Day 03 - Bethel, Shiloh, Mount Gerizim

Our journey today spanned the time of the patriarchs through the conquest of Canaan on into the period of the judges through the monarchy and ending in the gospels. In other words, we spanned a lot of biblical history over the course of three sites. We started off at Bethel.

The ancient city of Bethel is situated a little ways north of Jerusalem. After God promised to give the land of Canaan to Abraham, Abraham began to walk the land. He stopped first at Shechem and then pitched his tent at Bethel.

Years later, his grandson, Jacob, encountered God in a dream at Bethel. He saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven and angels ascending and descending upon it. Then the Lord appeared to Jacob and reiterated the promises He had made to Abraham and to Isaac. Jacob was to be the next recipient of that promise. He would become a great nation and would one day return to the land promised to his forefathers. Bethel appears in a number of other Old Testament stories. Unfortunately, they don’t all have happy endings.

The kingdom divided after the death of Solomon. His son, Rehoboam, rule over the southern kingdom of Judah. Jeroboam ruled over the northern kingdom of Israel. Bethel was, essentially, marked the southern border of the northern kingdom. Jeroboam unwisely decided to take his cue from Aaron and made two calves of gold. One he put in Dan – a city on the northern border – and the other here at Bethel. He proclaimed these calves to be the gods who brought Israel out of Egypt, instituted his own priests (not Levites, as chosen by God), and made dramatic changes to the commands God had given on how, when, and where to worship.

As we stood at this site and heard it’s history, I couldn’t help but think we’ve all got a little Jeroboam in us. He didn’t worship God as He is. He fashioned a god as he wanted that god to be – in this case, politically advantageous. We do the same. Oh, we may not make an actual golden calf, but we can skirt the parts about Him that we don’t like or make us uncomfortable. But when we do, are we not following in the footsteps of Jeroboam? God graciously invites us into relationship with Himself – but we must come to Him as He is. And as He is is far more incredible than anything we could dream up.

We then moved onto Shiloh. Shiloh, like Bethel, comes up all throughout the Old Testament.

Shiloh could be considered the first capital of Israel. When Israel came out of the desert and into the land, they conquered the Canaanites and allotted the land in waves. The Tabernacle – the heart of worship for the nation of Israel – never stayed in one place for very long. That is, until it was brought to Shiloh. It remained there for over 300 years. By the way, archaeologists at Shiloh have discovered a large rock platform. It’s 50 meters by 25 meters – the exact dimensions of the Tabernacle courtyard.
For centuries, the people of Israel would sojourn to Shiloh to observe the three pilgrim festivals – Pesach (or Passover), Shavuot (or Pentecost), and Sukkot (or Tabernacles).

Shiloh was the setting for an incredible turning point in the history of Israel. A woman named Hannah was barren and desperately longed for a son. She traveled with her husband, Elkanah, to worship at Shiloh and while she was there, prayed fervently that God would give her a child. Her prayer is striking. She begs God to look upon her affliction – the same language God himself uses when speaking of the Israelites enslaved to the Egyptians. In essence, she asks God to be for her who He was for Israel – a God who sees and cares about the affliction of His people. She calls upon His character of compassion and mercy towards the broken-hearted. God answers her prayer and blesses her with a son. She names him Samuel. She couldn’t have possibly imagined the God-ordained destiny of her child.

Samuel was not only the first prophet since Moses (interesting, given Hannah’s prayer), but would also serve as a bridge between the period of the judges and the period of the monarchy. He would, at God’s command, anoint not one but two kings of Israel – first Saul and later David.

But let’s go back to Hannah’s prayer. She prayed that God would do in her present what He had done in the past. The God who saw the affliction of the Israelites in Egypt saw the affliction of Hannah in Shiloh. The God who saw the affliction of Hannah in Shiloh sees your affliction, your heartbreak. He is still a God of compassion and mercy. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever – and that should give us both confidence and hope.

We ended our day at Mount Gerizim. Mount Gerizim is situated in Samaria. It, like Bethel and Shiloh, comes up throughout the Old Testament. It’s mentioned in Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges. Jesus also mentions Samaria in the commission He gives just before ascending into heaven: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8, ESV)

Christians have often seen in this commission a geographical charge. First, you go to your city – your “Jerusalem.” Then you go to your country – your “Judea and Samaria.” Last, you go to the end of the earth. Our guide, however, offered another way of thinking about this commission. What if it could also be understood in terms of social spheres? What if going to Jerusalem means going first to your family? How are we doing sharing and living out the gospel in our marriages and with our children? How about with our parents and our siblings? And what if going to Judea and Samaria meant going next to our neighbors – even the disagreeable and difficult ones (and let’s be honest, sometimes we’re the difficult ones)? How are we at taking the gospel to our neighborhoods, schools, and businesses?

The gospel transforms us from the inside out. The first people to be impacted by our faith in Jesus should be those closest to us. We don’t stop there, of course, but rather expand out from there. It’s easy to think that ministry happens “out there” when it reality it happens “right here.”

It was an incredible day and we’ve just skimmed the surface of what God showed us through these ancient sites. Tomorrow we’re on to Jerusalem!