Bible Lexicons

שִׁילֹה

(1)  tranquillity, rest; from the root שָׁלָי of the form קִיטוֹר, כִּישׁוֹר; and if a derivative of a verb לה֞ be wanted, גִּלֹה from the root גָּלָה. This power of the word seems to be that which it has in the much discussed passage, Genesis 49:10, “the sceptre shall not depart from Judah … עַד כִּי־יָבוֹא שִׁילֹה וְלוֹ יִקְהַת עַמִּים until tranquillity shall come, and the peoples shall obey him (Judah). Then let him bind,” etc.; i.e. Judah shall not lay down the sceptre of the ruler, until his enemies be subdued, and he shall rule over many people; an expectation belonging to the kingdom of the Messiah, who was to spring from the tribe of Judah. Others whom I followed in edit. 1, take שִׁילֹה in this passage as a concrete, and render it the peaceable one, peace-maker; either understanding the Messiah (compare שַׂר שָׁלוֹם Isaiah 9:5), or Solomon (compare שְׁלֹמֹה 1 Chronicles 22:9); so the Samaritans (see Repert. f. bibl. und morgenländ. Litt. xvi. 168). The ancient versions take שלה (שֶׁלֹּה) as being compounded of שֶׁ· i.q. אֲשֶׁר and לֹה i.q. לוֹ to him in this sense, “until he shall come to whom the sceptre, the dominion belongs,” i.e. Messiah (comp. Ezekiel 21:32, עַד־בֹּא אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ הַמִּשְׁפָּט LXX. ᾧ καθήκει). LXX. in several copies, τὰ ἀποκείμενα αὐτῷ, “the things which are reserved for him” (others with Symm.); ᾧ ἀπόκειται, he “for whom it is reserved.” Syr. Saad., “he whose it is.” Targ. Onk. “Messiah, whose is the kingdom.” There is also a variety in the reading (שִׁילֹה in several codd. and editt.; שִׁלֹה in twenty-eight Jewish manuscripts, and in all the Samaritan, שִׁילוֹ, שִׁלוֹ in a few codd.); but this three-fold manner is of but little moment in this passage, as the same variety is found in the pr.n. (No. 2). This only follows from it, that the Hebrew critics and copyists writing שִׁילֹה took it for a simple word, and not as the old interpreters, as a compound. [The older copies, however, do read שֶׁלֹּה.] The opinions of theologians on this passage have been collected by Hengstenberg, Christologie d. A. T. i. p. 59, seqq.

(2) (“place of rest”), [Shiloh], pr.n. of a town of the Ephraimites, situated on a mountain to the north of Bethel, where the holy tabernacle was set for some time, Joshua 18:1; 1 Samuel 4:3. It is variously written שִׁילוֹ Judges 21:21; Jeremiah 7:12 שִׁלוֹ Judges 21:19; 1 Samuel 1:24, 3:21 שִׁלֹה Joshua 18:1, Joshua 18:8; 1 Samuel 1:3, 1 Samuel 1:9; 1 Kings 2:27. [Now prob. Seilûn سَياوُن Rob. iii. 85.]