After the Battle of Gibeah headed by Phinehas (fl. 1190-1160 BCE) the grandson of Aaron (Num.25:11), defeated Benjaminites were allowed to take virgins from Shiloh to be their wives. The ark of God that time was in the house of God in Gibeah near the capital city (Judges 20:25-30 & 21:19-22).
This battle was started as a revenge for Jonathan's concubine, who was gang raped by the sodomized Benjaminites. Israel that time had no "king" and every body would do whatever they wanted to do (Judg 19:1).
Moses died, the "king" of Jeshurun (Asherites and Peleset) as considered by the confederation (known to Merneptah as "Sea Peoples"). Ramesses III (1186-1155 BCE) designated him as a "wer" or "ur" (Egyptian for Luwian term "ura" which means "Great," referring to a "king"), describes by the pharaoh as a Kharu (Horite state in Seir) leader of the entire Mediterranean peoples, who were formerly under Egypt. Ramesses III derogatorically shortened his named "Yar-mesu" ("Drawn out from water") into Yar-su. The title "king" was given to Moses, according to Deuteronomy 33:4-5 before he died (1189 BCE) when the heads of the people of the confederation and tribes of Israel held their meeting (Deut. 33:2-5). Moses (1309-1189) was the father of Gershom, who was the father of Jonathan (Judg18:30).
This young "Levite" Jonathan was likely in Bethlehem-judah when his grandfather Moses died in 1189 BCE. Most likely he was reared by his father Gershom in safe haven Tel Masos (Hormah), where Levites dwelt by the help of Judah, which happened after Othniel defeated Chushanrishathsim in circa 1185 BCE.
"And afterward the descendants of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in Negeb, and in the valley. And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher: And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.
And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the descendants of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people. And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah." -Judges 1:9,11,13,16-17
Hence it is expected that Jonathan could be called Judahite, one is for his protection. The secrecy about him is implied when the Danites and writer of Judges 17:1-13 called him "young" Levite, without mentioning his name. This gives us clue how the identity of a high figure that time was kept hidden, and why all other high profile figures (except Moses) were not known in Egypt and nearby countries that time. Nevertheless, Jonathan did what he wanted to do. After the death of his father, he went to Ephraim, and found by a rich man Micah, who hired him as a priest for the sanctuary of teraphim, images, and ephod, with an annual salary. Five Danite scouts were sent to new territory and discovered Jonathan and Micha's shrine in Ephraim, and they obtained from Jonathan a favorable oracle for their quest (Judg 18:1-6). At their second survey, when they with a military unit (600) of Danite fighters, they brought with them Jonathan and ephod, teraphim and images to Laish, to where they could found their form of worship.
Jonathan's concubine returned to her father's house in Bethlehem-judah and played the whore against him, and after 4 months Jonathan went there and brought her again on the 5th day, but while walking in Gibeah, where the "house of YHWH" was, no one would like to take them in to lodging (Judg 19:18), save an old man. The men of Benjamin beat the door asking the old man for Jonathan for sexual activity. Unlike to the sodomites of Sodom, the sodomites in Gibeah were bisexual that they gang raped the concubine which caused her death. He chopped her into 12 pieces and sent them to all borders of Israel, and after knowing what the Benjaminite sodomites did to her, 400 eleph foot strong persons from Dan (Laish) to Beersheba gathered together in Mizpeh. Twenty six elef Benjaminites and 700 chosen inhabitants of Gibeah fought them and killed 22 elef, triggered them to go to the house of YHWH there in Gibeah:
"... and asked counsel of YHWH, saying, 'Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother? And YHWH said, Go up against him.' " -Judges 20:23
But 18 elef were killed, so they went again for an oracle.
"Then all the descendants of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before YHWH, and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before YHWH.
And the descendants of Israel enquired of YHWH, for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days.
And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days, saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the descendants of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And YHWH said, Go up; for tomorrow I will deliver them into thine hand." -Judges 20:26-28
Israelites killed 25 elef and 100 Benjaminites (Judg 20:35).
To the 26 elef Benjaminites and 700 chosen inhabitants of Gibeah, 600 remained alive and hid 4 months in Rimmon's rock (Judg 20:47).
If this Gibeah refers to Tel el-Ful, then, according to Kenneth Kitchen, "Upon this strategic point was found an Iron I occupation replaced (at an interval) by a fortress ("I"), subsequently refurbished ("II"), and then later in disuse. The oldest level may reflect the Gibeah of Judges 19–20."
Phinehas was involved in this battle, as obviously with him was the ark of YHWH located outside the city of Gibeah, and soon Joshua named an area of it as Gibeah of Phinehas.
"And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in Gibeah that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim." -Joshua 24:33
The population of men was around 800, that's why it was easy to annihilate their women. They brought 400 Jabeshgilead women to the camp in Shiloh (Judg 21:12) and gave them as wives of the repenting Benjaminites, and advised the remaining men to get daughters of Shiloh for wives during an annual feast there (Judg 21:19-25).
Moses was dead, so every Israelite did what they thought as right on their eyes (cf. Judges 21:25).
Shiloh that time, around 1180 BCE, was not known to Benjaminites that the elders must give the details of its whereabouts. There was a camp there, probably since 1185 BCE where they started to practice a feast for YHWH annually. The practice had something to do with the women.
In 1400-1300 BCE very few were residing in walled Shiloh until Israelites replaced the natives and crowded there.
The incident gives us insight that there were Hebrews living in Shiloh when the Ark of God was in the Tabernacle of God in Gibeah. The Tabernacle of YHWH was transferred to Shiloh just before Danites asked their inheritance during the time of Jonathan (fl. c.1185-1150 BCE), the son of Gershom the son of Moses (Judg 18:1,2, 29-31).
"And the whole congregation of the descendants of Israel assembled together at
Shiloh,
and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.
And there remained among the children of Israel 7 tribes, that had not yet received their inheritance." -Joshua 18:1-2
When were the Israelites made their cultic materials in Shiloh?
Archaeological findings, particularly the monumental (east-west facing) or two (Israelite) storey building, dated them in the Iron Age I (1177-980 BCE), exactly during the time of Joshua (r.1189-1138), Phinehas, & Jonathan the grandson of Moses. Ceramic pomegranate, scarab of Thutmose III, & three altar horns were unearthed in Shiloh's area dated around 1177-1140s BCE. It is a noticeable thing that Thutmose scarabs were recovered from Israelite sites of Joshua's altar, Shiloh, and Gezer all are during the end of Late Bronze Age or at the onset of Iron Age I.
Two other sites, Gezer (c.1210 BCE) and altar in Mt. Ebal (1200 BCE), suggest that Israelites were bringing Thutmose III commemorative scarabs released by king Rameses II; and this may give clarification why such scarabs were found in the stratum of 1210-1150 BCE. Those scarabs, besides being token of Egyptian administrative permission, for Israelites, might be a symbol of military conquests.
Erosion in Sinai (Makhtesh Ramon) was described as:
"That it might take hold of the ends of the land, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment." -Job 38:13-14
And Rameses III reported in 1179 BCE that all land was removed during the time of the confederation of Peleset, Denye (Danites), Weshesh (Asherites), & Tjekru (Dor).
Shiloh became the site for the donations and tributes of the confederation, and priests' sacrificial kosher-animal bones were found just outside of the possible Tabernacle (tent) site. Store rooms - probably for tithe & offerings - were also dug.
Prof. Finkelstein, in his 1980s excavations, discovered huge pottery shards and animals bones in the ruins of Shiloh's walls, which he dated to the Late Bronze Age (1500-1200 BCE):
“[O]n the summit of the tel, there was probably an isolated cultic place to which offerings were brought by people from various places in the region. ... The steadily declining amount of pottery indicates a decrease in activity at the site …”
Stripling has dated the same walls to the Iron Age I which match the biblical dimensions of the tabernacle.
The Middle Bronze Age walls were apparently used by Israelites when they replaced the inhabitants in around 1177 BCE, that's probably why it can be dated to Canaanite 1500 BCE and also to Israelite 1177 BCE.
How do we know the date of the presence of Israel in Shiloh? Because circa 1177-1130 BCE altar horns, pomegranate and bone deposits were recovered in areas adjacent to the platform area, which may mean a tabernacle was close by.
Dr. Scott Stripling unearthed two Iron Age I (1177-1000 BCE) ceramic pomegranates on the north side of Tel Shiloh measuring about 8 centimeters in length. It was Moses who ordered the high priest to have his garments decorated with pomegranates (Exodus 28:33; 39:25-26).
Moses, in constructing an altar, ordered Israelites to
"... make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: its horns shall be of the same: and you shall overlay it with bronze." (Exodus 27:2)
Three of these stone altar horns were unearthed in Stripling’s excavations dated to Iron Age I.
Moses' commandment in Leviticus 7:32-35 is likely confirmed by prof. Finkelstein’s excavations when 60% of the sacrificial bones were from the right side of the animals, and those unearthed huge animal bone deposits were dated to the Iron Age I period. The remaining 40% were from the life side. This may imply that Shiloh was a place of the priests, that's why the greater portion is the right side of the sacrificial animals.
That there were Peleset or westerners with them, less than 1 percent were pig bones.
Finkelstein discovered several large, collared-rim storage jars in Shiloh which fit well with the evidence recovered by Stripling's excavations, uncovering numerous large storage rooms around the perimeter of the city.
“No other site in Israel has that,” Stripling said in an interview with the Times of Israel.
Major Charles Wilson noticed a flattened area, with about 146 meters stretch of flat bedrock north of the tel, closely paralleled the dimensions of YHWH's tabernacle given by Moses in Exodus 26-27. Like what Moses said in Exodus 26:22 that the "hinder part of the tabernacle westward," the discovered platform was also aligned east to west, and more recent excavations have uncovered what are likely Iron I remains from this area.
The Shiloh of Israelites was dated in Iron Age I (1177-1025 BCE), before its destruction during the time of judge Eli (r. 1065-1025 BCE).
Adding to this date, prof. Finkelstein wrote:
“We found remains from Iron Age I virtually everywhere we dug. From this period we discovered buildings, stone-lined silos and other remains … The pottery from these buildings is the richest ever discovered at any early Israelite site.”
In short, the archaeology of Iron Age I Shiloh fits precisely with the Bible’s account.
(cf.Jude Flurry, ARMSTRONG Institute of Biblical Archaeology, From the May-June 2022 Let the Stones Speak Magazine Issue)
During the time of Phinehas the grandson of Aaron (1311-1190 BCE) and of Jonathan, the son of Gershon the son of Moses (1309-1189 BCE), after the Battle of Gibeah, Shiloh was not a well known geographic location for Benjaminites that the elders of Israel must give the details of its whereabouts, saying:
"...Shiloh, which is on the north of Beth-el, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Beth-el to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah …” (Judges 21:19)
It was there in Shiloh that Joshua (1248-1138 BCE) later erected the Tent of the Congregation (Josh.18:1,9, Judges 18:31). The possible reason why he chose this area was because of its quietness, and best for meeting a huge population, hence may be the fulfilment of the prophecy in Genesis.
In this article we are talking about the Shiloh during the occupation of Israel. The occupation of Israel (1177-980 BCE) is determined by the Israelite cultic materials, which are lacking during the 15th century BCE.
Including to the Israelite materials are the "four room house," "pomegranate," "altar horn," kosher or clean sacrificial animal bones, and bedrock measuring to the dimensions of YHWH's tabernacle.
Phinehas the son of Eliesar, the son and successor of Aaron (1311-1190 BCE) and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Moses (1309-1189 BCE) were present during this time when Israelites started to take Shiloh before the death (1138 BCE) of Joshua. It is historically expected since Othniel (r. 1185-1146), the nephew of Caleb, the co-prince of Joshua, defeated Chushanrishathsim in circa 1185 BCE in Aram Naharim when hordes of them destroyed Emar. The military capable city of Chushanrishathsim (Qusaranuma) was listed by Ramesses III (1186-1155). King Rameses II (1279-1213 BCE), however, reported his area not as a state. Egyptian records give us hints that it was during the time just before Ramesses III (1186 BCE) when Chushanrishathsim reached the status of being a military capable, hence corroborating the biblical report that he subdued Israel in Galilee-Syrian region between 1192 and 1185 BCE. This added the accuracy to the timeline given by Moses, Joshua, and Egyptian kings. Archaeological findings support also this timeline - the Israelite presence, as reflected by the materials they used, became conspicuous just before the closing of Late Bronze Age or around the Iron Age I (1200 BCE).
Israelite presence in Shiloh is evidenced during the Iron Age I (1177-980 BCE).
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