Gen. xlix, 10. The Hebrew text is, “until Shiloh come.” All
Christian commentators agree, that this word ought to be understood of
the Messiah, that is, of Jesus Christ. The LXX. read it, “Until the
coming of him to whom it is reserved.” It must be owned that the
signification of the Hebrew word Shiloh is not well known. Some
translate the clause, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, till he
comes to whom it belongs;” others, “till the coming of the peacemaker,
or the pacific, or prosperity;” and some, “The sceptre shall not depart
from Judah till its end, its ruin,” till the downfall of the kingdom of
the Jews. However, this much is clear, that the ancient Jews are in this
matter agreed with the Christians, in acknowledging that the word stands
for Messiah, the King. It is thus that the paraphrasts, Onkelos and
Jonathan, and the ancient Hebrew commentaries upon Genesis, and the
Talmudists explain it. If Jesus Christ and his Apostles did not make use
of this passage to prove the coming of the Messiah, it was because then
the completion of this prophecy was not sufficiently manifest. The
sceptre still continued among the Jews; they had still kings of their
own nation, in the persons of the Herods; but soon after the sceptre was
entirely taken away from them, and a people began to be gathered to
Christ, out of the Gentile nations.
2. SHILOH, a celebrated city of the tribe of Ephraim, twelve miles from
Shechem, Joshua xviii, xix, xxi. It was in this place that the
tabernacle of the Lord was set up, when the people were settled in the
country. The ark and the tabernacle of the Lord continued at Shiloh from
A. M. 2560 till 2888, when it was taken by the Philistines, under the
administration of the high priest Eli, 1 Sam. iv. Here the Prophet
Ahijah dwelt, 1 Kings xiv, 2.
Christian commentators agree, that this word ought to be understood of
the Messiah, that is, of Jesus Christ. The LXX. read it, “Until the
coming of him to whom it is reserved.” It must be owned that the
signification of the Hebrew word Shiloh is not well known. Some
translate the clause, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, till he
comes to whom it belongs;” others, “till the coming of the peacemaker,
or the pacific, or prosperity;” and some, “The sceptre shall not depart
from Judah till its end, its ruin,” till the downfall of the kingdom of
the Jews. However, this much is clear, that the ancient Jews are in this
matter agreed with the Christians, in acknowledging that the word stands
for Messiah, the King. It is thus that the paraphrasts, Onkelos and
Jonathan, and the ancient Hebrew commentaries upon Genesis, and the
Talmudists explain it. If Jesus Christ and his Apostles did not make use
of this passage to prove the coming of the Messiah, it was because then
the completion of this prophecy was not sufficiently manifest. The
sceptre still continued among the Jews; they had still kings of their
own nation, in the persons of the Herods; but soon after the sceptre was
entirely taken away from them, and a people began to be gathered to
Christ, out of the Gentile nations.
2. SHILOH, a celebrated city of the tribe of Ephraim, twelve miles from
Shechem, Joshua xviii, xix, xxi. It was in this place that the
tabernacle of the Lord was set up, when the people were settled in the
country. The ark and the tabernacle of the Lord continued at Shiloh from
A. M. 2560 till 2888, when it was taken by the Philistines, under the
administration of the high priest Eli, 1 Sam. iv. Here the Prophet
Ahijah dwelt, 1 Kings xiv, 2.