But according to 1Samuel iv. seq., on the other hand,
it is only the ark that goes to the campaign; it alone falls into
the hands of the Philistines. Even in chap. v., where the symbol
of Jehovah is placed in the temple of Dagon at Ashdod, not a word
is said of the tabernacle or of the altar which is necessarily
connected with it; and chap. vi. is equally silent, although
here the enemy plainly gives back the whole of his sacred spoil.
It is assumed that the housing of the ark was left behind at
Shiloh. Very likely; but that was not the Mosaic tabernacle, the
inseparable companion of the ark. In fact, the narrator speaks of
a permanent house at Shiloh with doors and doorposts; that
possibly may be an anachronism /1/ (yet why ?) ;
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1. Compare similar passages in Josh. vi.19, 24, ix.27, where the very
anachronism shows that the idea of the tabernacle was unknown
to the narrator. That, moreover. a permanent house did actually exist
then at Shiloh follows from the circumstance that Jeremiah (vii. 12)
speaks of its ruins. For he could not regard any other than a
pre-Solomonic sanctuary as preceding that of Jerusalem; and
besides, there is not the faintest trace of a more important temple
having arisen at Shiloh within the period of the kings.
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