Shiloh

Before Jerusalem held the temple, the tent of worship stood at Shiloh. There the whole community of Israel gathered, and “set up the tabernacle of the congregation” (Joshua 18:1). Joshua cast lots at Shiloh to share out the land among the seven tribes still waiting for their inheritance. Later a woman named Hannah prayed there for a child, then brought her young son Samuel to “the house of the LORD in Shiloh” (1 Samuel 1:24), where Eli served as priest. A psalm remembers it with sorrow: God “forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh” (Psalm 78:60).

25 verses

Joshua

Joshua 18:1

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 18:2

And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance.

Joshua 18:3

And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the LORD God of your fathers hath given you?

Joshua 18:4

Give out from among you three men for each tribe: and I will send them, and they shall rise, and go through the land, and describe it according to the inheritance of them; and they shall come again to me.

Joshua 18:5

And they shall divide it into seven parts: Judah shall abide in their coast on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their coasts on the north.

Joshua 18:6

Ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts, and bring the description hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD our God.

Joshua 18:7

But the Levites have no part among you; for the priesthood of the LORD is their inheritance: and Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh, have received their inheritance beyond Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave them.

Joshua 18:8

And the men arose, and went away: and Joshua charged them that went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me, that I may here cast lots for you before the LORD in Shiloh.

Joshua 18:9

And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven parts in a book, and came again to Joshua to the host at Shiloh.

Joshua 18:10

And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions.

Joshua 22:9

And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

Joshua 22:12

And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them.

Judges

Judges 18:31

And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

Judges 21:19

Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.

1 Samuel

1 Samuel 1:3

And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the LORD, were there.

1 Samuel 1:9

So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the LORD.

1 Samuel 1:21

And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow.

1 Samuel 1:24

And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the LORD in Shiloh: and the child was young.

1 Samuel 2:14

And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.

Psalms

Psalms 78:60

So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 41:5

That there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even fourscore men, having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD.

Jeremiah 41:6

And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went: and it came to pass, as he met them, he said unto them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.

Jeremiah 41:7

And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them, and cast them into the midst of the pit, he, and the men that were with him.

Jeremiah 41:8

But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not: for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, and slew them not among their brethren.

Jeremiah 41:9

Now the pit wherein Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, was it which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were slain.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

Generally understood as denoting the Messiah, “the peaceful one,” as the word signifies (Gen. 49:10). The Vulgate Version translates the word, “he who is to be sent,” in allusion to the Messiah; the Revised Version, margin, “till he come to Shiloh;” and the LXX., “until that which is his shall come to Shiloh.” It is most simple and natural to render the expression, as in the Authorized Version, “till Shiloh come,” interpreting it as a proper name (comp. Isa. 9:6).

Shiloh, a place of rest, a city of Ephraim, “on the north side of Bethel,” from which it is distant 10 miles (Judg. 21:19); the modern Seilun (the Arabic for Shiloh), a “mass of shapeless ruins.” Here the tabernacle was set up after the Conquest (Josh. 18:1-10), where it remained during all the period of the judges till the ark fell into the hands of the Philistines. “No spot in Central Palestine could be more secluded than this early sanctuary, nothing more featureless than the landscape around; so featureless, indeed, the landscape and so secluded the spot that from the time of St. Jerome till its re-discovery by Dr. Robinson in 1838 the very site was forgotten and unknown.” It is referred to by Jeremiah (7:12, 14; 26:4-9) five hundred years after its destruction.

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From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

Shiloh

(place of rest), a city of Ephraim. In (Judges 21:19) it is said that Shiloh is "on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem and on the south of Lebonah." In agreement with this the traveller of our own city, going north from Jerusalem, lodges the first night at Beitin , the ancient Bethel; the next day, at the distance of a few hours, turns aside to the right, in order to visit Seilun , the Arabic for Shiloh; and then passing through the narrow wady which brings him to the main road, leaves el-Lebban , the Lebonah of Scripture, on the left, as he pursues "the highway" to Nublus , the ancient Shechem. [SHECHEM] Shiloh was one of the earliest and most sacred of the Hebrew sanctuaries. The ark of the covenant, which had been kept at Gilgal during the progress of the conquest, (Joshua 17:1) seq., was removed thence on the subjugation of the country, and kept at Shiloh from the last days of Joshua to the time of Samuel. (Joshua 18:10; Judges 18:31; 1 Samuel 4:3) It was here the Hebrew conqueror divided among the tribes the portion of the west Jordan region which had not been already allotted. (Joshua 18:10; 19:51) In this distribution, or an earlier one, Shiloh fell within the limits of Ephraim. (Joshua 16:5) The ungodly conduct of the sons of Eli occasioned the loss of the ark of the covenant, which had been carried into battle against the Philistines, and Shiloh from that time sank into insignificance. It stands forth in the Jewish history as a striking example of the divine indignation. (Jeremiah 7:12)

Shiloh

In the Authorized Version of the Bible Shiloh is once used as the name of a person, in a very difficult passage, in (Genesis 49:10) "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." Supposing that the translation is correct, the meaning of the word is peaceable or pacific , and the allusion is either to Solomon, whose name has a similar signification, or to the expected Messiah, who in (Isaiah 9:6) is expressly called the Prince of Peace. [MESSIAH] Other interpretations, however, of the passage are given, one of which makes it refer to the city of this name. [See the following article] It might be translated "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, till he shall go to Shiloh." In this case the allusion would be to the primacy of Judah in war, (Judges 1:1,2; 20:18; Numbers 2:3; 10:14) which was to continue until the promised land was conquered and the ark of the covenant was solemnly deposited at Shiloh.