The opening moments of a long day started out with coffee and water. Strike that, and make it a very long day. Joshua 18 sites the original Israeli capitol during Joshua’s time in Shiloh, a city in northern Ephraim. With valleys on the east and west, the city sits on the road of the patriarchs, the major inland path of commerce. The tabernacle resided here during Eli’s years of High Priesthood, but when the Israelites lost Arc of the covenant in the battle of Aphek to the Philistines, Samuel probably packed up the Tabernacle and moved it into storage for safekeeping. The tabernacle was probably located on the northern side of the city along the wall on a level area or in the middle, on the highest point of the Tel. In Judges 21, Shiloh is designated as the place where remaining Benjamites took wives from girls who were dancing during a feast.
From the Shiloh, we went to Sheckem. It is located in a wide, brown, Samarian valley, guarded on the west by two mountains: Gerazim and Ebal. Cozied in between these mountains Is a modern city, complete with a Greek Orthodox church over the well where Jesus met the Samaritan woman, (John 4:4) and an Arab refugee camp named Abab, from the Israeli nationalistic movement in 1948 or ’67. There is also a remainder of the Samaritan people who live up on mount Gerazim, one of two places they still live (the other being Tel Aviv). Shiloh is the site of covenants and convicts, testaments and treachery. It is the place where God promised Abraham his descendants would have the land of Canaan. (Gen 12:6-8) We were only privileged with a view from the top of mount Gerazim because the local populace is rather “welcoming” if you consider mines a doormat. From the summit, we read about the blessing and curses in the Mosaic covenant found in Joshua 8:30-35.
Next, we went to Aphek, which has seen better days. At the head of the Yarkon river in the coastal plain, lies ruinous footholds of a Canaanite fort, which some Turks decided would make a great site for their fort which stands, half erected today. Renamed Antipatris by Herod the great after his father, this ancient city controls roughly 2/3rds of the land’s water supply. The apostle Paul overnight here on his way to Caesarea from Jerusalem. This is also the site where the Israelite children brazenly brought the Arc of the Covenant down to help them fight the Philistines, just like they had when they began the conquest in Jericho. The main difference in these battles is they are no longer seeking and obeying The Lord God, Adonai. They lost the Arc during the battle, and it feel into Philistine hands for six months.
From the trees and breezes of Aphek to the Mediterranean sea, we arrived at Caesarea. Flashback to Acts chapter two where Peter sees the first Gentile filled with the Holy Spirit—Cornelius. It’s a fitting place for the Spirit to move among the gentiles, because it is the Las Vegas of the Israeli coastline, complete with a four thousand plus admission Amphitheatre, a hippodrome, beachside palace and a large commercial shipping port that rivaled any other major city. This was the center of near-eastern Hellenized world. Home of the Roman procurators, this Oceanside paradise feels like Miami or San Luis Obispo, clean, zesty and relaxed. The western lifestyle is centered around meaningless self-gratification in the arts, sports and academic pursuits. In this very place, Herod Agrippa I is eaten by worms before a great audience in the amphitheatre. God strikes down Herod as a sign to those who would oppose his people that even in the middle of western culture and excess, God is still in control.
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