Language Studies

Difficult Sayings

Until Shiloh Comes
Genesis 49:10

"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people." (Genesis 49:10 God says that he will restore the tabernacle of David. These are messianic predictions in themselves, but do not mention Shiloh.

If Shiloh is a place or a person, it is at this time that sovereignty, rule and importantly lawgiving will pass from Judah. Law giving could be civil or biblical and may imply teaching as much as policing.

Israel lost self-rule during the captivity, for a period under the Maccabees in the 2nd century B.C., and permanently from the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 until 1948. So Shiloh could refer to the advent of Jesus and Christian Judaism in the first century during which time teaching and authority passed to the disciples, the priesthood was ended and sovereignty passed to the Romans.

This would be a nice coincidence if Shiloh meant Messiah.

This passage is indeed considered messianic by the Jews and the early church. Only more liberal critical theologians, Jewish anti-missionary movements and Muslims consider it to be otherwise.

Take for example, the Jewish Targumim, Midrashim and Talmuds:

"Kings and rulers shall not cease from the house of Judah, nor scribes who teach the Torah from his seed, until the time when the King Messiah shall come, the youngest of his sons, and because of him nations shall melt away / and on account of him shall the peoples flow together. How beauteous is the King, the Messiah who will arise from the house of Judah." (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 49:10)

The Midrash on Genesis:

"... Another interpretation: THE SCEPTRE [STAFF] SHALL NOT DEPART FROM JUDAH alludes to the Messiah, son of David, who will chastise the State with a staff, as it says, Thou shalt break them with a rod [staff] of iron (Psalm 11:9)." (Midrash, Bereshith Rabbah, 97)

Rabbi Rachmon in the Jerusalem Talmud wrote that:

"When the members of the Sanhedrin found themselves deprived of their right over life and death, a general consternation took possession of them: they covered their heads with ashes, and their bodies with sackcloth, exclaiming: 'Woe unto us for the sceptre has departed from Judah and the Messiah has not come'" (Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin, 24)

In the Babylonian Talmud, Rabbi Johanan said:

"The world was created for the sake of the Messiah, what is this Messiah's name? The school of Rabbi Shila said 'his name is Shiloh, for it is written; until Shiloh come.'" (Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b)

So the Jews clearly thought of Shiloh as Messiah. We will leave it for the New Year to continue this article and we will explore the counter arguments against the interpretation above, alternative translations that still arrive at the same conclusion and delve into messianic Gematria!

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KJ Went has taught biblical Hebrew, hermeneutics and Jewish background to early Christianity. The "Biblical Hebrew made easy" course can be found at www.biblicalhebrew.com.

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