Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 49:10

"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler`s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh come: And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be." — Genesis 49:10 (ASV)

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah. —Hebrew, a sceptre. The staff, adorned with carvings and handed down from father to son, soon became the emblem of authority (see Note on Genesis 38:18). It probably indicates here tribal rather than royal rank, and means that Judah would continue, until the time indicated, to be a self-governed and legally constituted tribe.

Nor a lawgiver from between his feet. —Most modern critics translate this as ruler’s staff, but “lawgiver” has the support of all the ancient versions. The Targums paraphrase it as scribe, and the Syriac in a similar way as expounder—that is, of the law. Ruler’s staff has the parallelism in its favour, but the ancient versions must not be lightly disregarded. Besides, everywhere else the word means lawgiver (Judges 5:14; Isaiah 33:22). “From between his feet” means “from among his descendants.” The Targum of Onkelos renders it, “from his children’s children.”

Until Shiloh come. —Many modern critics translate this as “until he come to Shiloh,” but this interpretation is to be rejected. First, it is contrary to all the ancient versions; and secondly, it turns sense into nonsense. The town of Shiloh was in the tribe of Ephraim, and we know of no way in which Judah ever went there. The ark was for a time at Shiloh, but the place lost all importance and sank into utter obscurity after its destruction by the Philistines, long before Judah took the leading part in the commonwealth of Israel.

Shiloh. —There are several interpretations of this word, depending on different ways of spelling it.

First, Jerome, in the Vulgate, translates it as “He who shall be sent.” He therefore read Shalu’ch., a reading that differs from the one in the Hebrew text by omitting the yod and substituting the guttural π for h (Hebrew, π) as the final letter.

Secondly, we have Shiloh, the reading of the present Hebrew text. This would mean Peaceful or Peace-maker, and it agrees with the title given to the Messiah by Isaiah (Genesis 9:6).

But thirdly, all the versions except the Vulgate read Sheloh. Thus, the Septuagint has, “He for whom it is laid up” (or, according to other manuscripts, “the things laid up for him.”). Aquila and Symmachus agree with the former reading. Theodotion, Epiphanius, and others agree with the latter, showing that Sheloh was the reading in the centuries immediately after the Nativity of our Lord.

The Samaritan transcript of the Hebrew text into Samaritan letters reads Sheloh, and the translation into Aramaic treats the word as a proper name, rendering it, “Until Sheloh come.” Onkelos boldly paraphrases, “Until Messiah come, whose is the kingdom;” and finally, the Syriac has, “Until he come, whose it is.”

There is thus overwhelming evidence in favour of the reading Sheloh. To this, we must add that Sheloh is also the reading of several Hebrew manuscripts. In fact, we may sum up the evidence by saying that the reading Shiloh, even in the Hebrew text, has only modern authority in its favour, while all ancient authorities support Sheloh. Even Jerome omits the yod, though he changes the aspirate at the end into a guttural.

Sheloh literally means Whose it is. It is an Aramaic form, similar to that in Genesis 6:3, where we have observed that these Aramaisms are proof of either extreme antiquity or a very late date.

We find another such form in Judges 5:7, in the song of Deborah, an admittedly very ancient composition. This form is quite in its place here, in the elevated phraseology of this blessing and in the mouth of Jacob, who had lived for so long in a land where an Aramaic dialect was spoken.

Finally, Ezekiel (Ezekiel 21:27; Hebrew text, verse 32) quotes Jacob’s words, using however the Hebrew idiom: “Until he come, whose is the right.” And Saint Paul (Galatians 3:19) refers to it in the words, “Until the seed come to whom it is promised,” where the latter words seem to be a free rendering of the phrase in the Septuagint: “for whom it is laid up.”

The passage has always been regarded as Messianic, not merely by Christians, but also by the Jews. All their ancient writers, including the Talmud, explain the name Shiloh, or Sheloh, as referring to the Messiah.

The Targum of Onkelos would of itself be sufficient proof. In it, we have not the opinions or knowledge of one man, but the traditional explanation of the Pentateuch, handed down orally from the time of Ezra and committed to writing probably in the first century of the Christian era.

Indeed, the objection has been made in modern times that the patriarchs had no Messianic expectations.

For those who believe in prophecy, such an objection can have no weight.

Independently of this, however, the promise made to Abraham and solemnly confirmed to Jacob—that in his seed all the kindreds of the earth should be blessed—was pre-eminently Messianic. So too was the name Jehovah pre-eminently Messianic.

For that name was the embodiment of the promise made to Eve. Beginning with her cry of hope that she had gotten the Coming One, it had become by the time of Enoch the symbol of mankind’s expectation that God would appear on earth in human nature to save them.

Unto him shall the gathering of the people be. —The word used here is rare, and the translation “gathering” was a guess by Rashi.

It really means obedience, as is proved by the one other place where it occurs (Proverbs 30:17). For “people,” the Hebrew has peoples.

Not Israel only, “the people,” but all nations are to obey Him “whose is the kingdom.” This is the rendering of Onkelos: “and him shall the peoples obey;” and of the Samaritan Version: “and at his hand shall the peoples be led.” The Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate agree in rendering it: “and he shall be the expectation of the nations.”