CHAP. XVIII.
HEre first is recorded the setting up of the Tabernacle in Shiloh. Where∣as * 1.1 hitherto it had remained in Gilgal, and so the Campe lay about it: this remove was 12 miles, and almost within 4 miles of Jerusalem. Shiloh, say Ly∣ra and others, was in the Tribe of Ephraim, of which tribe Joshua was. But how this may be gathered, I cannot tell, seeing it is no where set downe in what tribe it stood. Onely upon Ch. 9. 3. it hath been already shewed to have beene the same with Gibeon, which was in the lot of Benjamin, v. 25. and a City gi∣ven to the Levites, Ch. 21. 17. as it is said of Shiloh. And if so, the Gibeonites that were to serve about the wood and water for the Tabernacle, might most conveniently performe this office. Touching the direction that Joshua now had to remove the Tabernacle hither, although it bee not expressed, yet doubt∣lesse hee did it not without direction from the Lord, because this was a thing often spoken of, that it should bee set in the place that the Lord should choose. And here it stood till Samuels time, 1 Sam. 4. which was above 300 years: Lyra * 1.2 saith, till it was removed from thence to Nob. But we read no where of any such remove, but onely that Nob was a City of Priests, and that David came to * 1.3 Abimelech the High Priest there. The onely thing that we read of the remove of the Arke from Shiloh, is, that it was carryed from thence against the Philistims, 1 Sam. 4. and there taken by the Philistims and carryed away, and afterwards sent back againe to Bethshemesh, Ch. 6. and from thence to Kiriath-jearim, Ch. 7. to the house of Abinadab, where it remained 20 yeares, then David is said to have fetcht it from the house of Abinadab in Gibeah, 2 Sam. 6. and Ʋzzah be∣ing smitten for touching it, hee durst not carry it any further, but left it at the house of Obed-Edom three months, and then fetcht it into Zion. In all which re∣moves, no mention is made of Nob; but Lyra upon 1 Sam. 7. saith, that from Beth∣shemesh the Arke was carryed to Kiriath-jearim, and not immediately thence to the house of Abinadab in Gibeah, but first to Mizpeh, then to Gilgal againe, after that to Neb, and from thence to the house of Abinadah, as hee gathereth out of the Hebraic. quaestion. and all this not without some ground in the sacred History; for Kiriath-jearim was a City of the Gibeonites, and Samuel judged the people in Mizpeh, and in Gilgal the Kingdom was renued, 1 Sam. 11. 15. and in Nob was the High Priest and Ephod, and Shewbread, although no men∣tion bee made of these removes. For the time when they removed the Taber∣nacle from Gilgal to Shiloh, here is nothing expresly said, but it is generally held to have been seven yeares after their comming into the land of Canaan, be∣cause it is said, The Land was subdued before them, which was not in lesse time; but the Rabbins say, that it was done 14 yeares after their entrance, but this a∣greeth