SHILOH

ancient Tel Shiloh, courtesy, Wikipedia

Shiloh is an ancient city in Samaria, located about 27 miles north of Jerusalem, including about 2 miles north of the Arab settlement of Turmus Aya, with the archaeological mound of Tel Shiloh adjacent on its west. In 2019 it had a population of 4,356, which includes the neighborhood of Shvut Rachel.

Shiloh is mentioned in the Book of Genesis as part of the benediction given by Jacob to his son Judah: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." (Genesis 49:10). This passage could refer to a person, perhaps the Messiah, or a place, as mentioned later in the Books of Judges and Jeremiah 41:5. When the Israelites arrived in the land, they set up, in Shiloh, the wilderness tent shrine – the “Tent of Meeting” as described in Joshua 18:1: “The whole congregation of Israel assembled together at Shiloh and set up the tent (or tabernacle) of the congregation there.” This was also where the Ark of the Covenant was placed. The Tent remained in Shiloh for the next 369 years; the Ark, until its capture by the Philistines. From Shiloh, Joshua and Eleazar divided the land among those Israelite tribes who had not yet received their allocation (Joshua 18:1–10) and also dealt with the allocation of cities to the Levites (Joshua 21:1–8). Subsequently, Shiloh, which would come to be located in the tribal territory of Ephraim, became one of the leading religious shrines in ancient Israel. The people made pilgrimages there for major feasts and sacrifices, and Judges 21 records the place as the site of an annual dance of maidens among the vineyards. According to 1 Samuel 1–3, a young Samuel was dedicated by his mother Hannah, to be raised at the shrine by Eli, his own prophetic ministry having begun there. The sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas are noted as malicious in their dealings with those who came to the shrine to offer sacrifices (1 Samuel 2:12–17). And it was under Eli that the Ark was lost to Israel in a battle with the Philistines at Aphek. “Then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn…” This was the first ever recording of a marathon, centuries before the Greeks. (After the Six Day War in 1967, the founder of the Macabiah Games, Yosef Yekutieli, sought to revive that path that was taken. Eventually, it became, what is known today, as the Bible Marathon, held every September/October.) The high status of Shiloh in ancient Israel was held until shortly before David made Jerusalem, Israel’s capital. Still, the town played a major part in the subsequent history of ancient Israel. According to the Biblical account, Ahijah the Shilonite, who instigated the revolt of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, against David's grandson Rehoboam (I Kings 11, 14) was a native of Shiloh. But according to archaeological radiocarbon dating, Shiloh was abandoned around 1050 BCE, a century before the revolt, and then sparsely repopulated during the Iron II period, well after the revolt. What is certain though, is that during the prophetic ministry of Jeremiah (7^th-6^th centuries BCE, Jeremiah 7:12–15; 26:5–9, 41:5), Shiloh had been reduced to ruins. Jeremiah's admonition in the course of his temple sermon, "Go now to my place that was in Shiloh" (Jeremiah 7:12), would have occurred during this era. Jeremiah used the example of Shiloh to warn the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem what Yahweh Elohim will do to the "place where I caused my name to dwell," warning them that their holy city, Jerusalem, like Shiloh, could fall under divine judgment.

Shiloh is in the vicinity of the road that connects Meron with Rama, and the proximity to this route seems to have brought Jewish pilgrims to it since the time that the annual ziyara was established during the Ayyubid period (late 12^th century). Many would describe the former location of the Tabernacle as well as the burial place of Eli the priest and his sons. Eli’s tomb also appears in a lamentation called “Kivrey Avot” (“Tombs of the Fathers”), whose author is unknown and which was dated to the 12th or 14th century. This work also mentions the well-known phenomenon of multiple tombs around a central tomb. “To the two sons of Eli the Elder in Shiloh and he has a place and there is where the mother of Ichabod is buried”. Prominent Jewish visitors to the site included: R. Samuel ben Shimshon (Rashbash), who accompanied R. Jonathan of Lunel, one of the greatest sages of Provence, Yaakov Hashaliach (Jacob the Messenger) author of Simaney Hakvarot, who was affiliated with R. Yechiel of Paris, Ishturi haParhi the 14^th century traveler and writer from France, and Isaac Chelo, an explorer from Spain who wrote: “…There are the tombs of Eli the High Priest and his two sons Hofni and Pinhas, a very fair monument where Jews and Muslims light candles constantly. One kabbalist old man sits by this gravestone. He is from Ashkenaz and he supports himself by copying holy books…” Several years later, in 1335, the Augustine monk Jacopo of Verona paid a visit, accompanied by his Jewish guides. There seemed to be a consensus especially among Jewish, as well as Samaritan pilgrims, that Biblical Shiloh was identified as the contemporary Arab settlement of Seilun as indicated in the Samaritan book of Joshua, written in Arabic in 1362. Shiloh is mentioned as one of the holy places in the Land of Israel in a record from the Cairo Genizah from the 14th or 15th century. The last Jewish mention of Shiloh was in the “Sefer Yuhasin” (“Book of Genealogy”) from 1442. Since then, the site remained an Arab settlement but the Jews often took part in common rituals together with local residents. Once the village declined and disappeared in the Ottoman period, the various pilgrims who had visited disappeared as well, and only in the 1830s did American archaeologist Edward Robinson suggest the identification anew resulting in a renewed interest among pilgrims and other visitors. In the mid-19^th century, Rabbi Yehoseph Schwarz visited Shiloh and there, alluded to the Tomb of Eli.

In 1948 during Israel’s War of Independence, Shiloh, as with the rest of Judea and Samaria, fell to Arab forces from Jordan, and it remained under Arab occupation until 1967 when Israel liberated these areas in the Six Day War. Beginning in 1974, Shiloh was considered a potential site for resettlement as the ancient site was legally situated on state-owned land. In January 1978, a modern community was established adjacent to the ancient biblical site, Tel Shilo. In 1979, Shiloh was officially included in the list of towns under the Jurisdiction of the Settlement Section of the Jewish Agency. (Today, the village is administrated by the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council.) Yeshivat Hesder Shilo was founded in 1979 by Rabbi Michael Brom who continues to serve as Rosh Yeshiva. Rabbi Aharon (Arele) Harel served as co-Rosh Yeshiva for five years before resigning from his position prior to the start of Hebrew year 5771 (October 2010). Midreshet Binat in Shvut Rachel, a midrasha headed by Rabbi Ronen Tamir, was established in 2000 as a branch of the Yeshiva. Shiloh is also home to its main synagogue which is designed as a replica of the Biblical Tabernacle. It contains replicas of many of the utensils used in the original Tabernacle. In 1981–1982, Zeev Yeivin and Rabbi Yoel Bin-Nun excavated at the presumed site of the tabernacle. An extensive excavation was done by Israel Finkelstein during the years 1981–84. In the summer of 2010, excavations at Tel Shilo were carried out under the auspices of the Staff Officer for Archeology in the Civilian Administration Antiquities Unit in cooperation with the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. One notable find was a Roman coin from the period of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Digs are currently led by Scott Stripling.

Other local places of interest in Shiloh include: Lady Feyga Jewelry Store, Ohel Shiloh School, Sofer Zol Grocery Store, Marelo Italian Restaurant, the Shiloh Industrial Zone, the Shiloh Winery, the Dvorah Pinokim Cake Shop, Armon Hasfarim, Siun Tzovirei Beauty Supply Store, Bet Tachshitim Jewelers, Shiloh-Jerusalem Puzzle Quest tourist attraction, Wadi Musa on the easter, southern, and western outskirts, and Wadi Ali on the northern outskirts.