Shiloh

Shiloh, a town of Ephraim, where the sanctuary of the ark was, under the priesthood of the house of Eli. According to i Sam. iii. 3, 15, this sanctuary was not a tabernacle but a temple, with doors. But the priestly narrator of Josh. xviii. 1 has it that the tabernacle was set up there by Joshua after the conquest. In Judges xxi. 19 seq. the yearly feast at Shiloh appears as of merely local character. The sanctuary at Shiloh seems to have been destroyed, probably by the Philistines after the battle of Ebenezer; cf. Jeremiah vii. 12 seq. The position described in Judges, loc. cit., gives certainty to the identification with the modern Seilun lying some 2 m. E.S.E. of Khan Labban (Lebonah), on the road from Bethel to Shechem. Here there is a ruined village, on an elevation protected by lofty hills on three sides, and open only towards the south, offering a strong position, which suggests that the place was a stronghold as well as a sanctuary. Fertile land surrounds the hill. The name Seilun corresponds to IcXav in Josephus. LXX. has Ir i Xw, EjXw ,u. The forms given in the Hebrew Bible (n5'rv, 15'r ') have dropped the final consonant, which reappears in the adjective 'n"'.