Ten Ancient Jugs May Reveal The Location Of The Biblical Tabernacle

AncientPages.com - Archaeologists, historians and Biblical scholars have searched for evidence of the Biblical Tabernacle for many years. If it ever existed – where was the dwelling place of God located?

The discovery of ten ancient jugs may now help to finally reveal the location of the Biblical Tabernacle.

Image credit: ThingLink

According to the Bible, the Tabernacle (the Tent of Meeting) housed the Ark of the Covenant. During the Exodus, God erected a tent, a tabernacle in the wilderness.

In the Bible it is written:

Exodus 33:9-11

“And it came to pass, when Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended, and stood at the door of the Tent: and Jehovah spake with Moses.

And all the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man at his tent door.

And Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.”

The tabernacle was constructed of wood and fabric, “not materials cut out for thousands of years of survival.” Despite this, archaeologists have been searching for the past few years for evidence of the Tabernacle.

An idea of what the tabernacle could have looked like. Image credit: ingodsimage.com

That search has focused on a site believed to be the ancient city of Shiloh and has yielded some intriguing findings. The Bible attributes the tabernacle at Shiloh to the time of the High Priest Eli and the Prophet Samuel.
Archaeologists have unearthed 10 ancient jugs the Samaria site of the ancient city of Shiloh. Researchers thinks the artifacts could lead to new discoveries about the Biblical Tabernacle that existed there before the First Temple was built in Jerusalem.

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The jugs are in good condition, only some of them are broken. The artifacts date to the time when the Jewish people first entered the land of Israel. The vessels were unearthed approximately half a meter (20 inches) underground in a large room that is part of an ongoing archaeological excavation.

Some of the ancient jugs unearthed at the at the site of the ancient Jewish city Shiloh. (Shiloh Association)

Archaeologists have excavated in the area for some years now and the goal is not only to locate the Tabernacle, but also the southern wall of ancient Shiloh.

The newly discovered jugs indicate that in ancient times, the area was vacated abruptly, with residents not having enough time to collect and pack up their belongings. Among the jugs, the archaeologists also found a goblet known as a kobaat, a type of ritual chalice.

The discovery of the kobaat ties in with the stone altar that was unearthed in the area a few years ago, and could indicate that researchers are closing in on the precise location of the Shiloh tabernacle.

“This is a very exciting find. The destruction could have been caused by the Philistine invasion and the fire that raged [at Shiloh],” Hanina Hizami, coordination officer for archaeology at the Civil Administration, said.

Another reason why scientists think the Biblical Tabernacle may have been located somewhere around the ancient city of

Shiloh is because of an intriguing discovery made some years ago.

Archaeologists discovered holes carved into the ground into which beams of a temporary structure could have fit. Near the holes, in the northern part of Tel Shiloh, structures were unearthed that correspond to the dates when Joshua first settled the land of Israel until the period of King David’s reign.

One of these structures was found to contain ceramic vessels as well as three large taboon clay ovens.

Many more excavations must be carried out to determine with certainty whether the Tabernacle did indeed stand in Shiloh.

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