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.”

Shiloh was situated in the tribal allotment of Ephraim, Joshua’s tribe. It was built on a hill about 9 miles north of Bethel, which means the house of God. Shiloh was also on the south side of Lebonah, which means frankincense (S #3828), the perfect place for sacrifice, worship and prayer. It had a commanding and somewhat central location. The tabernacle was temporarily located there (Joshua 18:1, 19:51; Judges 18:31), and at that time it had doorposts and doors and was even called a temple in 1 Sam. 1:9 & 3:3. Although the destruction of Shiloh is not described in the records of this period (1 Sam. 4), it must have been overwhelming, on account of the wickedness of the children of Israel (Ps. 78:60; Jer. 7:12, 14; 26:6).

Jerusalem remained a pagan city for another 300 years. The Ark remained in Shiloh at the Tabernacle for another 400 years. This is where the nation of Israel connected with Elohim. Eli lived and died there in Shiloh. Joshua divided the land there. Hannah prayed for her son Samuel, the prophet there. Eli got the news that the Ark was captured, and his sons were killed while sitting in the gates of Shiloh, where he fell backwards and died.

You need to go online and watch the recent archaeological exploration of Shiloh in Israel. It is well worth your time. The bone deposits alone are evidence of a Jewish sacrificial system and Biblical evidence for the book you hold dear. This is proof this it is God-inspired! Layers of bones on top of bones: sheep, goats, cows, and all from the right side of the animal only. Why? Read Leviticus 7! The priests lived in Shiloh and the sacrifices belonged to them, but they were only allowed to eat the right side of the animal. There is no other explanation known to man. You can’t make this stuff up! It all coordinates with what God says in His word! God said it; I believe it; that settles it! How about you? Watch the video on Youtube. You will love it!

The Tabernacle was set up in Shiloh. That word appears for the first time in the Bible in Genesis 49:10. “The scepter (W #7626 – sebet – stick, for ruling, walking, punishing) shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between His feet, until Shiloh comes.” We had a joke in Bible college when studying that said, “Strong’s is for the strong; Young’s is for the young; Cruden’s is for the crude; and Wilson’s is for the wise! So, I am going to give you Dr. William Wilson’s explanation and definition of Shiloh from his book Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies on page 389, abridged. “The most approved derivation of this most difficult word in Genesis 49:10 is that which deduces it from ‘to be at rest; to be at peace and prosperity;’ and therefore is the Pacificator or Prince of Peace, the promised seed of the woman, who should destroy the rule and dominion of Satan, and establish peach in the world in the place of the tyranny of evil.” Mercer says, “It signifies one quiet, prosperous, peaceable, happy, honorable, happy time; a conqueror to whom all things succeed well and happily.” There can be no doubt that Shiloh is the name of the Messiah, so understood by the ancient Jewish interpreters, though variously explained by them. The ancient versions seem to have given the meaning “whose it is” to this word, Shiloh. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, they translate it “for whom it is laid up.” This is obviously referring to His coming kingdom.

Let’s go back to Genesis 49:10. “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between His feet, until Shiloh comes; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.” KJV The Lord Jesus is the only one “whose right it is.” (See the Schofield note for Ezekiel 21:27.) Wow! This is just a blog from a ‘worm’s eye point of view!’ The Tabernacle is here for 400 years. The Hebrew word is ‘miskan’ (S #4908 – for residence, shepherd’s hut; figurative for grave; to lie down. It is used over 25 times in Joshua. If you go to Daniel 9:24, you will see Daniel praying, confessing his sin and the sin of his people, Israel. He prophesies of the 70 weeks of years when God will restore Christ’s kingdom. When did Israel become a nation again? May 14, 1948. Add 77 years to that, and you get 2025! Does that make you nervous or want to pray like Daniel? This is only a blog! That’s just a fun side note!

Joshua needs to be in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the Lord, in the Spirit of the Lord because he is going to determine the mind of the Lord for the 12 tribes of Israel regarding their inheritance. However, he is going to use one other method besides prayer and fasting. He is going to ‘cast lots’ or ‘draw lots’ to determine each tribes portion of the Promised Land assigned by God’s provision. The ‘lots’ (S #1486 – goral) were rough stones or pebbles to determine God’s portion, purpose, destiny, or will. There are many interpretations on how this was done. One thought is that a black stone and a white stone were put in a bag. After prayer, the priest would reach his right hand in the bag and pull out a stone. A white stone was God saying yes, and the black stone was God saying no.

Why the lot? So no one could claim favoritism. All the land belonged to the Lord, as it does today, and it was only held in trust by His people! You will find lots being used throughout the Bible in both the older and newer testaments: in 1 Chron. 24:5 when organizing priests; in Jonah 1:7 to determine guilt or innocence; in Acts 1:26 to choose a replacement for Judas; in Prov. 16:33 where humans can cast the lots but God makes the ultimate decision. This is not a common practice today. It is a historical example of seeking divine guidance. Today, Christians rely on prayer, scripture, the Holy Spirit, and seek godly, mature guidance and counseling. We have moved away from external signs to internal discernment and peace from God Himself.

Haman’s use of the pur from the Akkadian purs (lots) was to choose a day for the genocide of the Jewish people. However, God reversed his evil decree and made the ‘Feast of Purim’ a celebration of deliverance (Esther 9:24-26), and it intentionally links the lots (goral) with Purim. So, each annual celebration reminds Israel that God rules over the casting of ‘pagan lots’ as surely as over Israel’s. Casting lots represented a tangible expression of faith in God’s providence and sovereignty. It also highlighted the importance of seeking His direction in every aspect of their lives, yesterday! A principle for living for them, as well as for us today! The soldiers at Calvary after Christ was crucified, cast lots for his coat, which was without seam (John 19:24). Why? To fulfill the prophecy of Psalm 22:18!

Urim and Thummim were also ancient objects used by the high priests to determine God’s will. They were kept in the ephod or breastplate that the priests wore, which was attached to the ephod (a type of apron). Urim means ‘lights’ and Thummim means ‘perfection or truth.’ They represented cursing or blessing. Moses never used them. They seem to have faded from use after the Babylonian captivity, though ancient writers disagree on that. Josephus holds that they were functional until the era of the Maccabees, but the Talmudic sources say they ceased when the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem. Maimonides states in the second temple period that the Urim and Thummim still existed but no longer functioned, since the priests no longer possessed the Holy Spirit. Rabbi Abraham ben David disagrees and maintains that during that period of time, the Urim and Thummim were completely absent. According to the ancient apocryphal ‘Lives of the Prophets,’ after the death of Zechariah ben Jehoiada the priests in the Temple could no longer see apparitions of the ‘Angel of the Lord’ and make divinations with the ephod or give responses from the Holy of Holies. It gets fuzzy when you dig down in there!

Therefore, the lots (goral) thread their way all through redemption’s history from creation to redemption to revelation; from land grants to priestly service; from national crisis to prophetic history; constantly witnessing God’s all-powerful hand moving. “The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet (Nahum 1:3b).” King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived and who wrote much of the scriptures, said in Proverbs 16:33, “the lot (goral) is cast into the lap, but its decision is from the Lord.” Far from chance, the lot was a God-ordained mechanism that kept the sinful bias of mankind in check and gave visible assurance that the result came from God’s throne in Heaven.

Tradition is that after the priest had prayed for God’s will, he would sit down with a small round container holding the black and white stones and begin to shake it up and down. He would do this until one popped out and fell in his apron. White meant yes, and black meant no. This let him know what God’s decision was. We don’t know exactly what method Joshua used, but we know he cast lots over 25 times in his book, which we will begin to look at through a worm’s eye view next time from Joshua 18:11 with the tribe of Benjamin. We will have some fun with it, if the giants don’t get in the way. Oh no, verse 16 tells of the valley of the giants. Oh well.

Till next time when we will see you “between the lines” as Joshua begins to divide up the Lord’s land with the Lord’s people after much prayer. I hope you are enjoying our trip through the Promise Land as much as I am, and I hope you have a notebook and pen with you to pick some of the Lord’s flowers in His prayer garden to plant in your prayer garden as we continue to look at the ‘Portraits of Prayer’ and see what we can learn two-gether with the Lord in His ‘Anthology of Prayer.’

Toda Raba!

Roger T. Boguski

piercedhandpublications@gmail.com