Shiloh: Generally understood as denoting the Messiah, "the peaceful one," as
the word signifies
(Genesis 49:10) The Vulgate Version translates the word,
"he who is to be sent," in allusion to the Messiah; the Revised
Version, margin, "till he come to Shiloh;" and the LXX., "until that
which is his shall come to Shiloh." It is most simple and natural to
render the expression, as in the Authorized Version, "till Shiloh
come," interpreting it as a proper name (comp.)
(Isaiah 9:6) Shiloh, a
place of rest, a city of Ephraim, "on the north side of Bethel," from
which it is distant 10 miles
(Judges 21:19) the modern Seilun (the
Arabic for Shiloh), a "mass of shapeless ruins." Here the tabernacle
was set up after the Conquest
(Joshua 18:1-10) where it remained during
all the period of the judges till the ark fell into the hands of the
Philistines. "No spot in Central Palestine could be more secluded
than this early sanctuary, nothing more featureless than the
landscape around; so featureless, indeed, the landscape and so
secluded the spot that from the time of St. Jerome till its
re-discovery by Dr. Robinson in 1838 the very site was forgotten and
unknown." It is referred to by Jeremiah
(Jeremiah 7:12,14; 26:4-9) five
hundred years after its destruction.
