more briefly Gen. 410-415); Posnanski, Schilo Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Messiaslehre: 1 Theil: Ausleg. von Gn. 4910 im Altert. bis zum Ende des MA, 1904; Di. 462 ff.—The renderings grammatically admissible
fall into two groups, (i.) Those which adhere to the text. rec.,
taking (
Hebrew characters) as nom. pr. (a) 'Until Shiloh come' (Shiloh, a name of the
Messiah), the most obvious of all translations, first became current in
versions and comm. of the 16th cent., largely through the influence of
Seb. Münster (1534). Although the Messianic acceptation of the passage
prevailed in Jewish circles from the earliest times, it attached itself
either to the reading (Hebrew characters) (ii. below) or to the rendering 'his son' ((Hebrew characters)),
or (later and more rarely) to (Hebrew characters) ('gifts to him'). The earliest trace
(if not the actual origin) of Shiloh as a personal name is found in the
following passage of the Talmud (Sanh. 98b): (Hebrew characters)
(the words are repeated in Echa Rabba, with the addition
(Hebrew characters)): "Rab said, The world was created only for the sake of David;
but Samuel said, For the sake of Moses; but R. Yoḥanan said, For the
sake of the Messiah. What is his name? Those of the school of R.
Shela say, Shiloh is his name, as it is said, 'Until Shiloh come.'" The
sequel of the quotation is: "Those of the school of R. Yannai say,
Yinnôn is his name, as it is said (Ps. 7217), Let his name be for ever,
before the sun let his name be perpetuated ((Hebrew characters)). Those of the school of
R. Ḥaninah say, Ḥanîn[=]h is his name, as it is said (Jer. 1613), For I
will give you no favour ((Hebrew characters)). And some say Menahem is his name, as
as it is said (La. 116), For comforter ((Hebrew characters)) and restorer of my soul is far
from me. And our Rabbis say, The leprous one of the school of Rabbi
is his name, as it is said (Is. 534), Surely our sicknesses he hath borne,
and our pains he hath carried them, though we did esteem him stricken
(sc. with leprosy), smitten of God, and afflicted." Now there is nothing
here to suggest that Shiloh was already a current designation of the
Messiah any more than, e.g., the verb (Hebrew characters) in Ps. 7217 can have been a
Messianic title. Yet, as Dri. says, it is "in this doubtful company that
Shiloh is first cited as a name of the Messiah, though we do not learn
how the word was read, or what it was imagined to signify." Subsequently
Shiloh as a personal name appears in lists of Messianic titles
of the 11th cent. (Posn. 40), and it is so used (alongside of the interpretation
(Hebrew characters)) by Samuel of Russia (1124). Partly from this lack of
traditional authority, and partly from the impossibility of finding a
significant etymology for the word (v.i.), this explanation is now
universally abandoned.—(b) 'Until he [Judah] come to Shiloh' (Herder,
Ew. De. Di. [hesitatingly] al.). This is grammatically unexceptionable
(cf. 1 Sa. 412), and has in its favour the fact that (Hebrew characters) ([(Hebrew characters), (Hebrew characters) [orig.
(Hebrew characters)]) everywhere in OT is the name of the central Ephraimite sanctuary
in the age of the Judges (Jos. 181ff., 1 Sa. 1-4 etc.). At the great
gathering of the tribes at Shiloh, where the final partition of the land
took place (Jos. 18 f.), Judah is imagined to have laid down the military
leadership which had belonged to it during the wars of conquest; so
that the prophecy marks the termination of that troubled period of the
national life. But all this is unhistorical. The account in Jos. 18 belongs
