Jeremias 7:12

Yahweh told the people to go to Shiloh to see what He had done to another town where He had met with the Israelites in former years (cf. Joshua 18:1; Judges 18:31; 1 Samuel 1-4). In Jeremiah’s day it lay in ruins. The site was about 20 miles north of Jerusalem. The Philistines evidently destroyed the town in Eli’s day, though the text does not say so explicitly (1 Samuel 4). [Note: See H. Kjaer, "The Excavation of Shiloh 1929," Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society 10:2-3 (1930):87-174; and W. F. Albright, "The Danish Excavations at Shiloh," Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 9, pp. 10-11.] The tabernacle that had stood at Shiloh then was still in existence in David’s day, having been moved to Gibeon (1 Chronicles 21:29), and when Solomon began to reign (2 Chronicles 1:3), so it did not suffer destruction with the city. Later references indicate that the town was rebuilt (1 Kings 14:2; 1 Kings 14:4). The Assyrian invasion of the territory of Ephraim, where Shiloh stood, may have destroyed it again. Yahweh had allowed Shiloh to be destroyed because of the wickedness of the Israelites. Therefore Jeremiah’s hearers should not think that He would preserve the temple from destruction in spite of their sins. The temple was not a talisman (lucky charm) that guaranteed their safety. The Israelites had formerly taken this view of the ark as well (cf. 1 Samuel 4:3).