God for service in the Tabernacle in Shiloh. Her son was Samuel the Prophet, who anointed both King Saul and King David.


The Destruction of Ancient Shiloh
Another important Biblical figure associated with Shiloh is the High Priest or Cohen Hagadol named Eli. His two sons, Hophni and Pinchas , officiated in the Tabernacle in Shiloh and were directly responsible for the destruction of Shiloh. As Cohanim (priests and spiritual leaders), they should have served as examples of high moral standards, honesty and righteousness. Instead they were immoral and corrupt.

“Eli became very old. He heard about all that his sons were doing to all of Israel, and that they would lie with the women who congregated at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting…” (1 Samuel 2:22-23)

“The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Behold, I am going to do (such) a thing in Israel that when anyone hears about it, both of his ears will ring. On that day, I will fulfill for Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. I have told him that I am executing judgment against his house forever for the sin (he committed) that he was aware that his sons were blaspheming, and he didn’t restrain them.” (1 Samuel 11-13)

The Israelites went to war against the Philistines. The battle took place at Even HaEzer (Rosh Ha’Ayin) and the Israelites lost. Four thousand of its soldiers were killed. The remaining warriors decided to bring the Ark of the Covenant to the battlefield assuming it would ensure victory. Both Eli the High Priest and Samuel the Prophet objected to removing the Ark but their protests were ignored. Hophni and Pinchas accompanied the Ark into battle. The Philistines were again victorious. Thirty thousand infantrymen of Israel were killed that day including Hophni and Pinchas. The Philistines marched to Shiloh and destroyed it. It would be fifty-two years before the Ark was once again in a permanent place.

Archeological Evidence of Shiloh
Between 1871-1878 Sir Charles Wilson and Sir Charles Warren headed a team to perform a topographical survey of Biblical Israel west of the Jordan River. They conducted an in-depth survey of Shiloh. In the 1920s and 1930s Danish teams discovered ruins from Ancient Shiloh.

Present Day Excavations:
Three years after the reestablishment of Shiloh (1978) four seasons of excavations were carried out by the Department of Land of Israel Studies of Bar Ilan University. Three major discoveries have been noted:

1. Tabernacle Plateau: the site of the Tabernacle is fairly certain because the measurements of the plateau fit the description in the Bible.
   
2. Jamma-Es-Sitten, a mosque built on the remains of a synagogue from the Second Temple Period
   
3. Reconstructed Byzantine Era Bascilica with mosaic floor probably built on top of a synagogue from an earlier period.
   
4. A mosque built on top of a church built on top of a synagogue. The mosque does not have a foundation of its own. The stones were just placed on top of the church structure.
   

Excavations are ongoing during the summer months, however, the budget for such activities is quite small. The last few governments have not allocated funding for such projects. One might think the government is hesitant to prove Jewish ownership of the land.

Forgotten!
Despite ancient Shiloh’s prominence in Jewish history, after it’s destruction it was relegated to a backpage in history. Although a Jewish presence remained there as evidenced by synagogue ruins dating from the Second Temple Period and the Crusader Era, it did not become a place of pilgrimage as Jerusalem did after the destruction of the Second Temple. There is no indication that people visited Shiloh to weep over the destruction of the Tabernacle as people did over the Wailing Wall for 2,000 years. It is almost as if the corruption of the priests contaminated the physical site.

The New Shiloh

I cannot end this blog without a few words regarding the reestablishment of Shiloh. In 1978 a few families and several singles decided to build a yishuv on the site of ancient Shiloh. To retake possession of the Land that was given to us. From this small beginning, the area now boasts Gush Shiloh consisting of several settlements: Eli, Shevut Rahel, Levonah and Ofrah. Beautiful communities have been built that are now home to thousands of families. What does the future hold for these communities?

Uncertainty!! Not from our enemies, but from our own people.

Ehud Olmert wants to make the area Judenrein by surrendering it to our enemies and creating more homeless, jobless, futureless Jewish refugees such as those from the destroyed communities of Gush Katif and Northern Shomron. He and many others in the Knesset are like the seven tribes who “had not yet received their inheritance…. How long will you wait to come and take possession of the Land that the Lord, God of your fathers has given you?’” Our current leaders believe that if we surrender our Land the Arabs will make peace with us. It doesn’t matter to them if we lose our land, our legacy, our historical underpinnings. History is not important to them.

Shimon Peres said: “It’s a great mistake to learn from history. There is nothing to learn from history.” (Maariv, May 23, 1996).

However, after learning about Shiloh, both its history and its fate, I prefer a different perspective on history: “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” (George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume One, 1905)

May we be privileged in our lifetime to witness increased Jewish settlement throughout Biblical Israel from the Jordan to the Prat. Only when we love the Land enough to possess it will we know Peace.