Joshua 18:1 introduces Shiloh to us. It was a city situated in the land allotted to the tribe of Ephraim. This city was the central place of worship up to the period of the kings. The meaning of Shiloh is believed to be “the peaceful one.” It’s a word that refers to the coming of the Messiah as well as a symbol of the place of rest. The privilege for us believers is that we can worship God anywhere because He is everywhere present. Yet there must be a Shiloh for us, a unified place where we can come to and share life with the Lord and with each other. It is the place where we can gather on the Sabbath to experience God and do life together. The church is symbolically our spiritual Shiloh. It is the place where we assemble together to forge our relationship with God and with each other and to receive our co-ordinated instructions and commission to do the work of God. Church life is an integral part of wholeness for every believer. Hence it is imperative that we commit ourselves to our home church and find our niche here through active service.
Joshua 18:1, also specifically tells us that the people of Israel assembled together in Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting. In the Bible, this tent of meeting is also referred to as the Tabernacle, the portable worship place that the people of Israel constructed based on the pattern God had specifically given to Moses. It was given to help the people to know that God was in their midst. It was the pivotal place for the covenant community. In putting up the Tabernacle at Shiloh, the people had attached significance to what is most critical in their life at that point. They were in effect recognizing the critical part God would play in the life of the community. Here they would honor and establish the sovereignty of the LORD over them. Here they would come and pay their homage to this Supreme and Most High God. The Tabernacle was the place where God met with His people and spoke to them. To us, it is a symbol of God’s dwelling place. It foreshadows the coming of Christ, the perfect place where we ultimately meet God and commune with Him personally. We must make Christ central in our life.
In Joshua 18:1, we are also told that the land was subdued before them. But we know that the land was far from being subdued. What does this phrase mean then? It is referring to the potential conquest that was theirs. It presupposes that they could conquer the land if they put their hearts to it. For, after all, they were on God’s side. This phrase that “the land was subdued before them” is an expression of God’s desire for us too. There are no legitimate things specified in the Bible that will be out of our reach if we put our heart to it. Know that God has given us dominion over the circumstances of our life in Christ Jesus. We are designed to be an overcomer in Christ. Romans 5:17 explicitly says that we are reigning in Christ. Here’s how J.B. Philip puts it in his translation of this verse: “For if one man’s offense meant that men should be slaves to death all their lives, it is a far greater thing that through another man, Jesus Christ, men by their acceptance of his more than sufficient grace and righteousness, should live all their lives like kings!” Let us reign with and through Christ!
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