Lecture XVII: The Fall of Shiloh
by Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D. D.
To the crash of the Philistine Temple, and the
silent burial of Samson, succeeds blank in the
sacred history, such as well serves to indicate its
fragmentary character. When we again take up the
thread, the existing condition of the nation gives us
a backward glimpse into some of the unrecorded in-
cidents of the lost interval.
We find at the head of the nation a man, of whose
rise nothing has been told: Eli, at once Judge and
High Priest, already far advanced in years. This
sudden apparition reveals, that, in the dark period
preceding, there has been a change in the
order of the Priesthood. Eli is not of the
regular house of Eleazar, the eldest son of Aaron, in
which the succession ought to have continued. There
has been a transfer to the house of the younger and
comparatively obscure Ithamar, which had struck such
deep root, that it continued, in spite of the agitations
of the period, till its final overthrow in the reign of
Solomon. The transfer had been made since the ap-
pearance of Phinehas, who is the last legitimate High
Priest we can trace. The Rabbinical commentators
allege that the change took place because of the
share of Phinehas in the sacrifice of Jephthah's
daughter. Can this be possibly some faint reminis-
cence of a tradition indicating the submersion of the
house of Eleazar in the general disorder of the age,
of which the dark event was undoubtedly the conse-
quence? It appears, further, that the Philistines had
been repulsed from the position which they had
occupied in the time of Samson. Was this effected
through some heroic deed of Eli's youth? And did
this raise him to the office of High Priest or of
Judge? Such a supposition is rendered probable by
the union of Warrior and Priest in Phinehas; and a
like transference of the Pontificate from a like cause
appears in the only other time of the history when
it reaches to a like eminence, — when the Priestly
house of the Maccabees became also the rulers of
their countrymen.
In the union of Judge and Priest in Eli we have
a gradual approximation to the consolidation
of power in the monarchy. It was the only
part of what is commonly called "the theocratic
period," in which the government was theocratic in
the modern sense of the word — that of Priestly
government, of ecclesiastical supremacy and indepen-
dence, such as has been occasionally advocated by the
Christian Church. But this very peculiarity is not
the culmination of the Mosaic period, so much as a
temporary transition to the next stage of the second
history, when the powers of Priest and Ruler were
indeed united, not however in the person of the
High Priests, but of the Kings and Princes of Judah.
The reign of Eli, therefore, combines in a remark-
able manner the fall of the old and the rise of the
new order.
Of all the portions of the sacred history this is the
one which most clearly sets before us, in the light
which precedes its final overthrow, the sanctuary of
Shiloh. The ancient tent of Shiloh — me-
morial of the old nomadic state, containing the Ark,
the relic of Mount Sinai — has been already de-
scribed. Tombs, which still remain in a rocky val-
ley near the site of the ancient town, had been
hewn in the steep sides of the hill. A city (as in
the case of Micah's rival sanctuary, but here doubt-
less on a larger scale), had sprung up round it. The
sanctuary itself was so encased with buildings, as to
give it the name and appearance of "a house" or
"temple." As in Micah's sanctuary, there was a
gateway, with a seat inside the doorposts or pillars
which supported it. It was the "seat," or "throne,"
of the ruler or judge (as afterwards in the Palace of
Solomon). Here Eli sat on days of religious or po-
litical solemnity, and surveyed the worshippers as they
came up the eminence on which the sanctuary was
placed.
To this consecrated spot pilgrims and worshippers
were attracted, as to the religious centre of
their country, at the yearly feast, the chief
feast of the year — that of "The Bowers," or "Tab-
ernacles," which coëxisted with the Festival of the
vintage. The sides of the valley in which Shiloh lay
were clothed with vineyards, and in these vineyards
the maidens of Shiloh came out to dance, and the
whole population, of pilgrims and of the inhabitants,
men and women alike, gave themselves up to the
usual merriment of eating and drinking.
In this miscellaneous assemblage, were to be seen
worshippers of the most various characters. One
group of frequent occurrence, year by year, was that
of Elkanah, from the neighboring hills of
Ephraim, with his numerous family. He is a rare
instance of polygamy amongst the common ranks of
the nation. It may have been one of the results of
the disordered state of the times. It may have
arisen (as still in the Samaritan sect) from the
barrenness of one of his two wives. His sacri-
fice on these occasions was looked forward to in
his house as a grand feast in which every mem-
ber of the family had a portion of the sacrificial
offerings.
But it is on one individual of the house that our
attention is specially fixed: his best beloved
but childless wife, who bears the Phœnician name
which now first appears, "Hannah," or "Anna;" af-
terwards thrice consecrated in the sacred story.
She was herself almost a prophetess and Nazarite.
She is the firt instance of silent prayer. Her song
of thanksgiving is the first hymn, properly so called,
— the direct model of the first Christian hymn of
"the Magnificat," the first outpouring of individual as
distinct from national devotion, the first indication of
the coming greatness of the annointed king, whether
in the divine or human sense.
To this group is at last added the child, who
though of no priestly tribe, was consecrated
to a more than Priestly office, with the offerings of
three bullocks, flour, and a skin of wine, and who
from his earliest years ministered in the sacred vest-
ments within the Tabernacle itself, the future inau-
gurator of the new period of the Church.
Other pilgrims were there of a far other kind ;
and the eyes of others than the aged Eli were fixed
upon them. Hophni and Phinehas, his two
sons, are for students of ecclesiastical history,
characters "of the great and instructive wickedness."
They are the true exemplars of the grasping and
worldly clergy of all the ages. It was the sacrificial
feasts that gave occasion for their rapacity. It was
the dances and assemblies of women in the vine-
yards, and before the sacred tent, that gave occasion
for their debaucheries. They were the worst devel-
opment of the lawlessness of the age; penetrating,
as in the case of the wandering Levite of the book
of Judges, into the most sacred offices. But the
coarseness of their vices does not make the moral less
pointed for all times. The three-pronged fork which
fishes up the seething flesh is the earliest type of
grasping at pluralities and church-preferments by base
means; the open profligacy at the door of the Tab-
ernacle is the type of many a scandal brought on
the Christian Church by the selfishness or sensuality
of its minsters. An additional touch of nature is
given by the close connection of these Priestly vices
with the weak indulgence of Eli, and the blameless
purity of Samuel. The judgment which falls on the
house of Ithamar is the likeness of the judgement
which has followed the corruption and the nepotism
of the clergy everywhere. It was to begin with the
alienation of the people from the worship of the
sanctuary — it was to end in a violent revolution
which should overthrow with bloodshed, confiscation,
and long humiliation the ancient hereditary succes-
sion and the whole existing hierarchy of Israel.
"Men abhorred the offerings of the Lord." . . . "I
said indeed that thy house and the house of thy
father should walk before me forever. But now
the Lord saith, 'Be it not far from me.' 'All the in-
crease of thy house shall die "by the sword."'
Every one that is left in thine house shall crouch to
him for a piece of silver, and a morsel of bread, and
shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the
priests' offices, that I may eat a piece of bread."
The judgment, of which the earliest indication
comes from some unknown prophet, is first solemnly
announced from an unexpected quarter, and in a
form which shows that the thunders and lightnings,
the oracular warnings, of the older period, are about
to be superseded by "a still small voice" of a wholly
different kind.
It was night in the sanctuary. As afterwards in the
great Temple, so now, the High Priest slept in
one of the adjacent chambers, and the attend-
ant ministers in another. In the centre, on
the left of the entrance, stood the seven-branched
candlestick, now mentioned for the last time; super-
seded in the reign of Solomon, by the ten separate
candlesticks, but revived after the Captivity by the
copy of the one candlestick with seven branches, as
it is seen on the Arch of Titus. It was the only
light of the Tabernacle during the night, and solemnly
lighted every evening, as in the devotions of the
eastern world, both Musselman and Christian, and
extinguished just before morning, when the doors
were opened.
In the deep silence of that early morning, before
the sun had risen, when the sacred light was still
burning, came, through the mouth of the innocent
child, the doom of the house of Ithamar.
The first blow in the impending tragedy came
from the now constant enemy of Israel. The Philis-
tines revived their broken strength. The conflict took
place at a spot near the western entrance of the
Pass of Beth-horon, known by the name of
Aphek, but in later time — from the memory
of a victory which effaced the recollection of this dark
day, — "Eben-Ezer." A reverse roused the alarm of
the Israelite chiefs. In that age, as in the Mediæval
period of the Christian Church, to which we have so
often compared it, the ready expedient was to turn
the sacred relics of religion into and engine of war.
The Philistines themselves were in the habit of bring-
ing the images of their gods to the field of battle.
To these must be opposed the symbol of the Divine
Presence in Israel, the Ark of the Covenant. Such
an application of the Ark was not without example
before or after; but it is evidently described as against
the higher spirit of the religion which it was intended
to support. Hophni and Phinehas were with it
representative of the Priestly Order. To the profli-
gate vices of their youth they joined the sin of super-
stition also. Their appearance with the Ark roused
as with a spasmodic effort the sinking spirit of the
army. The well-known cheer of the Israelites — terri-
ble to their enemies at all times — ran through the
camp so that "the earth rang again," and the Phi-
listines were roused to the last pitch of desperate
courage in resisting, as they thought, this new and
Divine enemy.
On that day the fate f the house of Eli was to be
determined. It was the crisis of the nation. It was,
as the Philistines expressed it, to decide whether the
Philistines were to be the slaves of the Hebrews, or
the Hebrews of the Philistines. On the success of
this wager of battle, the Priestly rulers of the nation
had staked the most sacred pledge of their religion.
The whole city and sanctuary of Shiloh waited for
the result in breathless expectation. Two above all
others, Eli and the wife of Phinehas, were wrapt in
dreadful expectation, — he blind and feeble with age,
— she near to the delivery of her second child. In
the evening of the same day there rushed
through the vale of Shiloh a youth from the
camp, one of the active tribe of Benjamin, — his
clothes torn asunder, and his hair sprinkled with dust,
as the two Oriental signs of grief and dismay. A
loud wail, like that which on the announcement of
any great calamity, runs through all Eastern towns,
rang through the streets of the expectant city. The
aged High Priest was sitting in his usual place be-
side the gate-way of the sanctuary. He caught the
cry; he asked the tidings. He heard the defeat of
the army; he heard the death of his two sons; he
heard the capture of the Ark of God. It was this
last tiding, "when mention was made of the
Ark of God," that broke the old man's heart.
He fell from his seat and died in the fall.
The news spread and reached the home of Phine-
has. The pangs of labor overtook the widow
of the fallen Priest. Not even the birth of a
living son could rouse her. "Their Priests," as the
Psalmist long afterwards expressed it, "had fallen, and
their widows made no lamentation." With her as with
her father-in-law, her whole soul was absorbed in one
thought, and with her last breath she gave to the
child a name which should be a memorial of that
awful hour, — "I-chabod," "The glory is departed; for
the Ark of God is taken."
"The Ark of God was taken." These words ex-
pressed the whole significance of the calamity.
It was known, till the era of the next great
and still greater overthrow of the nation, at the
Babylonian exile, as "the Captivity." "The day of
the captivity" was the epoch which closed the irregu-
lar worship of the sanctuary of Dan. "He delivered
his strength into captivity, and his glory," (that "glory"
of the Divine Presence, which was commemorated in
the name of I-chabod) "into the enemy's hand." The
Septuagint title of the 96th Psalm, "when the house
of God was built after the captivity;" and the allusion
in the 68th Psalm, "Thou shalt lead captivity captive,"
most probably refer to the period of these disasters
The grief of Israel may be measured by the tri-
umph, not unmingled with awe, of the Philistines. It
was as if they had captured Jehovah Him
self; and a custom long continued in the sanctuary
of Dagon in their chief city of Ashdod, to commemo-
rate the tradition of the terror which this new Pres-
ence had excited. The priests and the worshippers
of Dagon would never step on the threshold, where
the human face and human hands of the Fish God had
been found broken off from the body of the statue as
it lay prostrate before the superior Deity.
The elaborate description, too, of the joy of the re-
turn marks the deep sense of loss. In
the border land of the two territories, in the
vast corn-fields, under the hills of Dan, the villagers
of Beth-shemesh at their harvest, see the procession
winding through the plain, the Philistine princes mov-
ing behind, the cart conveying the sacred relic, drawn
by the two cows, lowing as they advanced towards the
group of expectant Israelites, who "lifted up their eyes
and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. The great
stone on which the cart and the cows were sacrificed,
was long pointed out as a monument of the event.
But even the restoration of the Ark was clouded with
calamities; and when from Beth-shemesh it mounted
upwards through the hills to Kirjath-jearim, and was
lodged there in a little sanctuary, with a self-conse-
crated Priest of its own, there was still a longing
sense of vacancy; whilst it remained "in the fields
of the wood," there was "no sleep to the eyes or
slumber to the eyelids" of the devout Israelite. "It
came to pass while the Ark was at Kirjath-jearim
that the time was long; for it was twenty years;
and all the house of Israel lamented after the
Lord."
It was the first pledge of returning hope; but the
hope was still long deferred; and meanwhile the
catastrophe was branded into the national mind by
the overthrow of the sanctuary itself of Shi-
loh, in which the Ark had since the conquest
found its chief home. We catch a distant glimpse of
massacre with fire and sword; of a city sacked and
plundered by ruthless invaders. "He gave his people
over to the sword; and was wroth with his inheri-
tance. The fire consumed their young men, their
maidens were not given to marriage." The details
of the overthrow are not given; partly perhaps be-
cause the sanctuary gradually decayed when the glory
of the Ark was departed; partly from the imperfect
state of the narrative, which may itself have been
caused by the silent horror of the event. Shiloh is
casually mentioned twice or thrice in the later his-
tory. But the reverence had ceased. The Tabernacle,
under which the Ark had rested, was carried off, first
to Nob, and then to Gibeon, with the original brazen
altar of the wilderness. The place became desolate,
and has remained so ever since. "Thou shalt see
thine enemy in my habitation." The name became
a proverb for destruction and desolation. "I will do
to this house as I have done to Shiloh." "Go now
unto my place which was at Shiloh; . . . and see
what I did to it for the wickedness of my people
Israel." "I will make this house like Shiloh . . . a
curse to all the nations of the earth." The very
locality became so little known that it had to be speci-
fied carefully in the following centuries in order to be
recognized. "Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan,
which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side
of the highway that goeth up from Beth-el to Shechem,
and on the south of Lebonah." It is only this exact
description, thus required by the very extremity of
its destruction, which enabled a traveller from Amer-
ica, within our own memory, to rediscover its site, to
which the sacred name still clung with a touching
tenacity forgotten for centuries, and known only to
the savage peasants who prowl about its few broken
ruins.
So ended the period, defined as that during which
"the house of God was in Shiloh." So ended the
period of the supremacy of the tribe of Ephraim, whose
fall is described, in the Psalm which unfolds their for-
tunes, as involved in the fall of Shiloh — "He forsook
the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent that He had pitched
among men. He refused the tabernacle of Joseph,
and chose not the tribe of Ephraim." So ended
the still wider period of the first division of the his-
tory of the Chosen People, in the overthrow of the
first sanctuary by the Philistines, as the second divis-
ion and overthrow was to terminate in the fall of
the second sanctuary, the Temple of the Jewish mon-
archy, by the armies of Babylon; and the third in
the still vaster destruction of the last Temple of Jeru-
salem by the armies of Titus. The revival of the
nation from the ruins of the first sanctuary must be
reserved for the rise of the Second Period of the
Jewish Church, when "the Lord was to awake as one
out of sleep . . . and choose the tribe of Judah,
the Mount Zion which he loved." Only we may
still include within this epoch the great name of Sam-
uel, and the great office of Prophet, which was to
unite the old and the new together, under the shelter
of which was to spring up the new institutions of the
monarchy — a new tribe, a new capital, a new Church,
with new forms of communion with the Almighty,
now for the first time named by the name of "the
Lord of Hosts."
from The History of the Jewish Church, Vol. I : Abraham to Samuel,
Lecture XVII: The Fall of Shiloh.
by Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D.D., Dean of Westminster
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1879, pp. 414-426
Posted Apr 22, 2018, 7:28 AM UTC
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