Gilgal, Israel: Place Joshua, Samuel, Saul, Tabernacle, Altar, 12 Stone Monument, Footprint, Located

[Music] [Applause] [Music] well here we are in the holy land welcome here we are at Tel Gilgal so at this biblical site we'll be looking at the location of this place and why that's so important we'll talk about the historical background of this location we'll be looking at some of the amazing places of interest at this site we'll see the key events in the Bible that took place here and we'll end with the faith lesson in order to learn the major lessons God desires for us from this important biblical site so I think you'll find this video very enlightening and transforming to your life there's a number of places in Israel that they have discovered that have the shape of a human foot so when the Israelites crossed into the Promised Land they would camp and they would build with their camps it would make it like the shape of a right human foot because as the promise was given to Abraham wherever your foot trod Zoar goes it will be yours so there's an altar here that has been erected by Joshua we're gonna be looking at some stuff in here but more than that there is a lot of biblical things that happened right here it's really really rich in biblical history so that's why we've come here we are about eight miles north of Jericho and just a few miles west of the Jordan River now it appears in Scripture that there are two gill gulls there was a camp Gilgal that's where the Israelites set up their camp right after they crossed the Jordan River and first entered into the promised land but it appears later that they established a more permanent dwelling a little bit north of the Gilgal so in this particular teaching and video we're gonna be talking about camp Gilgal which was down by Jericho and the permanent tel Gilgal which is right here once again there have been discoveries found here that give great weight to the fact that this was the more permanent Gilgal and we can see the valley below us there was plenty of place there was water plenty of place to camp and to stay but it was more of a permanent residence now I want to talk a little bit about some historical background here about this place and about this human footprint shape that's here that we're going to be seeing the late professor Adam zertal from the University here in Haifa Israel did much research on the biblical location of Gilgal and discovered that it's very likely very possible it wasn't necessarily a specific location but a common name for a camp or religious site in its early period in dirt all's research he discovered six sites where the Israelites could have camped after crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land each place is uniquely shaped like a human right footprint very interesting this is likely attributed to the promise given to them in Deuteronomy 1124 every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon and from the river the river Euphrates as far as the western sea so we believe that from Deuteronomy that when the Israelites came in they would they would camp and then they would build their camp from the shape part of it in the shape of a human footprint now in joshua 419 it places Gilgal the camp Gilgal on the eastern edge of jericho get right in between the Jordan River and Jericho it says in Joshua 419 now the people came up from the Jordan River on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal the eastern edge of Jericho now the place of Tel Gilgal doesn't fit with the camp Gilgal so once again we believe that there's two places and in the research indicates it appears there were two places and that Gilgal is not necessarily a pinpointed place but a location but it does appear by what has been discovered here that this was the more permanent camp that lasted for some time that we'll be looking at in our Bible time here if Sir tall's claims are true then it's very possible that tel Gilgal was the more permanent Gilgal that is referred to thirty-five times in Scripture and the place on the eastern edge of Jericho was a temporary place where the Israelites camped this seems reasonable as there are no remains of any permanent city on the eastern edge of Jericho so no discoveries have been made that show any indication of anything permanent whereas in here at modern-day Gilgal there have been many discoveries found so therefore once again we'll refer to this site as tel Gilgal in our talk and we'll refer to the camp yield all across from Jericho as the camp Gilgal and once again that seems to be the temporary place where they stayed at and this seems to be the permanent location that's mentioned throughout Scripture now tel Gilgal right here became a central meeting place throughout the rest of the Old Testament and appears to have been a smaller City so it wasn't a large city it was more of a center of gathering now there are some places of interest here that have been discovered that we want to point out to you here at this tel Gilgal well one we're filming right by this tower this is more of a modern-day tower that just marks this spot but once again whenever we see a lot of historical background at a site it does help us to believe that there's significance here otherwise you wouldn't have all these people doing things for all this a length of time here then there's this heel part of the footprint shape that tell Gilgal and that's going to be right over here that the heels here and the toe and the front part of the foot is down below towards the poems and we'll be walking and looking at that there was a tabernacle here we can see some remains of a tabernacle there's some remains of a 12 stone monument and it appears that this monument these twelve stones were moved from the the temporary camp Gilgal up here to the permanent tel Gilgal because they found 12 a 12 stone monument here there's been found an altar here and once again the toe part of the footprint is down towards the lower part so then right here you can see I'm standing in the heel of this footprint and then the toes and stuff are down there but as we go down we're going to be seeing the this a temple that was here and this altar once again this is very old we're talking 3,600 years but this area right here is the footprint of this shape that they made here in this lower part of the heel is where the tabernacle was right in this area here this flat area right in here be the tabernacle part now this area right here is a close-up of where the twelve stone monument would have been now obviously this is very very old so there's not much left of it now okay so anyway here would have been the altar as you can see it's down below where the tabernacle and the twelve stone altar would have been it's in the toe part of the print of this heel shaped area and it's round in nature so this is the believed place where the altar would have been and then of course Jericho is to our south about eight miles and then the Jordan River is just in front of me or east of us just a couple miles and then once again Camp Gill goal would be placed just east of Jericho what we believe is the temporary dildo so that's kind of the lay of the land and a little bit of the historical background of Camp Gilgal than the permanent Gilgal once again we believe this is the permanent Gilgal because of the altar that's been found here the twelve stones the shape of a human footprint so all these things just seem to give great evidence that this is the the permanent site of gilgul so now we're going to look in the Bible of some significant things a lot of things happen here and that's why we're here as we said some places are aesthetically pleasing they're beautiful some places don't have a lot of beauty because they're they've just been kind of forgotten and we should mention we've indicated that in Israel only about 2% of all of the historical biblical sites have been excavated so they've just got this land rich with history but it's been very little excavated so this is one of the sites is this marked out we'll see some stuff but it's not really a tourist spot but once again it has so much rich biblical history that we wanted to come here and talk about this so camp Gilgal that's east of Jericho is the first place the Israelites camped after crossing the Jordan River and entering the Promised Land now tomorrow we're going to be at the baptismal site of Jesus which is the believed place also were the Israelites crossed into the promised land and that miracle is quite astounding I'll just give you a little teaser the water backed up about 20 or 30 miles it was about it formed a dam when they crossed because the water was running at flood stage and so God stopped the water in the water formed a dam as it backed up it was about 2 miles wide it was about 120 feet deep and it went up into the Jordan Valley about 20 or 30 miles roughly we'll be talking about about that tomorrow it says I mean the miracle is far larger than what we probably think when we've maybe been to Sunday school or we've heard about it so when they first for the Israelites first crossed the Jordan River they camped at Camp Gilgal and that's the camp Gilgal right east of Jericho and at Camp Gilgal Joshua erected 12 stones taken from the Jordan River as a monument of remembrance it says in Joshua 4:18 it came about when the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came up from the middle of the Jordan and the souls of the priests feet were lifted up to the dry ground that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and went over all its banks as before now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho those 12 stones which they had taken up from the Jordan Joshua set up at Gilgal he said to the sons of Israel when your children ask their fathers in time to come saying what are these stones then you shall inform your children saying Israel cross this Jordan on dry ground for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed just as the Lord your God had done to the Red Sea and you see this duplication of miracles and you'll see that quite regularly which he dried up before us until we had crossed that all the peoples of the earth that everyone may know not eat not just them but so all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty so that you may fear the Lord your God forever so once again we just see that the nation of Israel was a mouthpiece was a vehicle through which God wanted to speak and show his glory to all of the world but that happened at Camp gilgul but once again it appears the stones were moved up here because they have been now camp Gilgal was the first place the Israelites celebrated the Passover after entering the promised land in camp Gilgal just about eight miles or about twelve kilometers south of here so it's not very far it says while the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho and it was at Gilgal that the Gibeonites tricked the Israelites into making a covenant with them so they wouldn't be destroyed so the Gibeonites are just north west of Jerusalem just about five or eight miles and they came down here to Gilgal to make a covenant and they tricked Joshua says in Joshua nine three well I shouldn't say they tricked Joshua I should say that the Joshua that Joshua failed to ask the Lord now they were deceitful but Joshua did not pray about this so therefore he was deceived says in Joshua nine three when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to AI they also acted craftily and set out as envoys and took worn-out sacks on their donkeys and wine skins worn-out and torn and mended and worn-out and Pat's sandals on their feet and worn-out clothes on themselves and all the bread of their provisions was dry and had become crumbled they went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel we have come from a far country now therefore make a covenant with us and Joshua did make a covenant with them once again because he failed to pray so Gilgo was the place from which caleb one of the two faithful spies Moses sent to spy out the promised land asked Joshua for his portion of the land we're going to make a transition now at this particular time now were a little bit later it seems that the Israelites have moved more to the permanent place the permanent Gilgal so it's probably right here now that the rest of what i'm going to tell you takes place we don't exactly know exact when that transition happened but it's likely somewhere at this point says in Joshua 4:6 then the sons of Judah drew near to Joshua in Gilgal and Caleb the son of Jephunneh the kena sight said to him you know the word of the Lord which the Lord spoke to Moses the man of God concerning you and me at Kadesh Barnea and Kadesh Barnea is in the south part of the Negev when they were going to enter the promised land and Joshua and Caleb are two of the faithful spies the other ten were not said we can't do it so as a result they then they wandered for forty years in the desert all of the all of those twenty years and older died so it was only the second generation now that come in Joshua and Caleb are the only two that remained out of the first generation so it was right here the Caleb asked for his possession and he says I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt with fear but I followed the Lord my God fully so Moses swore on that day saying surely the land on which your foot has trodden will be an inheritance to you and to your children for ever because you have followed the Lord my God fully and it says in Joshua 14 13 so Joshua blessed him and gave her bran to Caleb for an inheritance and then Hebron is about 30 miles south of Jerusalem that was the area that Caleb received now we're going to move forward in time about 400 years after Joshua and once again it appears that after Joshua or some point during that time this became the permanent Gilgal so the conquest of the promised land took place in about 1406 BC the time of Saul is roughly around 1,000 BC so now we advance the narrative we've an advanced the story the timeline about 400 years now we're in the time of the prophet Samuel and salt once again this place now is the seems to be the permanent Gilgal at that time it says and that the prophet Samuel visited and taught the Word of God regularly at till Gilgal so we know that it became a permanent place and once again it we haven't found any archaeological evidence across from East of Jericho which shows any permanent place of dwelling so that's why it seems like that was the temporary place and then once they got established and then they moved up here to a more permanent place so it says that Samuel came here on a regular basis preaching the word it says in 1st Samuel 7:15 now Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life he used to go annually on a circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah and he judged Israel in all these places so Samuel would have been here Joshua would have been here okay Saul was anointed here he was made the first king over Israel here in Gilgal so once again there's a lot of things that happen here it says in 1st Samuel 11 then samuel said to the people come and let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there so all the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul King before the Lord in Gilgal so they also offered sacrifices and peace offerings before the Lord and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly so right here in Gilgal now tell Gilgal was a central gathering place for the Israelites for many years says in 1st Samuel 13 for all Israel heard the news that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines and also that Israel had become odious or despised or rejected by the Philistines the people were then summoned to Saul at Gilgal now also King Saul's reign over Israel came to an end here at Tel Gilgal because of his disobedience was anointed here King and then he his reign is going to end here as King it says in 1st Samuel 13 and this was because of his disobedience now he waited seven days according to the appointed time set by Samuel so just a little brief backdrop is that the Philistines were hard pressing on Israel Saul was under extreme pressure the armies were gathering all around him but Samuel had told him the prophet Samuel had told him to wait and I will come and I will offer a sacrifice for the battle and bless you so they were gathered here and Saul waits and waits and Samuel doesn't arrive and so Saul does something that was forbidden he as a king not as a priest he had no right to he offered the sacrifice and gave the blessing so then afterwards the prophet Samuel shows up so Saul had waited seven days according to the appointed time set by Samuel but Samuel did not come to Gilgal and the people were scattering from him so once again he's under this great pressure that these Philistine armies are gathering around him Samuel is not here and he's losing control and he's in this state of panic a life and death so to speak and it said all the people were scattering from him verse 9 so saul said bring to me this is saul saul said bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings and he offered the burnt offering as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering behold samuel came and saul went up to greet him but samuel said what have you done and saul said because i saw the people were scattering from me and that you did not come within the appointed days and that the philistines were assembling at mcmaster for i said now the philistines will come down against me at Gilgal right here and i have not asked the favor of the Lord so I forced myself and offered the burnt offering once again we can see in the life of Samuel we saw yesterday at that sha'n thats all always presumed upon the grace of God and did things that he wasn't supposed to do just using his own logic he always had an excuse and today many believers we do the same so he said I forced myself to offer this burnt offering verse 13 Samuel said to Saul you have acted foolishly you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God which he commanded you for now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel but now your kingdom shall not endure the Lord has sought out for himself a man after his own heart that's talking about David and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over all his people because you have not kept the word the Lord has commanded you or not kept what the Lord has commanded you so it's right here or in this area is where Saul lost his kingship because of his disobedience we talked in another faith lesson about how those in leadership the decisions they make are far greater than people under their authority because it influences a lot of people so kings and queens and presidents and and rulers should be very careful and we that are a leadership whether it be ministries or whatever we should be very careful about our decisions because what we do affects many under us so to whom much is given much more is required and that's why it says in James not let many of you be teachers but because you will incur a stricter judgment those in authority will have great rewards but if their Authority is used poorly or foolishly then they will suffer loss greater loss consequences and then later on God pronounces judgment upon Israel at Tel Gilgal because of their disobedience to him it says in Hosea 9:15 all their evil is at Gilgal indeed I came to hate them there interesting right here at Gilgal god just became increasingly angry with the israelites here and grew disgusted with them because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house I will love them no more all their princes are rebels now as a result we know that the northern tribes ten tribes are going to go into deportation by the Assyrians and then we know that later on under the Babylonians by the Babylonians the two southern tribes Judah will go into captivity then an Amos five four it says for thus says the Lord to the house of Israel seek me that you may live but do not resort to Bethel and do not come to Gilgal nor cross over to bear Sheba for Gilgal will certainly go into captivity and Bethel will come to trouble so once again you see that that Gilgal played a significant role in the conquest that it was a central place and then all throughout Israel's history it was a central gathering place in play and played a key role and it was here that Saul was anointed it was here he lost his kingship and it was here that God grew angry with the nation of Israel because of their continual disobedience and then of course he would lead them into deportation as a result so what are some faith lessons that we can learn and apply to ourselves today there's always these principles that God is a teaching that applied to us scripture says in Romans and first Corinthians that these things were written beforehand for examples for us today so what what can we learn from what happened here well like the Israelites you took twelve stones out of the Jordan River to mark the fulfillment of God's miracle and bringing them into the promised land we too should set up remembrances they don't have to be physical they could be but we should try to have marker and remember what God has done for us also so that we can teach our children that 12 stones not only represented what God had done but were to be used for succeeding generations so that it was tools vehicles through which fathers mothers aunts and uncles could teach these truths of what God had done leading them out of the promised land supplying their needs in the wilderness leading them into the promised land through crossing the Jordan so they were tools of remembrance that we should too should do the same and like Caleb who was faithful and trusting God we should emulate his faith there were approximately 3.5 million Jews who left Egypt came out of Egypt only two went into the Promised Land and Caleb was one of them because of his faith he was a man of faith and it says later on I didn't read a bit when he went to conquer a Hebron which is kind of a mountain he said to Moses he was 80 years old he said he had lost his vigor or his strength probably kept himself in good you know physical shape he said give me that mountain he had waited 40 years he waited 40 years for his inheritance he had tolerated all of Israel's wickedness he had spent you know 40 years wandering with him as a result of their witness wickedness he had no fault he was not to blame but he paid the price for the sins of those around him and we often do too as well so when he was when it was time he said to me that mountain and give it to him and he went up and conquered it now unlike Joshua who failed to pray and seek the Lord regarding the trickery of the Gibeonites we should pray and seek the Lord regarding our decisions regarding our ministry decisions regarding what we're going to do Joshua failed to do that in the Gibeonites tricked him and once again we should heed the warnings of King Saul's life he was anointed here and his his reign came to an end here why because of simple disobedience once again the disobedience and sin of leaders affects those under them and lastly we shouldn't be like the Israelites who were up and down all the time and then gradually turned away from the Lord and then were deported we should not be like them our faith even though we might have emotions up and down but a person who walks with the Lord and then falls away or or you know then comes back to the Lord and falls away that's the sign of a spiritually immature person we don't base our walk with the Lord on our emotions we base those on the solid rock which is our spiritual disciplines our obedience to him God is with us regardless of how we feel and once again what marks whether or not we're in right fellowship is not just an emotion although an emotion is important but it's not just an emotion it's are we in fellowship with the Lord am i obeying the Lord am i walking with the Lord am i reading his word am i praying those are markers not just because we do then that means we're right but once again the Israelites were up and down all the time up and down and the person who washed with the Lord and then you know falls away from the Lord and then gets back on track that's just a sign of a spiritual inventory so here we are at this tel Gilgal and as you can see it's really rich it's really rich when you think about all that happened right here and you can maybe just go back in time and picture Joshua here camped out here and then later on you can envision Saul here vision Samuel here you can envision you know these many things that happened right here and it was a central gathering place so a lot of people would gather together so here we are at this tell Gilgal and once again rich rich things happened here and some great lessons of faith for us here so thank you for your input your thoughts and those watching by video god bless you and we'll continue to move on and see many more things here in the Holy Land you

Channel: HolyLandSite

Views: 202,151

Keywords: Tel Gilgal, Footprint at Giglal, 12 Stone Monument, Tabernacle, altar, Footprint shape of Tel Gilgal, Jordan River, Shomron, Israel camp, Israel gathering place, Argaman, Human right footprint, Footprint shape Tel Gilgal, Jericho, Israelites cross Jordan River, Joshua, Joshua altar, Prophet Samuel, King Saul

Id: d9o4Rz-qJgk

Length: 30min 33sec (1833 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 06 2020