Running a Marathon or an Even haEzer?

I recently took one of my grandsons on a tour of Tel Shiloh, the archeological mound which holds the remains of the Biblical town which hosted the Tabernacle for a period of three-hundred and sixty-nine years. [Maimonides Laws of the Temple 1:2, based upon Tosefta Zevaḥim 13:6]

The final mention of Shiloh in First Samuel is in the aftermath of the disastrous Battle of Even haEzer, where the Israelites battled their arch-enemies, the Philistines. The first day of the battle favored the Philistines, with the Israelite army suffering approximately four-thousand casualties. [I Samuel 4:2] In response, the elders of Israel decided to bring the Holy Ark from Shiloh to the battleground. Not only were the Israelites convinced that the presence of the ark would guarantee their victory, but the Philistines themselves quaked in fear, as we read:

And the Philistines feared, for they said, “God has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe is unto us, for there was nothing like this yesterday and before yesterday!” “Woe is unto us! Who will save us from the hand of this mighty God? This is the God who smote the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness.” [ibid. 7-8]

The second and final day of the battle was even more disastrous, resulting in a total rout of the Israelite army:

So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was severe - 30,000 of the Israelite foot soldiers fell. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died. [ibid. 10-11]

Following the defeat, “A Benjamite man,” whom our Sages identify as Saul ben Kish, who would later become the first king of Israel [Midrash Shemuel 11:1], ran from Even haEzer to Shiloh to deliver the bad tidings.

The distance of a Marathon race is 42 kilometers, 195 meters. The reason the distance is not a round number is that the race parallels the distance between the battleground of Marathon and the gates of Athens. An Athenian soldier, named Pheidippides ran from the battleground of Marathon to Athens to announce the Athenians’ victory over the Persians. Upon delivering his message, Pheidippides fell dead.

Given the accepted location of Even haEzer, not far from modern Rosh haAyin, the distance between the battleground and Shiloh is approximately thirty-five kilometers as the crow flies. Since the Benjamite man, be he Saul or someone else, could not have run in a direct line, but had to follow the topography, it is reasonable to assume that the actual distance covered was close to the distance of a Marathon.

Given that the Battle of Even haEzer preceded the Battle of Marathon by at least three-hundred thirty-nine years, perhaps it would be more appropriate for the long-distance race to be called an Even haEzer, rather than a Marathon.

We may note that Midrash Shemuel has the Benjamite man running sixty mil, a distance between 57.6 (according to the system of Rabbi Ḥayyim Naeh) and 69.12 kilometers (according to the system of Ḥazon Ish); so it is good news for the runners that the race is a Marathon and not an Even haEzer.

Both the run from Marathon to Athens and that from Even haEzer to Shiloh ended with a death, but there is an interesting contrast. It was Pheidippides, the runner from Marathon,  who died after delivering his message to the Athenians, while at Shiloh the Benjamite man survived, but the main recipient of the message, Eli the high priest died upon delivery of the message. [I Samuel 4:18]