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 and part II online) and attempts to unravel this "most famous crux interpretum in the entire OT".^F1

The key phrase in this passage "until Shiloh comes" is regarded as so meaningless by many that they have tried in vain alternate translations to give it meaning. A good survey of ancient and early modern opinions is provided in Skinner's commentary on Genesis in the International Critical Commentary series and of more modern views in the Word Biblical Commentary.

Later Jewish commentators such as Rabbi Sforno, a 16th century Italian rabbi and physician, have tried to translate as "until tranquillity (שלה shâlâh, Strong's #7951) comes", possibly a messianic concept in itself, but not particularly convincing. Rabbi Chofni Gaon, the 11th century Iraqi rabbi, thought it could be made to say "until the exile comes" if Shiloh came from the Hebrew root נשל nâshal "to drive out" (Strong's #5394). The famous rabbi Rashi thought it was "until a gift is brought to him" if broken down as שילו shay lô (שי shay "a gift brought in homage", Strong's #7862; cf. Isaiah 18:7; Psalm 76:12; 68:3, and לו lô meaning "to him"). Many modern interpreters (e.g., Anchor Bible Commentary, Word Biblical Commentary) also favour this as offering a balanced Hebrew poetic parallelism between the parts of the verse.

More commonly, many translate, as does the pre-Christian Greek Septuagint, Aramaic Targum and later Genesis midrash (Bereshith Rabbah 99), as "until that which is his comes". This is elaborated under the concept of that which is 'rightly' his, in other words, until rule returns to him whose right it is to wield it. In Ezekiel 21:26f. (Hebrew vv.31f.) "…until he whose right it is …" is indeed addressed to the last king of Judah:

"Now to you, O profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, whose iniquity shall end, thus says the Lord GOD: "Remove the turban, and take off the crown; Nothing shall remain the same. Exalt the humble, and humble the exalted. Overthrown, overthrown, I will make it overthrown! It shall be no longer, Until He comes whose right it is, And I will give it to Him."" (Ezekiel 21:25-27)

Now Rome effectively destroyed both the Temple and Jerusalem (capital of Judah) in 70 A.D. causing Judah to cease to exist as a nation. In Jesus' own day or a little after, according to the Talmud and Josephus^F2 , the power of pronouncing capital sentences, a sign of rule and sovereignty, was removed from the Jews. The fall of Judah's might and right in 70 A.D. was almost exactly one generation (40 years) after Jesus said "all these things" would come to pass when referring to the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem's surrounding by armies (Matthew 24). The monarchy has not returned since, despite a return to nationhood and democracy in 1948, and so Messiah must have come in between.

Whichever way you look at it, the true meaning of Shiloh, is almost unnecessary. The name or word itself already meant Messiah to Jews before Christians ever wrote commentaries on Genesis. A final example, admittedly written sometime later, in a Jewish midrash on Proverbs reads:

"… Just as in the case of a plant from the moment you plant it, its place is recognizable, so too did God plant kingship in the Tribe of Judah until the Messiah shall sprout forth, as it is said, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah". Rabbi Huna said: The Messiah has been given seven names, and these are: Yinnon, Our Righteousness, Shoot, Comforter, David, Shiloh, Elijah."

Whether the symbolism of the tabernacle is meant, or the gematria of Messiah, or the hints at gift, rulership and right, belonging to Judah only until Messiah came, the point is rule had departed from Judah by the 1st century time of Christ, so Messiah must have come! Revelation triumphantly proclaims the ascended Jesus as the "lion of the tribe of Judah" (Revelation 5:5).

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FOOTNOTES:
F1: Moran, Biblica 39 (1958) p.405
F2: "After the death of the procurator Festus, when Albinus was about to succeed him, the high priest Ananias considered it a favourable opportunity to assembly the Sanhedrin. He therefore caused James the Brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, and several others, to appear before this hastily assembled council, and pronounced upon them the sentence of death by stoning. All the wise men and strict observers of the law who were at Jerusalem expressed their disapprobation of this act... Some even went to Albinus himself, who had departed to Alexandria, to bring this breach of the law under his observation, and to inform him that Ananius had acted illegally in assembling the Sanhedrin without the Roman authority." (Josephus, Antiquities 20:9)

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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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