What is the meaning of the termShiloh? Is it a Messianic prophecy?

The meaning of the word Shiloh.

In scripture this word "Shiloh" has two meanings. It is the name of a person in Genesis 49:10. "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and to him shall the gathering of the people be." The meaning of "Shiloh" here as applied to a person is "whose it is," or "whose right it is." Surely that person is Christ the Lord. It was when He had accomplished the work of redemption, when God had raised Him from the dead, He was the One, the only One, "whose right it is" to gather to Himself. Whether we look at the church of God, or the future gathering of Israel and the millennial nations, or we look up to heaven in Revelation 5, and see one in the midst of the throne, there is only one whose name is Shiloh; to Him, "whose it is," shall the gathering of the people be. He alone is the Shiloh. He alone is worthy. Worthy is the Lamb. Oh, let us never forget His words — what meaning they have — "For where two or three are gathered together to my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matt. 18:20) And this bring us to

Shiloh as a place.

Gen. 49:10, Shiloh. Some MSS. read Sheloh, supported by the Hebraeo-Samaritan (hereafter in this article quoted as Sam.), LXX, Syriac, the Targums of Onkelos and Jerusalem, and the Greek translations of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, and many Jewish authorities. Jerome, with the Vulgate, translates "qui mittendus est," as if deriving the word from to send. For the common reading, many MSS. can be adduced, and the Graeco-Venet. version. If the Hebrew text be followed, the word must be taken as an appellation of the one predicted. If the other reading be preferred (and it does seem best accredited, the word Sheloh must be translated "whose it is," i.e., to whom the government belongs, and be regarded as equivalent to "whose it is" as translated in Ezek. 21:27. "The sceptre shall not depart … until he comes, whose it is."

But, first, the ruling position of Judah was not till but after he came to Shiloh. That any one, therefore, during the kings would falsify the events in a pretended prophecy put into dying Jacob's lips is too much for the credulity of any one but a rationalist. Secondly, one who speaks of others so scornfully as this writer ought not to have exposed himself to the charge of such ignorance as confounding "the peoples" or nations with the people or tribes of Israel. I believe, therefore, with the amplest authority in Hebrew, that as the language admits of our taking Shiloh as the subject, not object, so the sense in the context demands that we render it "until Shiloh (i.e. Peace, or the Man of Peace' the Messiah) come."

Yes, Jacob speaks of Shiloh. But Shiloh was presented to the responsibility of the Jew first; and consequently all seemed to break down, and in one sense all really did. "To him shall the gathering of the peoples be;" and so certainly it will be, but not yet. Shiloh came; but Israel were not ready, and refused Him. Consequently the gathering (or the obedience) of the peoples, however sure, is yet in the future. The counsel of God seemed to be abortive, but was really established in the blood of the cross, which unbelief deems its ruin. It is postponed, not lost.

It is a question whether the name be not itself given from the fact of Joshua's sitting down there to distribute the conquered land. The point difficult to receive from the words is Israel's coming to Shiloh; either it is, "until rest come," or "until Judah come to Shiloh;" if not, the sentence is broken off, and there is no antecedent to "come." It is people, "they," as the French "on," with no one mentioned before. If the ancient interpretations, Targums, etc., which all take it as Messiah, be not received, it is, "till rest come," or "till Judah come to rest." The words, "to him shall the gathering of the peoples be," is the difficulty then. If it be not translated "till Shiloh come," the gathering will be to Judah, looked at as representing the people, as Judah did, and specially the stock of the house of David and Christ, in contrast with the ten tribes. That the people first should be the vessel of God's testimony, and Messiah take their place on their failure, and gather the peoples, is the distinct declaration of prophecy. It is fully developed in Isaiah 49, where Messiah declares He has laboured in vain, if it be Israel; and then His gathering the remnant of Israel and the nations is fully set forth, going on to the rest and glory of Israel. It is the great subject of prophecy — Messiah taking up the promise as a faithful servant when Israel had failed. Hence He is the true Vine, as Israel was the old vine but was fruitless, or bore wild grapes. Bunsen's and Dr. Williams view is too puerile to pay attention to.

Thirdly, a favourite verse to deny the coming millennial reign is Genesis 49:10: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah … until Shiloh comes”! But this is simply a wrong conclusion. The verse does not say that the sceptre would depart. This is the way the reconstructionists read the verse, in order to defend their claims that we are already in the millennium. The word could be translated with, “to Whom it belongs”. Without wanting to be dogmatic (there is no way to be certain about its meaning, but the old rabbis interpreted it with regard to the Messiah), I compare this with the crown God will give “to Whom it belongs” (Ezek. 21:27). It is interesting that both the antichrist and the true Christ are from Judah!

This period in Israel's history is reflected in Jacob's prophecy concerning Judah, the royal tribe, where nothing but praise is heard (Judah=praise). It is a "Golden Age" for Israel, when the nations around them are subdued. The words of Jacob and Shiloh ( = he who brings rest) probably refer in the first place to Solomon, the king of peace. But it is obvious that they reach far beyond him, as is shown by the words that the sceptre would not depart from Judah until the arrival of Shiloh, to whom the obedience of the peoples would be. This prophecy as to Shiloh is therefore a Messianic prophecy. Judah was to have a prominent roll until the coming of Christ, though later on this was limited to the kingdom of the two tribes and reduced to an even lesser degree after the return from the Babylonian captivity. While it is true that the nations have even now become obedient to Christ by the obedience of faith (Romans 16:26), yet we have to conclude that this prophecy extends further into the future. Our Lord was rejected and the universal peace and prosperity about which Jacob speaks was postponed until Christ's second coming. Then He will reign as the Prince of Peace, and His dominion will be to the ends of the earth.

Verse 10 contains a striking prophecy, indicating that Judah would be the tribe out of whom should come the kingly line, culminating in "Shiloh," a term which is taken to refer to Christ as the Prince of peace. And of course we know that our Lord, as concerning the flesh, sprang out of Judah, as we are reminded in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Out of that kingly line He sprang, as is shown by the two genealogies recorded by Matthew and Luke. But at the end of that verse another striking fact is alluded to, for the word, "people," is more correctly, "peoples;" that is, it refers to the nations generally and not merely to the nation of Israel. And the coming of Shiloh has resulted in His becoming, by reason of His rejection and death, the Centre of gathering for a multitude out of all nations; and in the coming age He will be visibly the Centre not only of Israel but of the nations also.

A. The "sceptre" may be no more than the tribal symbol; and if this be the sense, Judah was thus kept till Shiloh, the Prince of Peace, came and was rejected, when in due time the place was lost, till He come again: then, and not before, the gathering or obedience of the peoples shall be unto Him. If it mean one entitled to royal sway in Zion, this is also true. So the line of David through Solomon went on to Jesus, as Matthew 1 shows; and in Him dead, risen, and glorified it abides, to be made good when God's time comes.

175 The sentence is this: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, till Shiloh come." Gen. 49:10

What the training of the young Samuel has to do with it I cannot tell. If it refer to this, it is still a prophecy; but, I should judge, a prophecy very badly interpreted. It seems to me it is very irrational to suppose that it is a divinely inspired prophecy about the name of the place where the young Samuel was trained, because the tabernacle was there. What is "till Shiloh come?" — and yet more, "to him shall the gathering of the peoples be?" What has that to do with the place the young Samuel was trained in? It is not "people" (fancy might have spoken of the tabernacle so), but "peoples." But the truth is, this use of Shiloh for the name of the place is a modern Jewish opposition to the faith of Jesus being the Messiah. All the old Jewish interpreters referred this to Messiah with one consent, though the root of the word be disputed. R. Lipmann first proposed to read it, till they come to Shiloh; as in 1 Samuel 4:12, where the words are so translated, and this a certain Teller in the last century defended, applying it to the fact in Joshua, that at the close of the wars they pitched the tabernacle in Shiloh, and then Judah ceased to have the lead which had been given him in Numbers in the wilderness, Reuben and Gad left, etc. This interpretation has been adopted by the rationalists, as Eichhorn, Ammon, Bleek, Tuch, etc., denying any application to the Messiah. The soberest and best Hebrew scholars, even rationalists, take it as referring to peace, and see Messiah in it as Prince of Peace, as the sceptre signifies dominion. They do so on Hebrew grounds, without troubling themselves about prophecy and its fulfilment. It is also translated, till he, Judah, come to rest; seeing in it the full accomplishment of the promises to Israel when the nations of the earth will be subject; some adding the coming to Shiloh, when the land was distributed as a first instalment and turning-point; because Israel got its rest of promise in first provisional fulfilment there.

1888 63 "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet (from amongst his descendants) until Shiloh come." This was remarkably fulfilled: the tribe always retained its cohesion and autonomy, even when in captivity, until "there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed," rather enrolled for taxation. It was when the Jews were thus going to lose their nationality, and become merged as units into the Roman Empire, — when Joseph and Mary had gone to their native town of Bethlehem for the very purpose of being registered as Roman subjects, that Messiah was born. Shiloh came. "And unto Him shall the gathering of the peoples (plural) be," but that gathering is still future. The taxation itself did not take effect till the time of Cyrenius (or Quirinus) fifteen years after. This explains the apparent anachronism in [Luke 2. "Peacemaker."]