Day 03 - Bethel, Shiloh, Mt. Gerizim

Altars & Living Stones - Our journey today spanned thousands of years of biblical history from Old Testament to New. The group enjoyed today's sites so much we are calling them The Trifecta. It wasn’t so much that we saw amazing architecture or ruins but more that we sat on some of the most significant sites in scripture. To be in these places while reading the biblical account is, according to our participants, both mind-blowing and moving.

We started off at Bethel, which means “house of God” or “the place where God is.” It is mentioned in the Old Testament over 70 times! We climbed up to an overlook where, on a clear day, you can see all the way west to the coastline. At 2400 ft. above sea level, it’s perfectly situated between Shechem and Hebron, a desirable place to live 4000 years ago.

Located about ten miles north of Jerusalem, Bethel is significant for several reasons:

·  It’s where Abraham pitched his tent after first stopping at Shechem.

·  It’s where Jacob (his grandson) had the dream with the angels ascending and        descending a ladder.

·  It’s where King Jeroboam unwisely decided to create a place of worship in the Northern Kingdom. He made two golden calves (sound familiar?), instituted priests (who weren’t Levites), changed the date of the holidays, and did what was convenient instead of what was right.

·  King Josiah rediscovers the Torah and begins to “clean house.” He tears down all the idols and Asherah poles, burns them, and dumps the ashes on Jeroboam’s fake temple. He and the people repented and returned to Yaweh (2 Kings 23).

We then moved onto Shiloh, another site of such significance in the Old Testament. Shiloh was the first capital of Israel. It too, is located in “the middle.” When the Israelites came out of the desert and into the land, they conquered the Canaanites and allotted the land in sections to each tribe. The Tabernacle – the heart of worship for the nation – had never stayed in one place for very long. That is, until it was brought to Shiloh. It remained there for 369 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. We sat there today and listed to the park guide teach us about Eli the priest and Hannah in I Samuel 1. 

Shiloh was the setting for an incredible turning point in the history of Israel. Hannah was barren and desperately ached 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. To read Hanna's prayer in the same place she prayed it so long ago was emotional.

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 became not only the first prophet since Moses, but also served 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. He was the greatest prophet in Israel’s history and served for over 40 years, an answer to a mother’s prayer in God’s perfect timing. 

We ended our day at Mount Gerizim, which is situated in Samaria. Like Bethel and Shiloh, it comes up throughout the Old Testament in Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges. Perhaps it’s best known for being the location where Jesus met the Samaritan Woman at the Well in John 4. She hid behind “religious talk” but soon found out it’s not about a place but a Person.

Our trip participant Pastor Adam tied today’s lessons together in some thoughts listed below...

Shechem - A Story of Two Altars

Throughout the day we were asking where is the true altar? If an altar is the touch point between heaven and earth, the touch point where God and man connect, where is that altar? Where is the connection? And how does it relate to Israel? The answer is a story, and the land will help us tell it with the Scriptures as a guide.

The story begins with a Jewish rabbi traveling from Judea to Galilee. In John 4:1-5 we see Jesus traveling through Samaria and coming to Jacob’s well.

In Genesis 32-3, Jacob returns from Aram, wrestles w God (acquires a limp), meets Esau, splits company, and settles in Shechem. In Gen 33:18-20 Jacob buys land in Shechem and sets up an altar. But he was not the first.

In Genesis  12, God called Abram to the land, and he entered and built the first altar in Shechem.

In Deut. 27 Moses commands the people to pronounce the blessings and curses of the law from Gerazim and Ebal and to set up an altar as a memorial to the covenant. So Joshua (8:30-5) does this to renew the covenant, and then in Joshua 24:1, he regathers all Israel at Shechem to renew the covenant. The entire period of judges goes by, and Shechem is silent.

But about 940 BC, in 1 Kings 12:25 Jeroboam the idolator took 10 tribes in the northern kingdom and set up alternate altars to Jerusalem in the north - Bethel and Dan. So now there are two rival altars.

Following the return from exile, after the reforms of the rebel, Ezra, and Nehemiah – Israel was renewed with full temple worship by the mid 400s BC. Following this, by 400 BC, the Samaritans had built a temple of their own on Mt Gerizim. And they claimed now that Gerazim was the true Mt Moriah, and the true altar. So - two altars in 900 BC under the kings kings. Two altars in post-exilic Israel.

And now at Jacob’s well in Samaria, Jesus is about to settle the question- where is the true altar. In John 4:19, the woman raises the question of the two altars in the two cities. Jesus answers, "the time will come when people will worship on neither mountain, but true worshippers will worship in spirit and in truth."

In other words, the key truth about the altar is not where, but who. The main connection point between God and man is not a place but a person.

We set up memorials to God in our image - rocks - from dust we came and to dust we shall return. God set up memorials to God in His image - us. We are the altars - the touch point between Heaven and earth.

Not my opinion - it’s a quote from Hebrews 10:22: “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to  cleanse us from a guilty conscience.” in the OT, the ark of the covenant was sprinkled once a year to bring atonement to the people of Israel. Following Christ’s death and resurrection, our hearts are sprinkled, and we are purified not because we are good, but because He is gracious.

That is, why as Christians we can worship anywhere -  we take our altar with us.

In traditional religion, we imagine we are cleansed by what we do: I’m cleansed because I made a pilgrimage or because I kissed the slab from which Jesus was raised (ie came to an altar on the right mountain). No - we are cleansed because Christ made a pilgrimage to die, and He rose from the slab consuming my death and now his life is at work in me!

For us - as the song says, Rejoice, rejoice! Emmanuel has come to thee O Israel. Even so, we still may struggle w doubts - do I deserve the presence of Christ in me?

No. No more than the Samaritan woman deserved the living well of Christ within her.

We are just dust - now made living stones, now made living branches on the vine of Christ, now made not only friends but sons and daughters of the King of Kings.

Delight in the memorials of the land. But rejoice even more that we are His memorials, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which He prepared  in advance for us to do.

And when in Glory, we all meet that Samaritan woman from this well in Shechem and celebrate our common redemption with her - we can laugh and rejoice together with the patriarchs that we were ALL united not ultimately by stones and water but by blood. Thanks be to God!