Why God Destroyed Shiloh
God Tested Eli And His Sons 40 Years Then He Killed Them On The Same Day
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How I use Scripture: unless quoted directly with quotation marks (““) the chapter and verse references are where you can find the verses in the Bible. I encourage you to read them, how else will you know if I’m correctly quoting? My job is to bring alive the treasures of scripture, from the new and the old, to help you study and seek God for yourself.
This is the duty of the Scribe (writer) / Teacher (explainer) Matthew 13:52
I have added parentheses to the KJV verses to emphasize the point being made, rather than leave the reader to figure it out on their own. Unless otherwise noted, all scripture is quoted from the King James Version which exists in the Public Domain.
Samuel Walks Before the King of Kings Forever
“And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever,” 1 Samuel 2:35
In this post I will tell you why God destroyed the Tabernacle of Moses at Shiloh (Psalm 78:56-72, Jeremiah 26:6). I will show you why God granted Hannah’s request for a son. God did all that Samuel asked him to do, and the people feared Samuel. The Lord’s anointed refers to the King of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ, and it will be Samuel who serves at the altar before him forever. I will lay down some other elements that will help you throughout the Bible that were part of my thought process for this article. The Bible is a fragmented puzzle and when you want to understand a mystery you have to look in many places as the Lord knits it together.
Moses interceded 40 years in the wilderness, and Samuel was raised up to correct Israel after 40 years of wickedness. Moses performed the deliverance miracles of God to bring Israel out of bondage to Egypt. Samuel served God all his life, also performing deliverance miracles against the Philistines. God compares the righteousness of Samuel to Moses:
“Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth,” Jeremiah 15:1.
In 1 Samuel, the Holy Spirit tells the story in such a way that the reader doesn’t see what really happened at Shiloh, because it is very embarrassing, but every element is on the page. The Lord speaks in parables throughout the Bible and few are granted the secrets, however the opportunity is offered to study to show yourself approved, 2 Timothy 2:15. This is a story you won’t hear preached on Sunday morning.
When the Temple sacrifices are reinstated in the Millennial Kingdom as a reminder that repentance is necessary and sanctification is The Way for the humans born in that 1,000 years before Satan is loosed again to tempt them, Samuel will be the High Priest in Jerusalem to perform those sacrifices. And it is likely that it was Samuel who spoke to John when he told John not to weep, Revelation 5:5. While you are human living in a body of corruptible flesh, repentance is necessary on a continuing basis.
What Happens In the Millennial Kingdom?
It has taken 1,000 years to create 8-9 billion people on earth since the Medieval times, even with wars, famine, disease, violence, and drugs. In the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth called the Millennial Kingdom, Satan will be locked in the Pit, so there will be no temptation for the humans that remain after the Wrath and once again go forth and multiply. Each couple will have potentially more than 1,000 children including multiple births. There will be no death at that time. It will be like the time of Adam, everyone living very long lives, and having many sons and daughters.
At the end of the 1,000 years, Satan will be loosed again to tempt, and those who did not learn to repent will fail the test and they will go into the pit with Satan forever.
God has established a progression of faith through the generations and the last round is to remove the Tempter while Jesus is reigning on earth, and provide millions of glorified teachers, the order of Melchizedek, the glorified Christians who will be kings and priests, with visible Holy Angels as civil law enforcement. Those humans will be born under the Law, fallen, they will still need to repent and ask for salvation, be water baptized, filled with the Holy Spirit baptism, and they will need to learn how to become holy through the sanctification process. God’s word is settled in heaven and he changes not. All must come to him the same way.
Only those who have been changed and made into a new creation with their minds renewed will stand the test when Satan is let out of the pit. The Jews had it the hardest without the Cross, this is why they will inherit the Government of God. The Christians stand by Faith only with the gifts and baptism of the Spirit, our promises are better, but we are told we must overcome to the end. Humans in the Millennial Kingdom will have 100% of the knowledge taught to them, and they will see everything visibly. If they still refuse to be sanctified, like the generation left to die in the wilderness (Ezekiel Chapter 20), it’s their own choice. The glorified teachers will help them say prayers to rid themselves of sin and teach them to read the Bible and counsel them through the sin problems of the flesh.
Sin will not have dominion over them with Satan locked up, but in their fallen flesh with the lusts of the flesh, they will sin, and will still need to repent, the same as we come to Christ today and follow him down the narrow way, the path of sanctification. Their help will include not only the better promises but glorified teachers and angels to instruct them, and they will visibly see Jesus Christ on the throne in Jerusalem ruling over the nations.
Man is without excuse, Romans 1:20. In that day all the invisible things will be clearly seen. The animal sacrifices will remind them of the punishment that is due to them that Jesus bore for them.
Psalm 78:56-72 Click to read this High Level View of What Happened at Shiloh.
God Had Honored Ephraim With Consideration But Chose Judah
It means that Judah was selected as the tribe Messiah would come from, even though Ephraim was considered because Joshua who fully followed the Lord was from the Tribe of Ephraim, Numbers 13:8. The Tabernacle at Shiloh was built in Ephraim because it was Joshua, the minister of Moses who led the Children of Israel into the promised land. His tribe was considered for the opportunity to bring forth Messiah, but Ephraim failed to maintain holiness before God, and was rejected in 1 Samuel because of Eli the High Priest and his two wicked sons, the priests Hophni and Phinehas.
The Lion and The Lamb
The first reference of the Lion of Judah is Genesis 49:9. Jacob prophesied the Tribe of Judah as the womb of His Son, the king would be seated (couched) as a resting lion. Jacob said he would be from the prey. Man is Satan’s prey. Then the Prophet Hosea said that God would be as a lion to Ephraim and a young lion to Judah, referring to Ephraim being rejected and Judah being selected, Hosea 5:14. One of Jerusalem’s names is Ariel, the lion of God, Isaiah 29. By naming Jerusalem Ariel, it’s clear that Ephraim was not going to be the place of worship. Ariel is also a name for God the Father. The whelp of the Lion is its offspring, Jesus Christ, the young Lion, the son of God born in Bethlehem a stone’s throw from Jerusalem. Then finally in Revelation 5:5 we learn the Lamb is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Lion’s whelp. The Lion is God the Father seated on his couch (throne) as Jacob said, with the Lamb, His Son, His Whelp, both seated on the throne in heaven. Jacob’s prophecy is accurate from the beginning.
“Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The 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 49:9-10. From between his feet is a reference to childbirth, the born again experience.
“For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him. I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early,” Hosea 5:14-15. Jesus did go away, waiting for them to admit their offense.
“And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof,” Revelation 5:5.
About Shiloh in Ephraim
Psalm 78:67 says Ephraim was rejected, and Psalm 78:68 says Judah was chosen.
“67 Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim: 68 But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.”
Psalm 78 recounts the story of Shiloh’s destruction in short form.
Shiloh was placed in the tribal land of Ephraim by Joshua. Ephraim was renamed Samaria after the 10 tribes were carted away as slaves to Assyria in 702 BC never to return. Shiloh was called the Tabernacle of Joseph (but still was the Tabernacle of Moses) because Ephraim was a son of Joseph, the son of Jacob.
The Prophecy of the Robe
God split the tribes by the Prophet Ahijah’s prophecy of the Robe (1 Kings 11:28-end). Ahijah was from Shiloh, a Shilonite. Ahijah cut his robe into 12 pieces, ten tribes were given to Jeroboam, Solomon’s servant, an Ephrathite (from the Tribe of Ephraim) who practiced the Baal and Egyptian religions; and two tribes remained with King Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, for David’s sake (Jesus Christ), so that Judah and Jerusalem (the tribes of Judah and Levi) would be preserved to carry out the Cross in the future regardless of apostasy. The northern kingdom never return from Assyria, but Judah and the Priests were allowed to return after Babylonian captivity. God continued his plan with Judah and Jerusalem alone.
Insight
Those 10 tribes were never lost, they were removed to Nineveh, Assyria, and this is why God had mercy on Nineveh when he sent Jonah to tell them to repent. There were enough Jews in Nineveh who knew what that meant, so the City repented and they ceased their plans to come against the remnants of the nation of Israel. It’s always about God trying to create peace for Israel because Israel is God’s game clock.
New Testament Background
When the Jews in Jesus’ day traveled they refused to go through Samaria (Ephraim) and had to go around. It was unheard of for a Jew to visit Samaria, so when Jesus visited the woman at the well, she couldn’t understand why a Jew was talking to her.
But Jesus did not ignore his lost sheep in Samaria
The Son of God Went Looking For the Lost Sheep of Ephraim
“My people have been lost sheep: their shepherds (Eli, Hophni, Phinehas) have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place,” Jeremiah 50:6.
Jesus “left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there,” John 4:3,4,6.
“They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn,” Jeremiah 31:9.
Ephraim was Joseph’s second son, but Jacob/Israel adopted him as the first son. Jacob replaced Reuben and Simeon with Ephraim and Manasseh in their birthright order. So now the plan was for Ephraim as the firstborn to inherit, but in Jacob’s prophecy he states that Judah will be the King.
God Tells The End From The Beginning
The Genesis 49 prophecy refers to Shiloh and the prophecy was not about the wicked place of Shiloh, but the parable name for Messiah, the one who would separate himself from his brothers and wear the crown, as God separated Judah and Jerusalem from the northern tribes. Jesus, spiritual Shiloh, had no works of the flesh like the physical location of Shiloh did. God’s anointed King of Israel, Jesus Christ, the anointed one is referred to in 1 Samuel 2:35 at the top of this post.
Take a Tour of Shiloh Today
Now, you need to take a video tour of Shiloh to see the place of the Tabernacle and its winepresses for yourself. Izrael lives in Israel and has many walking tour videos posted on his channel. Only with this video will you believe what comes next in my commentary.
Please watch before continuing to read.
Click to Tour Shiloh with YouTuber Izrael Mojachwala (Israel My Channel), 43 minutes.
Overview of the Destruction at Shiloh
Shiloh was located in the rocky northern hill country of Ephraim as you saw in the video. It was the place where Joshua allotted the land to the tribes. They set up the Tabernacle of Moses in that camp in the book of Joshua and it stayed there 369 years until God used the Philistines to destroy the city of Shiloh in 1 Samuel, after 40 years of testing.
After the Philistines took the Ark of the Covenant as a battle prize, God smote them with death and hemorrhoids (emerods),in their hinder parts per Psalm 78:66, as they paraded the Ark of the Covenant from Philistine city to Philistine city. When the Ark drove itself to Israel by cattle cart, the Ark punished the Israelites of Bethshemesh because they looked inside the Ark. The Ark represented God on earth and God’s power was with it. By 1 Samuel chapter 7, the Ark had been taken by Levites to Kirjathjearim/Gibeah and safely stored in the house of Abinadab for 20 years until God raised up David and he would rescue the Ark from Abinadab’s house and bring it into the City of David.
Samuel replaced Eli as High Priest, Prophet, and Judge. Samuel led a mission to deliver Israel through repentance and asked the Lord to subdue the Philistines. Israel was at peace with the Philistines until King Saul and Jonathan riled them up again.
King Saul was a self inflicted wound upon Israel, but this post is not about his story.
The Purpose of The Sacrifices and Overview of Eli and His Sons
Mostly I write for Christians who want to go deeper, but not everyone is spiritual, so I must include some backstory as I go.
Every year the Jews were to go to Shiloh to make sacrifice to cover their sins according to the Torah ordinances, and annually God forgave their sins, thus keeping the sins of the people under control, 1 Samuel 1:3. This was the practice until Eli the High Priest whose sons used the Tabernacle for profit and their lust. When sin is out of control, demons take over. Unforgiven sin is the door of entry to demons and it’s called a ‘sin right’. As sin in the land increases, demonic influence escalates, and soon all are defiled before God. Demons love to inhabit Christians because it keeps them from serving God. Eli’s sons are proof.
When someone has a demon, they act pretty normal most of the time, but they tend not to obey God and unsurprisingly they are usually Atheists who laugh at God’s people. Demons are notorious for saying Christians are stupid and unable to think for themselves. This is how I spot demons in people when they’ve been college educated.
In scripture, 40 years, is the time of testing. In 40 years, Eli had not repented, nor had he sacrificed to cover his family’s wickedness. Demons don’t like to do what God commands. It was the duty of the High Priest to sacrifice for his own sins first, before conducting sacrifices for the people. The High Priest was a type of Christ, a parable of a sinless one who helped the people to cover their sins. If the High Priest was not clean, the people weren’t forgiven. If Jesus had not been sinless, his blood would not have atoned for our sins. Eli’s sons also did not sacrifice for themselves or their families. They continued to serve without repentance and cared nothing for what was written.
The job of the priests was to assist the people to make their sacrifices. Their payment for doing this job was a portion of the animal sacrificed, the right shoulder, this is how God fed the priests.
The High Priest Eli was a descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses, a Levite priest. Eli took up the High Priesthood at 58 years of age, when his adult sons would have been in their 20s-30s. God killed all three of them in one day according to the prophecy confirmed by Samuel, when Eli was 98 years of age, 1 Samuel 4:15-18. Eli was 98, his sons were in their 60s-70s. It’s important to understand their ages to know they defiled Shiloh willingly. Eli was guilty of observing and not stopping all that they did.
Because of the defilements of extortion, theft, drunkenness, adultery, and fornication by Eli’s sons and their servants, the young men of Israel hated going to Shiloh to sacrifice, therefore sin increased in the land to an unacceptable level, 1 Samuel 2:17.
The Sins of Eli and His Sons
“Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD,” 1 Samuel 2:12. Eli was guilty of appointing his sons as priests when he knew they did not know the Lord.
The Sins of Extortion and Theft
Hophni and Phineas had carried out a scheme to steal more sacrificial meat than God allowed them to take as their portion, which robbed the people. Eli knew, he didn’t stop it.
1 Samuel 2:13-17
They took as much meat from the seething pot as they hooked.
They demanded additional raw meat for themselves on threats of violence.
They took all the fat (the good tasting things) for themselves.
The duty to sacrifice for the family was the man’s duty. A single man would have sacrificed for himself; a father and husband for himself, his wife and minor children, and unmarried daughters. Families would attend the sacrifices, but it was not required for women and minor children to attend. The sins of a family were accounted to the man as priest of their household, as shepherd of his pasture. Performing a sacrifice was stating faith in God’s promise to provide the Lamb (from the story of the Sacrifice of Isaac), the blood of the Lamb (the ram caught in the thicket as a crown of thorns.) Before the Cross, the innocent animal’s blood only covered sin, it did not remove sin. Faith in Christ removes repented sin.
The Sins of Drunkenness, Adultery, and Fornication
In the video tour you saw the vineyards and the ancient wine press. Moses was never told to build a wine press for the Tabernacle. The priests are cautioned not to partake of strong drink, to guard against sin. The vineyards in Shiloh are mentioned in Judges chapter 21 as the place where the wicked men of the tribe of Benjamin might be able to kidnap women to take them as wives, due to the judgment against the men of that tribe disallowing marriage to the daughters of any other Israelite tribe. 1 Samuel begins on the heels of the book of Judges, in the time when the people had decided to do as they pleased and go their own way, instead of God’s way. Like in America today.
Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phineas, devised a scheme requiring the women who came to the Tabernacle to drink strong drink, fermented wine, and in their drunkenness, they forgot about their husbands who had come there to sacrifice to God, and they fornicated in orgies with Hophni and Phineas and their servants, at the door of the Tabernacle no less.
“Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,” 1 Samuel 2:22.
When Eli rebuked them, they could not hear, because the Lord wanted to kill them. Eli had the power to stop them, because God said Eli didn’t stop them.
“Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them,” 1 Samuel 2:25.
Forty years of testing, and these men did not repent. God would have to destroy Shiloh because of sin, the same as he destroyed Egypt down to the roots of the crops.
We are to Make a Difference Between the Holy and the Unholy, to Approach the Lord with Reverence in the Fear Of The Lord:
Make a Difference Between the Holy and the Unholy
“And the LORD spake unto Aaron, saying, do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations: And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean,”
Leviticus 10:8-10, Eli and his sons opposed the Lord’s command to priests, God killed them without Salvation. God knew what would happen, so he put this warning in place.
The Fear of The Lord - Psalm 34:11-14
“11 Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD. 12 What man is he that desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? 13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. 14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.”
The Fear of the Lord - Proverbs 8:13-17
“13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate. 14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. 15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. 16 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. 17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
Hannah, Mother of Samuel, Was A Holy Woman
It seems as if God shuts up a womb when he plans to move His plan forward. Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Samson’s mother, Hannah, and Elisabeth.
1 Samuel begins with Hannah’s story. Hannah is in contrast to the drunken women at the Tabernacle. Hannah was married to a man who was faithful to God, she was obedient to her husband and forbearing with her husband’s other wife who sinned against her. Hannah believed God and didn’t lose her faith. Bearing children was a woman’s duty to her husband which ensured she would be cared for in her old age, and provided status in the community. Hannah would have known the stories of Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Rachel, Manoah and his wife. How they too had waited for children from God. She kept praying.
Elkanah and Hannah continued to sacrifice at Shiloh, regardless of how awful it was to go there and witness the desecrations performed. Eli the High Priest had dared to think Hannah was one of the drunken women who fornicated with his sons while he watched.
“And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee,” 1 Samuel 1:12-14.
But Hannah refuted him saying she was pouring out her soul to the Lord and that he should not consider her to be a daughter of Belial like his sons and the drunken women:
“And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace: and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him,” 1 Samuel 1:15-17.
Because Eli in the office of High Priest declared the Lord should grant her petition, God gave her the son she vowed to give to the Lord. God gave her the desire of her heart, for he had put the desire in her heart to give the boy to the Lord. It was God’s plan to raise up a new High Priest to remove sin from the land caused by Eli and his wicked sons. Samuel. In return, for Hannah paying her vow to the Lord, God gave her five more children, 1 Samuel 2:21.
Samuel is the last Judge of Israel, but he is not the first Prophet as most preachers claim. There were many Prophets before him, including Eli.
God Answered Simply At Samuel’s Request
Samuel’s name means “Because I have asked” or “God has heard.” God heard Hannah’s request for a son she vowed to lend to the Lord. From then on whatever Samuel asked God to do, God did for him. This is the spirit of Holiness, Romans 1:4.
Conclusion:
Now you can clearly see what happened at Shiloh and why God destroyed it.
Now you know God replaced Eli with Samuel after 40 years of testing Eli.
Hannah’s full prayer in chapter one was fulfilled by the end of 1 Samuel. Her prayer and faithfulness raised up a righteous prophet and King David.
There’s quite a bit packed into 1 Samuel that is too much for this post, but since the Lord gave this interpretation to me on the command to read 1 Samuel, I thought you’d like to see the interpretation. Samuel had two sons that were wicked, just like Eli, the difference is that Samuel himself did what was right amidst evil, regardless of the evil around him. Even though Eli taught him wrongly, Samuel did what was right. The church today is in the same position under spiritual Eli, and those with spiritual ears need to come out of the Laodicean church and be separate. In Revelation Jesus was talking to those with spiritual ears within the problematic seven churches, not to everyone.
Paul the Apostle Wrote These Verses In Light of 1 Samuel
“14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty,”
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
But will the Laodicean Church listen to His seven warnings? Revelation 2:17, 2:11, 2:17, 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, 3:22.
And these warnings to today’s unbelievers:
Revelation 21:3-8, Revelation 22:10-21, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
Today we are living in Romans 1:18-32 and 2 Peter 2:1-18. Willfully ignorant and worshipping the creation instead of the Creator, changing the use of the body. With Israel under attack, all the signs prior to the rapture are in place.
Stunning isn’t it, that for 2,000 years regardless of persecution the Church has grown and grown, but since 1948 when Israel was born in a day to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 66:8, humans have being turning away from Jesus Christ to their own lusts and apostasy is complete through entertainments, drugs, worldly music, and the attempt to remove national borders. All done exceedingly quickly in 76 years. Will we make it even to 80 years? Psalm 90:10?
Repent. Because judgment must begin at the House of God, 1 Peter 4:17. If we judge ourselves God will not judge us, 1 Corinthians 11:31. We are to judge ourselves in repentance.
I hope this has opened your eyes to new things that have been on the pages all this time. Please go back and read 1 Samuel for yourself and see what you see.