Shiloh
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(peace; rest)—the name of a person and a city. (1) (Gen. 38:5; Num. 26:20 and elsewhere) Shelah, the third son of Judah by the daughter of Shua, ancestor of the Shelanites. (2) (Josh. 18:1; Judg. 18:31; Ps. 78:60 and elsewhere) a city in Ephraim, north of Bethel and ten or twelve miles from Shechem, near the center of the Promised Land west of the Jordan. After Israel crossed the Jordan, the Tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant were set up there and remained until the days of Eli and Samuel.
The prophet Samuel, obtained through his mother’s prayer, was brought up there at the sanctuary (1 Sam. 1–3). Later Ahijah of Shiloh foretold Jeroboam’s kingdom over Israel and afterward pronounced God’s judgment upon his idolatry. The city still existed around the time of the Babylonian exile (Jer. 41:5), but by the source’s day only slight ruins remained. Jerome had already written that scarcely any traces of ruins or foundations of the ancient altar could be seen.