Archaeologist Excited by Recent Finds in Ancient Shiloh, Biblical Site of Ark, Tabernacle

Tabernacle in 2019 CBN News interviewed Dr. Scott Stripling, the director of the excavation taking place at

ancient

Shiloh this year. Stripling filled us in on what's been happening here since we first vi

site

d the project. Tell us we were there in the first season. What's new. What happened. Since then, in the first season, our hypotheses were simply being formulated. We thought we had a monumental building here from the dock to the Tabernacle. We thought this might be a gate complex because there hasn't been any shine in this section since then. We have gone down five meters or so, maybe six meters in some places, and we can now see the various structures that are here and, in fact, we can now say that this is most likely the door referred to in the Bible and that's nice.

Important things and what happened at the door, why is this so important? Well, the Bible tells us that Eli is at the gate of Shiloh when he receives the news that the Covenant archive has been captured, that his children have been murdered, he falls backwards. and he dies at the door, so it's a feature that's mentioned in the Bible, so we were very curious to find it. Sheila was not only where Eli lived and died, but also the place where Joshua divided the promised land among the 12 tribes where Hana. He prayed for a son who became the prophet Samuel and where the Tabernacle of the Lord stood for almost 400 years.

Stripling gave us a tour of the

site

and took us to perhaps the most significant discovery of it. This is where you came to connect with God. Jerusalem remains a pagan city for another 300 years, the ark is here, the Tabernacle is here and this is where you came to connect with God and you think you've actually found the Tabernacle, well, you know, I'm not ready to say it. I know this for sure, but I will tell you that what we do have is a building that matches the dimensions of the Tabernacle, it's from the iron period, which is the period of the Tabernacle of Eli and Samuel, and you're actually standing right now, Chris . this wall right here, so this whole area is this huge monumental building facing east to west and it's divided in a ratio of two to one, like the Tabernacle was, so the Bible says it faced east to west That's right, the Bible says two to one.

What does that mean? Well, the holy place and the most holy place, so the most holy place, if we are correct in our theory, would be right here, between these walls, it would be where the Ark of the Covenant was, can we go in? Come on, okay, what are we getting into right now? This is the wall that would separate the sacred from the most holy. Okay, so you're entering the holy of holies. Okay, so there's this big wall to your right down here. You can see where we hit the bottom, this is preserved at 2.1 meters and this is ground level, so this whole area here about where we're standing, come with me here, okay, you're probably standing where the Covenant Ark is.

It was good, why is that good for you? It makes me feel, well, deep for one, well, me too, yeah, how do you feel when you're here? I'm amazed and then as an evangelical Christian, I'm amazed, you know, to have the privilege of being able to excavate a site like this. What I gather from this is that God did something in history, he recorded it for us in the Bible. I have evidence of it here. One of the best things about our faith is that you can question it. You know that God's ego is not hurt.

People have questions that viewers ask. If you have accepted the idea that the mythology of the Bible or not is historical, I encourage you to look at what we are finding here at Shiloh read the text pray about it decide for yourself and this is where the Bible comes to life. This is what we do, we don't just walk through the Bible, we excavate the Bible here in the

ancient

silence as we dig in the dirt, we are literally seeing the evidence of what life was like in

biblical

times and nearby you also have a bone in a site . from Bones, well, I'll tell you what we're up to in the bone business, Chris, come on, I'll show you what it's all about, okay, foreigner, and this road will take us to where the bone warehouse is that we've been talking about .

This, the people who work here are doing something that they will never forget for the rest of their lives. I mean, they're uncovering evidence of the sacrificial system. These were animals that brought atonement. I mean, they brought about forgiveness of sins for people as they connected. with God this way so you can see for yourself the pottery and the bones tell an unmistakable story that matches what we read in the

biblical

text this whole area under our feet Chris this is not excavated under your feet and my feet They are about to This large amount of solid bone waiting to be excavated bone on top of bone on top of bone and we have microstratigraphy in this area so we can see that the deposition is deposited over a long period of time just as the Bible says and what type of Bones we would find here sheep, goats, cattle and disproportionately on the right side of the animal.

It's as if this morning we saw disproportionate jaws on the right side instead of the left. You described it before, but again, why is the right side so significant? well the priests are the ones who live here in Leviticus 7 it tells us that the right side of the animal is the priest's portion so I can't make this up you know you have a hundred thousand bones and they are disproportionate give me another The explanation simply matches what the Bible says abroad at the end of the work day a shofar is blown, that's when all the staff and volunteers gather to wash the day's

finds

.

CBN News speaks to some members of the team making the excavation happen. The excavation includes people. from 13 countries and 16 universities, it has been an incredible experience, some days it gives you chills because you only think about the people who have been here before you, the deeper we go, it is even more impressive. It has simply been an incredible experience. Susie Skypes is digging into what may have been the holy of holies. I mean, I never thought she'd be standing here or sitting here or digging here. It's just been something you know you read about in the Bible, but who would have thought you'd be here in person?

You've been here from the beginning. What is it like for you to be here and see what you have discovered? It has really changed the way I read the Bible as I read. I've been coming, I've been coming and digging and even just being on the land and learning the ancient routes and the ancient ways and when I read the Bible I can imagine it. I read that you know about Shiloh. I read about Eli and Anna and I know where that happened, I can imagine it, um and it's here, so to me it's very impactful and it's really changed my understanding of some of those details in the Bible that you might just read and overlook, but they really do make a lot more sense to me now that Jordan is overseeing the excavation at the sacrificial bone depository.

I dig here and I discover these things being a believer, you know, I see these bones of this sacrificial system that for centuries people came and gave this offering that I knew they were going to have to come and do again every year this constant and constant sacrifice and just knowing that Jesus came to fulfill that just brings you all this full circle, you really do it, it's humbling for me to do this, the excavation uses some of the latest innovations in archeology including on-site wet sieving, allowing them to discover many more ancient artifacts, the work is meticulously documented with the latest technology, the

finds

of the day are identified and catalogued, they expect to be excavating the site for several more years, why?

This is so important, well, I think there is a field of ideas and we are part of that whether we want it or not, and this idea that the Bible is not a reliable historical source is a fantasy that has been manufactured and many people have believed this and do not believe they can trust the Bible. um I'll tell you which Bible I turn to in this part of the world. These are biblical sides and time and time again we find a correlation. between what we have in the text and what we find in material culture and therefore, although we publish scientific and peer-reviewed journals and final publications, I think it is also important that our interpretations reflect that the biblical text can be trusted and what is the lesson.

For us today, well, if you could trust what God did in history, then you can trust him today and you can trust him tomorrow. I mean, I think we need to remember that God loves us, he has a plan for humanity. Chris Mitchell news old Shiloh