Basic HTML Version
324
The Beginning of the End
But the firm leader’s answer was, “If you are a great people, then
go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the
land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim
are too confined for you.”
Their reply showed the real reason of their complaining. They
lacked faith and courage to drive out the Canaanites. “The mountain
country is not enough for us,” they said, “and all the Canaanites who
dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron.”
If the Ephraimites had had the courage and faith of Caleb, no
enemy could have stood in their way. Joshua firmly confronted
their desire to avoid hardship and danger: “You are a great people
and have great power,” he said; “you shall drive out the Canaanites,
though they have iron chariots and are strong.” With the help of God
they did not need to be afraid of the chariots of iron.
Now the tabernacle was to be taken from Gilgal to its permanent
location, Shiloh, a little town in Ephraim near the center of the land,
and easy for all the tribes to reach. A part of the country in this
area had been thoroughly conquered, so the worshipers would not
be attacked. “Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel
assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting
there.”
The ark remained at Shiloh for three hundred years until, because
of the sins of Eli’s family, it was captured by the Philistines.
[257]
Shiloh Becomes a Warning
The sanctuary service was finally transferred to the temple at
Jerusalem, and Shiloh fell into ruins. Many years later God used
Shiloh’s fate as a warning to Jerusalem. “Go now to My place which
was in Shiloh,” the Lord declared by Jeremiah, “where I set My
name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness
of My people Israel. ... Therefore I will do to the house which is
called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I
gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.” (
Jeremiah
7:12, 14
).
“When they had made an end of dividing the land,” Joshua pre-
sented his claim. He did not ask for a large area, but only a single
city, Timnath-serah, “the portion that remains.” The conqueror, in-