Shiloh
Fausset's Bible Dictionary [1]
Genesis 49:10. The Messianic interpretation is evaded by translated "until he (Judah) shall come to Shiloh," Judah leading in the march ( Numbers 2:3-9; Numbers 10:14); and when Israel came to Shiloh they pitched the tabernacle there ( Joshua 18:1-10), and Judah's principality ceased. But the town Shiloh did not exist in Jacob's time, and Judah did not lose the preeminence there; nor indeed did Judah, but Moses and Aaron, lead Israel in the wilderness. Shiloh means "the Peacemaker", "the Prince of peace" ( Isaiah 9:6), from shalah "to be at peace." Solomon ("peaceful") typically (Psalm 72), Messiah antitypically, fulfils the prophecy (Gesenius, Keil, Etc.) . The ancient versions, however, almost unanimously translated "He to whom, it belongs," "He whose right it is": Ezekiel 21:27 (Septuagint, Aqu., Symm., Syriac, Saad., Onk., Targum Jer., All Except Vulgate And Pseudo Jon.) .
The letter Υod[h] ( י ) (The I In Shiloh) is made an objection to this latter translation, but many Hebrew manuscripts and all Samaritan manuscripts are without the yod[h] , which probably did not appear until the tenth century. The reading without the yod[h] being the harder reading is the less likely to be spurious; the copyists would more probably insert than omit it. However, (As Sh For The Relative Pronoun 'asher Is Unknown In The Pentateuch, And "It ( huw' ) is due," namely, the sceptre, would be needed), "the Peacemaker" is best, and so our Hebrew text requires as it has the yod[h] . "Abraham rejoiced to see Messiah's day, he saw it and was glad" ( John 8:56); Jacob naturally expresses the same sure anticipation.
The taxing ( Luke 2:1-2) on the eve of Jesus' birth definitely marked the passing of the sceptre (The Tribal Authority And Royal Prominence) and of the lawgiver (The Sanhedrin Expounders Of The Law, Literally, The Ruler'S Staff, mechoqeeq ; Numbers 21:18) from Judah, which virtually had begun some time before, and which was consummated only at Jerusalem's overthrow by Rome. The Herods, though Rome's creatures, exercised a quasi-native sovereignty in Judah just before and after Jesus' birth. After Archelaus a Roman procurator for the first time was sent there. Keil's view however is probably preferable: "the sceptre shall not depart from Judah ... until Shiloh come," i.e. shall NEVER depart.
"Until" ('ad kiy ) is not exclusive ( Psalms 110:1); "and (Until) to Him shall the willing obedience (As Of A Son yiqhath ; Proverbs 30:17) of the peoples be." Judah should bear the sceptre with "lion" courage until in the future Shiloh, sprung from Judah, the willing obedience of the nations came to Him, and His rule over the tribes was widened into the peaceful government of the world. Balaam refers to this prophecy of Jacob ( Numbers 24:17; Isaiah 11:1-9; Zechariah 9:10; Ephesians 2:14; Revelation 5:5). "From between his feet" is explained by the versions, "from his posterity." Rather it is the ruler's staff resting between his feet when he sat, and inclining toward himself. When he spoke in public assemblies he held it in his hand (Keil).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [2]
shı̄´lō ( שׁילה , shı̄lōh ): The prophecy in Genesis 49:10 , "The scepter shall not depart from Judah,... until Shiloh come," etc., has been the subject of very diverse interpretations. the Revised Version margin gives as alternative renderings, " 'Till he come to Shiloh having the obedience of the peoples' Or, according to the Syriac, 'Till he come whose it is,' etc." (1) From the earliest times the passage has been regarded as Messianic, but the rendering in the text, which takes "Shiloh" as a proper name, bearing a meaning such as "peaceful" (compare Isaiah 9:6 , "Prince of Peace"), labors under the difficulty that Shiloh is not found elsewhere as a personal name in the Old Testament, nor is it easy to extract from it the meaning desired. Further, the word was not personally applied to the Messiah in any of the ancient Vss , which rather assume a different reading (see below). Apart from a purely fanciful passage in the Talmud (compare Driver, Gen, 413), this application does not appear earlier than the version of Seb. Munster in the 16th century (1534). (2) The rendering, "till he come to Shiloh," where Shiloh is taken as the name of a place, not a person, is plausible, but is felt to yield no suitable sense in the context. It is, therefore, now also set aside by most recent scholars. (3) The 3rd rendering, which regards Shiloh as representing the Hebrew שלּה , shellōh = שׁלה , shı̄lōh for לו אשר , 'ăsher lō , "whose (it is)," has in its favor the fact that this is evidently the reading presupposed in the Septuagint, the Peshitta, and the this is evidently the reading presupposed in the Septuagint, the Peshitta, and the Jewish Targums, and seems to be alluded to in Ezekiel 21:27 , "until he come whose right it is." In this view the passage has still a Messianic reference, though critics argue that it must then be regarded as late in origin. Other interpretations need not detain us. See for details the full discussions in Hengstenberg's Christology , I, 54 ff, English translation, the commentaries of Delitzsch, Driver, and Skinner, on Genesis (especially Excursus Ii in Driver), and the articles in the various Bible dictionaries. See also Prophecy .
