Leon's Message Board

In previous posts we have seen Shiloh as the location of the tabernacle in the days of Joshua through the days of the judge and high priest Eli and into the judgeship of Samuel (Josh. 18:1ff; 1 Samuel 1-4).

The Philistines captured the ark at the battle of Aphek, and then the evidence is that they went on to destroy Shiloh. Upon realizing that they were being plagued by God because they were in possession of the ark of the covenant, they allowed it to return to Israel’s territory, specifically the tribe of Judah (1 Sam. 5-6). First the ark when to Beth-shemesh, and then was taken to Kiriath-jearim. It would remain there until the days of David, about 120 years or so.

Kiriath-jerarin, Site of Ark of Covenant for over a century. Photo by Leon Mauldin

Our photo shows Kiriath-jeream, which Todd Bolen notes is

also known as Tel Qiryat Ye’arim, Baalah, Baalah of Judah, Baale-judah, Baale of Judah, Deir el-Azar, Gibeath-Kiriath-Jearim (?), Kirath, Kiriath, Kiriath-arim, Kiriath-jearim, Kiriath Baal, Kiriath-baal, Kirjath, Kirjatharim, Kirjathbaal, Kirjathjearim, Kuryet el-‘Enab, Qaryet el-Enab, Qiryat Yearim.

To which we might also add the designation, Abu Ghosh.

But as they say, “the plot thickens.” Though the ark was at Kiriath-jearim until David 8th year as king (at which time he moved it to Jerusalem), the tabernacle and altar of burnt offering were at Gibeon. We plan to deal with that in upcoming posts.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 26th, 2011 at 2:04 PM and is filed under Bible History and Geography, Bible Study, Israel, Old Testament. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.