Saul Meets Samuel. The Tabernacle is now HIDDEN inside the Temple Mount!
1-Samuel (CJV) 9:
14 AND THEY WENT UP TO THE CITY. AS THEY WERE COMING INTO THE MIDST OF THE CITY, AND BEHOLD, SAMUEL WAS COMING OUT TOWARD THEM, TO ASCEND THE HIGH PLACE.
The High Place was the site for public sacrifices at that time.
HIGH PLACE. In Hebrew "bamah." Even though they are called "High Places" they were not always on high areas.
They can be found on hills (2-Kings 16:4; 17:9-10; 1-Kings 11:7), in towns (1-Kings 13:32; 2-Kings 17:29; 23:5) and at the gate of Jerusalem (2-Kings 23:8). Ezra 6:3 says they were in the ravines and valleys. The position of a bamah in the valley can also be seen in Jeremiah 7:31; 32:35.
# Martin J. Selman, director of postgraduate studies and deputy principal at Spurgeon's College, London, says, "The essential feature of a bamah was, therefore, not its location or height, though it usually consisted of at least a [human-formed] platform, sometimes with an associated building or buildings (2 Kings 17:29, 23:19), but its function as a site for religious purposes." #
When the Israelites came into the Land they brought the Tabernacle with them. At first it was stationed at Gilgal just west of the Jordan.
At that time bamot were permitted for private sacrifices, the Tabernacle for public ones.
See:
The High Places and the Ark of the Covenant
https://avrahambenyehuda.wordpress.com/2018/06/18/the-high-places-and-the-ark-of-the-covenant/
After 14 years the Tabernacle was transferred to Shiloh in the territory of Ephraim. Its walls were replaced by walls of stone. All bamot were forbidden.
After 369 years Shiloh was destroyed but the Tabernacle itself (apart from its stone walls) was saved. The Tabernacle was set up again at first in Nov (also transliterated as "Nob," in Shuafat, north of Jerusalem), then in Gibeon: Bamot were permitted for private sacrifices. The Tabernacle was then moved to Jerusalem
and bamot were again forbidden and everything had to be done in the Tabernacle. When Solomon built the Temple it replaced the Tabernacle.
The Tabernacle is now HIDDEN inside the Temple Mount!
An article by Rabbi Yehudah Elitzur quotes from Maimonides:
# When Solomon built the Temple, he was aware that it would ultimately be destroyed. [Therefore,] he constructed a chamber, in which the Ark could be entombed below [the Holy of Holies] in deep, maze-like vaults. King Josiah commanded that [the Ark] be entombed in the chamber built by Solomon, as it is said: "He said to the Levites, consecrated to the Lord, who taught all Israel, 'Put the Holy Ark in the House that Solomon son of David, king of Israel, built': (II Chronicles 35:3). (Hilkhot Beit Ha-bechira 4:1) #
According to this the Tabernacle is still hidden away somewhere on the Temple Mount in one of the numerous tunnels, caves, and cavities with which the area is riddled.
1-Samuel (CJV) 9:
15 NOW, THE LORD HAD REVEALED TO SAMUEL ONE DAY BEFORE SAUL'S COMING, SAYING,
16 "AT THIS TIME TOMORROW, I SHALL SEND TO YOU A MAN FROM THE LAND OF BENJAMIN, AND YOU SHALL ANOINT HIM TO BE A RULER OF MY PEOPLE ISRAEL, AND HE WILL SAVE MY PEOPLE FROM THE HAND OF THE PHILISTINES, FOR I HAVE LOOKED UPON MY PEOPLE, FOR THEIR CRY HAS COME TO ME."
Requesting a King:
At first when the people requested a king God was angry. Here the Almighty says He is sending a savior because He has pitied His people. The two
aspects can be correct. It happens that we may have done something wrong or gained something through wrong means or for wrong intentions. It is
not the end of the road. We probably had a genuine legitimate need only went about satisfying it in the wrong way. It is not the end of the road.
God may still hear us and help us.
17 AND SAMUEL SAW SAUL, AND THE LORD SAID TO HIM, "BEHOLD, THE MAN ABOUT WHOM I SAID TO YOU, 'THIS ONE WILL RULE OVER MY PEOPLE.' "
18 AND SAUL APPROACHED SAMUEL INSIDE THE GATE, AND SAID. "TELL ME NOW, WHICH IS THE HOUSE OF THE SEER?"
19 AND SAMUEL ANSWERED SAUL, AND SAID, "I AM THE SEER, AND YOU SHALL EAT WITH ME TODAY, AND I SHALL SEND YOU AWAY IN THE MORNING, AND ALL THAT IS ON YOUR MIND, I SHALL TELL YOU.
20 AND CONCERNING THE SHE-ASSES WHICH ARE LOST TO YOU, (AND YOU HAVE SOUGHT THEM AS OF) TODAY, THREE DAYS, DO NOT TAKE THEM TO HEART, FOR THEY HAVE BEEN FOUND; AND TO WHOM DOES ALL THAT IS DESIRABLE IN ISRAEL BELONG? IS IT NOT TO YOU AND TO YOUR FATHER'S HOUSE?
21 AND SAUL ANSWERED AND SAID, "AM I NOT A BENJAMITE, OF THE SMALLEST OF THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL? AND MY FAMILY THE LEAST OF ALL THE FAMILIES OF BENJAMIN? NOW, WHY HAVE YOU SPOKEN TO ME AFTER THIS MANNER?
This was not long after the war of all the other Tribes against Benjamin (Judges chapter 20) in which Benjamin had almost been exterminated. In addition, The Matri clan of Benjamin to which Saul belonged was a new
clan that had only recently emerged as an entity in its own right. It is interesting that here Saul does not say he is intrinsically unworthy of the classification only that he has no significant Tribal backing of his own
compared with that which could be found elsewhere.
22 AND SAMUEL TOOK SAUL AND HIS SERVANT, AND BROUGHT THEM INTO THE CHAMBER, AND HE GAVE THEM A PLACE AT THE HEAD OF THE INVITED GUESTS, WHO WERE ABOUT THIRTY MEN.
23 AND SAMUEL SAID TO THE COOK, "GIVE THE PORTION WHICH I GAVE YOU, OF WHICH I SAID TO YOU, 'KEEP IT WITH YOU.' "
24 AND THE COOK RAISED UP THE THIGH AND THAT WHICH WAS UPON IT, AND PLACED IT BEFORE SAUL, WHEREUPON HE SAID, "BEHOLD THAT WHICH HAS BEEN RESERVED! PLACE (IT) BEFORE YOU (AND) EAT, BECAUSE FOR THE APPOINTED TIME IT IS RESERVED FOR YOU, BY SAYING, 'I HAVE INVITED THE PEOPLE.' " SO SAUL ATE WITH SAMUEL ON THAT DAY.
There is something very basic about eating together. Samuel eat with Saul just before he was about to impart unto him a message and task from the Almighty. Eating together allows for a communality of feeling.
25 AND THEY DESCENDED FROM THE HIGH PLACE TO THE CITY, AND HE SPOKE WITH SAUL ON THE ROOF.
In those days most houses had flat roofs and there was a wall around the edges of the roof and people used the space for various chores and for
communing with each other. The Israelites had a unique housing design of their own, known as the "Four-Room House" by which archaeologists can identify them and which the
Israelite-Hyksos had previously had in Egypt.
See:
Four-room house.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-room_house
26 AND THEY AROSE EARLY, AND IT WAS AT DAWN, THAT SAMUEL CALLED SAUL TO THE ROOF, SAYING, "ARISE AND I SHALL ESCORT YOU." AND SAUL AROSE, AND THEY WENT OUT, BOTH OF THEM, HE AND SAMUEL, INTO THE STREET.
27 AS THEY WERE GOING DOWN AT THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE CITY, SAMUEL SAID TO SAUL, "TELL THE SERVANT TO GO AHEAD OF US," AND HE WENT AHEAD. "AND YOU, STAND STILL AT THIS TIME, AND I SHALL LET YOU HEAR THE WORD OF GOD."