SHILOH, Samaria – Several years ago, CBN News first reported on exciting discoveries from the excavation site at ancient Shiloh.
The book of Judges in the Bible tells us Shiloh was a significant place in the history of the Israelites when they came into the Promised Land.
Today, more discoveries are emerging from the archaeological site that continue to bring the Bible to life.
In 2019, we interviewed Dr. Scott Stripling, the director of excavation going on in ancient Shiloh. This year, Stripling brought us up to speed on what’s happened here since we first visited this project.
“Well, in season one our hypotheses were just formulating,” he said. “We thought that we had a monumental building, up here from the period of the Tabernacle. Since then, we’ve come way down, five meters or so, maybe six meters in some places, and so now we can see the various structures that are here, and indeed we can now say that this is very likely the gate that’s referred to in the Bible, and that’s pretty big stuff.”
We asked Stripling what happened at the gate and why it was so important.
He responded, “Well, the Bible tells us that Eli (the high priest at the time) is in the gate of Shiloh when he gets the news that the Ark of the Covenant has been captured, that his sons have been killed. He falls over backwards and dies in the gate. So it’s a function that’s mentioned in the Bible, so we were very curious if we would come across it.”
Shiloh is not onlly where Eli lived and diedd, but also the place where Joshua divided the Promised Land between Israel’s 12 tribes, where Hannah prayed for a son who became the prophet Samuel, and where the Tabenacle of the Lord stood for nearly 400 years.
Stripling gave us a tour of the site and took us to perhaps their most significant discovery.
“This is where you came to connect with God,” Stripling said, standing in the area of ancient Shiloh.
He continued, “Jerusalem remains a pagan city for another three hundred years. The Ark is here. The Tabernacle is here, and this where you came to connect with God.”
We asked Stripling if he believed they’ve actually found the Tabernacle. He answered, “I’m not ready to say I know for certain, but I’ll tell you what we do have is a building that is matching the dimensions of the Tabernacle. It’s from the Iron One period, which is the Tabernacle period of Eli and Samuel, and you’re actually standing right now, Chris, on this wall right here.”
“So this entire area is this massive, monumental building. (It) orients east – west and it’s divided on 2 to 1 ratio, like the Tabernacle was,” Stripling explained.
He showed us the locations for the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covernant would have been if the archaeologists are correct in their theory.
At one point on the tour of the site, Stripling, said, “You’re probably standing where the Ark of the Covenant was,” then he asked, “How does that make you feel?”
Grasping for words, I said, “It makes me feel – well, profound, for one.”
“Me, too,” Stripling replied, and added, “There’s a sense of awe, I just have to tell you. Professionally as an academic, I’m in awe, and then as an evangelical Christian, I’m in awe, you know, to have the privilege to be able to excavate a site like this.”
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