Home at Last
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us,” they said; “and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the
valley have chariots of iron.”
Had the Ephraimites possessed the courage and faith of Caleb, no
enemy could have stood before them. Their desire to shun hardship
and danger was firmly met by Joshua: “Thou art a great people, and
hast great power,” he said; “thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though
they have iron chariots, and though they be strong.” With the help of
God they need not fear the chariots of iron.
Now the tabernacle was to be removed from Gilgal to its perma-
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nent location, Shiloh, a little town in Ephraim near the center of the
land, and of easy access to all the tribes. Here a portion of the coun-
try had been thoroughly subdued, so that worshipers would not be
molested. “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assem-
bled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation
there.”
The ark remained at Shiloh for three hundred years, until, because
of the sins of Eli’s house, it fell into the hands of the Philistines.
Shiloh Becomes a Warning
The sanctuary service was finally transferred to the temple at
Jerusalem, and Shiloh fell into ruins. Long afterward its fate was
made use of as a warning to Jerusalem. “Go ye now unto 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 for the wickedness of My
people Israel... . Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called
by My name, wherein ye trust, and unto the 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 asked for no extensive province, but only a single
city, Timnath-serah, “the portion that remains.” The conqueror, instead
of being the first to appropriate the spoils of conquest, deferred his
claim until the humblest of his people had been served.
Cities of Refuge
Six cities assigned to the Levites were appointed as cities of refuge,
“that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares.