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SHILOH
Town identified with Tell Seilun, located 10 miles (16.1 kilometers) northeast of Bethel, 12 miles (19.3 kilometers) southeast of Shechem, and 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) east of the road between Shechem and Jerusalem, precisely fitting the description of its location in Judges 21:19. In addition to the continuity of the name of the site and its fitting the biblical requirements for location, excavation results agree with the history of Shiloh as far as it is known from the Bible and confirm the identification.
The town is not mentioned in any prebiblical sources. Excavations show that Shiloh flourished as a fortified town in the early second millennium.
The site was abandoned and resettled in the early Israelite period. The Bible provides no information as to how the site passed into Israelite hands. Joshua established the tabernacle there (Jos 18:1), and Shiloh became the center of religious life during the period of the judges. There Joshua cast lots to apportion the inheritance of land to seven of the tribes (18:1–19:51) and to designate the Levitical cities (21:1-42). A dispute regarding an altar erected by the two and a half tribes that settled in Transjordan was settled at Shiloh (22:9-34). Some Benjaminites abducted women from there during a religious festival (Jgs 21). Elkanah and Hannah often traveled to the tabernacle at Shiloh, where Hannah vowed to give her child to the service of the Lord (1 Sm 1:3, 9, 24). The sons of Eli who ministered there had dishonored their office and were rejected, so the Lord appeared to Samuel (1 Sm 2:14; 3:21). When the ark was taken from Shiloh to a battle with the Philistines, news of its loss to the Philistines reached Eli and brought about his death (1 Sm 4:1-18). The ark was never returned to Shiloh; the psalmist records that God had “abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men” (Ps 78:60, niv).
The town of Shiloh would presumably have suffered some destruction at the time of the fall of the northern kingdom in 722 BC. The sudden scarcity of ceramic remains in the Iron III period suggests that the site was largely abandoned around 600 BC. After the destruction of the temple in 586 BC, people came from Shiloh to offer sacrifices in Jerusalem (Jer 41:5). Shilonites were possibly also among the first returnees from the Babylonian captivity (1 Chr 9:5). The site was resettled around 300 BC and flourished through the Roman period. It is mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome and in Talmudic sources. It lost much of its importance after the Islamic conquests.
Is Shiloh a Messianic Name?
The transliteration of a Hebrew word in Genesis 49:10 was taken as a messianic name by the translators of the KJB: “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
A nonmessianic interpretation of the verse understands the term “Shiloh” to be nothing more than a reference to the city of that name, a city that was prominent during the period of the judges. Given this view, the last clause of the verse is translated “until he comes to Shiloh.” The basic objection to this approach is historical: Judah does not come into prominence until the time of the monarchy, at which time Shiloh was no longer an important center.
Many Christians since the time of Reformation have understood the word as a messianic proper name, as reflected in the translation of the clause in the KJB. Luther and Calvin viewed the word as derived from a Hebrew word they translated as “son.” This interpretation is forced: the word in question is not the same as the word shiloh, and its more precise meaning is “embryo.” Others associate the word with a Hebrew term meaning “be at ease, at rest” and translate the word as “rest-bringer.” The basic objection here is also the fact that this title is not further developed in the messianic expectation of the Bible.
Some commentators and translations divide the word in two, and translate it “as long as tribute comes to him” or “until tribute comes to him.” This approach is followed in the tev, the neb, and the nasb. Others identify the word shiloh as a Hebrew equivalent to a term in cognate languages meaning “ruler, prince.” The translation would read “until his ruler comes.”
The ancient translations (Septuagint, Peshitta, and Targums) understood the word shiloh as meaning “he to whom they belong.” This translation also has the support of Ezekiel 21:27; Ezekiel appears to be alluding to Genesis 49:10 and paraphrases the last clause “until he comes to whom it rightfully belongs.” Commentators and translations following this interpretation usually also understand the word translated “lawgiver” as “lawgiver’s staff,” so that the entire verse would read as follows: “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs” (NLT).
There are difficulties with these and other approaches taken to the word shiloh in Genesis 49:10. While a degree of uncertainty remains about the precise force of the term, the immediate context is brought into association with the Messiah in the NT (Rv 5:5).