Shiloh and the Key of David

Archaeologist Scott Stripling is excavating the Shiloh area in central Israel, 30 miles north of Jerusalem. He has discovered a site with dimensions, dating and characteristics that he believes match the site of the tabernacle located there in the days of biblical Israel.

Shiloh was central to ancient Israel during the history recorded in Joshua and Judges. These books are part of the former prophets section of the Bible, and through their authors, who were prophets, God emphasizes the prophecy in these books. The history is important, but the prophecy is always far more important.

Some truly great prophecies were inspired in that area of Shiloh. And they beautifully amplify the Bible’s key of David message. This history takes us back to the time before King David entered the picture.

The Error of the Judges Era

When the Israelites first reached the Promised Land, they set up the ark of the covenant in Gilgal. But after conquering the Canaanites, they moved the ark to Shiloh. “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them” (Joshua 18:1). Shiloh was the headquarters of the entire nation. The Israelites were led there by Joshua, a strong, courageous leader. During his lifetime, there was stability and peace throughout the nation. Spiritual matters were dealt with in Shiloh. The ark symbolized God’s presence in Israel. In that ark were the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod (a symbol of the government of God) and a golden pot of manna, signifying how God fed His people.

But after Joshua died, everything began to unravel for Israel.

God commanded the Israelites to clean out the whole land of the Canaanites. He warned that if they didn’t, they would invite serious problems. Yet some of them did not heed. Right away, the tribe of Judah felt they couldn’t “drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron” (Judges 1:19). That is a terrible excuse! God had told them, I am with you! Go in and drive ALL of them out!

Judah failed because the people feared. They lacked faith. This was deeply disappointing to God.

It is also recorded that the tribe of Benjamin failed to drive the Jebusites out of Jerusalem (verse 21). The Benjamites didn’t want to take them on because they had an imposing fortress situated on a steep hill. The notion of conquering that fortress was too daunting. But they probably reasoned that it was more merciful and loving to leave them there.

The Benjamites failed to do exactly what God had commanded, so the Jebusites remained embedded in Israel’s midst for four centuries! For all that time, they possessed Jerusalem and caused enormous problems. Satan must have been delighted to have such a terrible thorn in the Israelites’ side right there in Jerusalem!

In our lives, what happens if we fail to do what God says? If you have a problem that He has directed you to overcome, then you must overcome it, or the trouble that God warned you about will remain and intensify. We have to suffer until we learn our lessons. When God gives us a really difficult trial, test or spiritual battle, we must take it on! If you have a serious trial and you don’t pass that test, God will give it to you again until you do. We must overcome. That shows God’s fatherly love for His children.

As we will see later in this chapter, when David came years later, he found a way to conquer that city immediately! (2 Samuel 5:6-7). He possessed the faith that the Benjamites lacked!

Remember, this is all recorded for our benefit. We must learn lessons from this history. We will all encounter problems in life. But it doesn’t matter if you are opposed by chariots of iron or elevated fortifications: If God is with you, there is nothing you cannot conquer! God was trying to teach Israel this lesson at that time. But this and the other lessons of that period are more for God’s people today than they ever were for the people anciently—because for us, eternal lives are at stake.

Because of Israel’s failures, the nation descended into the period of the judges. It was a terribly bloody time. There was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25). There were a few good judges during that period, such as Jephtha and Gideon. But they were disgracefully rare.

Judges 4 tells of Deborah the prophetess and how the men wouldn’t fight unless she went with them. Israel lacked the kind of men a nation must have if it is to conquer: “men of war fit for the battle” (1 Chronicles 12:8). Deborah said, “I arose a mother in Israel” (Judges 5:7). She was an outstanding lady. But shame on those men! This woman had to lead because nobody else would do it!

With few exceptions, Israel lacked real leadership. Everybody was doing that which was right in his own eyes, and the nation cannot make any progress doing that.

But God began the process of turning the situation around. And it all centered on Shiloh.

Hannah’s Prayer

The turning point begins in 1 Samuel 1, with the history of Elkanah and his two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. “And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts in Shiloh …” (verse 3). Shiloh was still the center of everything—Israel’s politics and religion.

Hannah was deeply distressed over her childlessness. So she went to the tabernacle in Shiloh and prayed, imploring God to give her a son. She vowed to dedicate that son to God! And God answered that passionate prayer. A child was born, and his name was Samuel, which means “heard of God.” God hears prayers of faith! He performs miracles because of such prayers. We need faith in this end time!

When Samuel was born, Hannah prayed again. It was a prayerful psalm of prophecy, and I think one of the most profound prophecies in the Bible. It is recorded in 1 Samuel 2—part of the former prophets.

Verse 8 reads, “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar [or needy] from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he hath set the world upon them.” Hannah said that God will take people from the lowest places on Earth and set them as royal rulers! She was talking about a time when God will set the whole world on these pillars—people strong in faith, who pray in faith. This is an end-time vision. God’s people today are in training to become these world-supporting pillars.

“[T]he Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed” (verse 10). What king was Hannah speaking of? This is a specific prophecy about King David. Hannah passed right over Saul. This was decades before David was even born, and this lady was praying to God about David! She wanted her son to interact with that king, and that is part of the prophecy.

In verse 10, Hannah is talking about David’s throne and the house of David, but she is really talking about the coming of the Messiah! She envisioned David’s throne and the coming of Jesus Christ. That is where we need to be looking as well. That throne is not just about elevating the physical descendants of one man—it is ultimately about the salvation of all mankind!

Hannah understood that transcendent truth. What a vision this woman received at Shiloh! God gave her that vision because she was so dedicated spiritually.

Verses 12-17 describe terrible corruption in the priesthood at the time. The high priest, Eli, allowed his two sons, also priests, to commit some unthinkable crimes. They stole food from the Israelites when they came to Shiloh to offer sacrifices, and they committed other heinous sins. That had to be corrected.

But there was hope, and Hannah saw that. She looked to God and was determined to dedicate her son to God. In so doing, this woman began to change the course of history! And she did it right there in Shiloh.

Young Samuel followed his mother’s instructions and kept himself free from that depravity. And God worked with him closely. 1 Samuel 3 shows how God spoke to him even as a teenager. “And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him …. And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord” (verses 19-20).

To correct such serious problems, you must get rid of the corrupt priests. Anciently God killed some of them because they were so reprobate! 1 Samuel 4 describes how the Philistines attacked Israel, captured the ark—a symbol of God’s presence—and killed Eli’s crooked sons; Eli himself died right after the defeat. God did not protect Israel because of its corruption, and that was the end of the ark’s presence in Shiloh.

But God used Hannah’s son to turn around the priesthood and, eventually, the nation! Remember, this is prophecy specifically for our day. The Laodicean era is a time of terrible corruption in the priesthood of God’s own Church today. Shiloh is being uncovered today, and all this history is becoming increasingly alive to us.

Ichabod: Our Greatest Warning

The battle of Ebenezer occurred early in Samuel’s life. The Israelites took the ark of the covenant into battle with them because they believed God would help them win the battle. But the ark was only a symbol of God’s presence. Israel had been sinning greatly, so God would not protect the people.

The results of this battle were disastrous. “And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain” (1 Samuel 4:10-11). When the high priest heard the news, he was so shocked he fell over and snapped his neck (verses 15-18).

The Israelites felt safe because they had the ark and the tabernacle, and they were in Israel’s capital, the great city of Shiloh. But they didn’t have God! Because of their sins, God was no longer in their presence.

What good is a temple of God, or the Church of God, without the presence of God? Can we go out and fight a battle in the name of God if we’re not close to Him and obeying Him? If you do, you will lose your spiritual battles!

Yet if you are with God, then you have His presence and you will experience many miracles in your life!

Phinehas’s wife was near the end of her pregnancy. When she heard that the ark was taken and her husband and father-in-law were dead, she went into labor. She died while giving birth (verses 19-20).

“And she [the midwife] named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband” (verse 21). They had lost the glory of God! That is the worst thing that could happen.

What is Shiloh without God? The Israelites were fighting in the name of God, but God wasn’t with them because they weren’t with Him. If you are with God and God is with you, but then you lose that, you have lost everything spiritually.

This history is for us in this end time to learn from. I think it is one of the most instructive examples in your Bible.

Lesson for Today

“When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men” (Psalm 78:59-60). God simply left the place where they worshiped. He is perfect in righteousness, and these people had turned from Him. They forsook Him, so He forsook them.

“And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand” (verse 61). That is what happened to Shiloh! Read verses 62-64: God allowed His people to be conquered; their young men were burned; their priests were killed. God was truly angered by their sin, and He punished them severely! He really wants us to learn a lesson from what happened at Shiloh.

After its destruction, Shiloh became a warning. Centuries later, God said through the Prophet Jeremiah: “[G]o ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel” (Jeremiah 7:12). Jeremiah warned Jerusalem: That history is actually prophecy for you!

“Then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. … This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant …” (Jeremiah 26:6, 9). That prophecy was fulfilled: Jerusalem was wiped out in 585 b.c., and God let it happen.

Jeremiah delivered this message to Judah—but he addressed his book to Israel even though Israel had already been taken captive over a hundred years before and he personally spoke only to Judah. So his book is for three nations of Israel in this end time.

Jeremiah went right to the people as they were heading into the temple and warned them that what happened at Shiloh would happen to Jerusalem! The destruction of Shiloh was so extreme that Jeremiah was talking to the Jews about it 500 years later! He said the same fate would come on Jerusalem if they didn’t repent. And how did the people respond? They wanted to kill him for telling the truth right out of the Bible!

This all foreshadows the fate of the modern nations of Israel in this end time. All these books are prophetic—not just Jeremiah but also the former prophets like Samuel. They are primarily for this end time!

Go unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel, God says. Remember Ichabod: God’s own people lost the glory of God! This man illustrates that to us for all time! It is especially important in our day, when so many people will be killed if they do not heed God’s message. God warns us of this over and again.

Ichabod is our greatest warning today! This example stands out and will stick in your memory, and it can teach us a great lesson.

Jeremiah’s message for the Jews of his day foreshadowed the message going out from God’s Work today. “Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard” (verse 12). God sent him to deliver this message! He would have punished Jeremiah if he had not followed through. That message had to go out to Jerusalem at that time.

Today, that warning must go out to three modern-day nations of Israel. We have a crucial job to do! And yet, 95 percent of God’s own people have turned away from Him. They are in the outer court, not the inner court where God dwells! (Revelation 11:1-2). They have turned away from God, and He is no longer in their presence! They have lost God! The same thing is happening to us today that happened to Shiloh all those millenniums ago.

In Revelation 10:11, God tells the faithful remnant who are still doing His Work, You must go and prophesy again. That is our responsibility in this end time.

We must learn the lesson of Shiloh. We will never complete God’s Work—in fact, we will never have peace and security—until we learn what happened in Shiloh and what it teaches us. We must stay close to God and allow Him to remain in our presence always—so we can retain His protection, His mercy, His joy and happiness and unity, and enjoy His blessings and miracles!

Cleaning Up the Priesthood

Samuel institutionalized God’s law in the nation. “And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places” (1 Samuel 7:15-16). As I explain in my book The Former Prophets: How to Become a King, these were the locations of schools that Samuel established. There he taught the truth required to clean up the priesthood and the nation. (I encourage you to request a free copy of my book to learn more about this. It is a fascinating study of a truly towering biblical figure.)

Samuel’s schools influenced a whole generation of prophets and leaders to come. Later prophets like Elijah and Elisha looked to Samuel’s example of education. The Prophet Jeremiah wrote about him right alongside Moses (Jeremiah 15:1). He is grouped with Moses in Psalm 99:6. The Apostle Peter described Samuel’s message of prophecy (Acts 3:24). The account in the former prophets describes the cultural activities of Samuel’s schools, including music and poetry. It was an extraordinary achievement that lifted Israel out of the dark period of the judges.

Samuel’s responsibilities likely pulled him away from his family a lot. His sons were not like their father, and the people grew upset by their behavior. But sadly, rather than looking to God, the Israelites told Samuel they wanted a king, just as the nations around them had. This discouraged Samuel greatly.

God told him, “Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:7).

In our day, the Laodiceans have not rejected Herbert W. Armstrong and they have not rejected me: They have rejected God! Mr. Armstrong restored all things (Matthew 17:11), yet most of the people turned away from God almost immediately after he died. That is inexcusable! They have rejected God as their King and as the God of His own Church.

God used Samuel to establish the monarchy in Israel and to anoint Saul as its first human king (1 Samuel 10). God gave Saul an incredible opportunity. But he became willful and did not submit to God. After several incidents of Saul’s disobedience, God rejected him from being king (1 Samuel 15:22-23).

God then instructed Samuel to anoint a king from among the sons of Jesse. When God made David Israel’s king, that fulfilled Hannah’s prophecy—and it was her son who anointed him.

Once David was anointed, Satan tried to do everything he could to kill this young man. When David slew Goliath, he earned both national fame and Saul’s jealousy, which turned violent. David had to run for his life, roaming the wilderness. From the time he was anointed to the moment he finally sat on his throne was about 17 years! (The astonishing story of how God prepared David for kingship can be found in my book The Former Prophets.)

Like Samuel, David loved the law. These two men became close and worked together. Samuel provided tremendous support when David was running from Saul.

David’s Zion

David had great courage. For the first seven years of his reign, he ruled from Hebron. Then, when he approached Jerusalem, the Jebusites taunted David and his men: Even the blind and the lame could defend our fortress. David decided to take radical action. He said that anyone who found a way to conquer the Jebusites, he would make his field marshal. His nephew Joab took up the challenge: He found a water conduit that he could get his men through, and they infiltrated the fortress and wiped out the Canaanites. Joab became David’s military leader.

After David conquered Jerusalem, he made it his home. That area (where we have been participating in archaeological digs since 2006) became his headquarters, known as the City of David (1 Chronicles 11:2-8). Then he did something that I believe was just beautiful: He also called it Zion (2 Samuel 5:6-7).

Why “Zion”? Because God has a Zion fortress up in the northern heavens. David said, The Jebusites had their fortress on a steep hill, but we were able to conquer because we have our fortress far, far above theirs, and far more powerful!

If you have that fortress—whether you are an individual or a group—you are going to win battles! God will make certain of it. We will get God’s Work done and have a powerful impact in this world.

We are spiritual soldiers, and we must have a fortress. Each of us individually has a fortress. God will protect us from all kinds of threats and help us in so many ways. But He will also try us and test us just as He did David. We have human nature we must overcome.

God’s fortress is mighty! Satan and all the demons tried twice to overthrow that fortress. And this last time, God cast all of them down to Earth and confined them here! (Revelation 12:7-9). That makes things much harder for us on Earth. We truly need a fortress! We must have God fighting our battles for us. God had no trouble at all handling Satan. We will have no trouble either—if we use our fortress.

Look how quickly Satan conquered the Laodiceans. When he was cast down, the first thing he did was attack the Church (verse 13), and the members capitulated and lost almost everything! That should never have happened. But they were not serving God, and they did not have a fortress.

This remnant Church, however, has a fortress called Zion! We need to realize that we must have that fortress.

In this world, to have a strong nation, you must have a strong military. And to have a strong Church, you must be strong soldiers for God—soldiers of faith like David.

At one time, David was thirsty and expressed a longing for water from a well in Bethlehem. His men risked their lives to bring him that water. When he realized what they had gone through to get the water, he poured it on the ground. He didn’t want his men risking their lives for him personally like that. Such is the unselfish example David set. He drew many followers who were real men, fit for battle! Read about them in 2 Samuel 23. These men followed the example of a teenager who took on Goliath.

We need this kind of courage. We are soldiers for Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3). Realize that God is behind us if we are behind David’s throne! Are we men and women fit for the battle? God wants to know! Soldiers have to fight and sometimes have to die. It takes time to develop such skill and courage, and we are all lowly and sinful—but if we are drawing on God’s power and relying on Him, He will make us the boldest people in this world!