Until Shiloh comes

Gen 49:8-12. Since antiquity Christians have understood this passage to be a prophecy about the Messiah. Many ancient Jewish interpreters also understood this as pointing to the Messiah. Josephus notes this messianic interpretation among his contemporaries. He calls this passage "an ambiguous oracle that was also found in their [e.g. the Jews'] sacred writings, how, about that time [i.e. during the 1C], one from their country should become governor of the inhabited earth" (Jewish War 6.3.312). As such, it would be the last of the messianic promises in Genesis, tracing a path from Eve's promised descendent (3:15) through Noah's son Shem (9:26) to Abraham (12:2-3; 18:18; 22:18), Isaac (26:4) and Jacob (28:14), and finally now to Jacob's son Judah (vv10-12).

Jacob's words to Judah begin with a triple play on words: Judah…praise you…your hand (v8)–in Hebrew, yehuda…yoduka…yadeka. The opening verse depict the brothers acknowledging Judah's leadership both in praise and by bowing before him. This sees a future where instead of bowing to Joseph and acknowledging his leadership (37:10; 50:18), the tribes of Israel will give that honor to Judah. The word for praise is seldom applied to humans in the OT–perhaps only at Job 40:14 & Ps 45:17; 49:18. Thus, there is already a hint of divine majesty connected with Judah. Between the two poetic lines describing the acceptance of Judah as the leading tribe of Israel is a description of Judah's defeat of his enemies with his hand on their necks, a portrayal of triumph over those who threaten his people.

After directly addressing Judah in the opening of this oracle, Jacob continues by speaking of Judah in the third person. Here Judah is compared to a young lion returning from the kill with his prey. Similar imagery will also describe the fierceness of the tribes of Gad and Dan in the Blessing of Moses (Deut 33:20,22). In his den Judah lies down like a lion or lioness. With the rhetorical question who dares to rouse him? (v9), Jacob states that it would be as foolish to oppose Judah as it would be to rouse a lion with its prey. This figure of Judah as a lion is employed by later Scripture passages. It is referred to twice in Balaam's prophecies (Num 23:24; 24:9) where it is used to describe Israel as a whole–probably a type of synecdoche where Israel is described by reference to its chief part, the leading tribe of Judah. The figure of a lion that must not be roused is taken up by Isaiah (Isa 31:4). There the lion is Yahweh, and he will come to defend Zion–perhaps a reference to the Messiah from Judah who is also depicted as divine. This theme is developed further in Rev 5:5-14 where Jesus is depicted both as a Lion of the tribe of Judah and as one who is worthy to received worship. 

Next Jacob turns to prophesy Judah's permanent place of leadership. He depicts Judah as having the signs of kingship: a scepter and a leader's staff. The staff is said to be between his feet (v10. Since antiquity this reference to feet has been understood as a euphemism for the sexual organs, thereby describing Judah as providing royal leadership throughout coming generations (cf. Deut 33:21; Mic 5:2). See 49:10, LXX: "A ruler shall not be lacking from Judah and a leader from his thighs"; also Targum Pseudo-Jonathan XII: "Kings or rulers shall not cease from the house of Judah, nor scribes teaching the law from his seed"; and Targum Onkelos XII: "He who exercises dominion will not pass from the house of Judah, nor the scribes from his children's children forever." 

The next line of v10 has been one of the most difficult passages to interpret in the entire OT, and there has been no consensus among ancient or modern interpreters as to its meaning. While there have been many suggestions, there are only a few that do not require radical emendations to the text. The most often discussed are the following:

1. The line could be taken as written to mean "until he comes to Shiloh". This apparently would be a prophecy of a Judean ruler coming to the city of Shiloah in the territory of Ephraim, perhaps to assert his control over all Israel. There are several problems with this interpretation, however, While Shiloh was an important Israelite center for a while when the tabernacle was there (Josh 18:1; 1 Sam 1-4), it apparently was destroyed by the Philistines before David's day and never again became an important city in Israel. In addition, the name of the city is never spelled elsewhere in the OT as it is here. 

2. Many of the versions take it to mean "until he to whom it [i.e. the scepter] belongs comes", which involves only a slight change in the Hebrew vowels. This would be a messianic prophecy that the leadership of Judah among the people of Israel would last until the coming of the Messiah to claim it. This interpretation appears to be as old as the LXX…There are various problems with this interpretation, not the least being that the spelling of "whose it is" in Hebrew is invariably lo, not loh, as it is in this verse. The normal spelling for "whose it is" (i.e. lo) is found in the very next line, calling this interpretation into question. 

3. Another popular interpretation is to read the line as "until tribute comes to him". This reading has the advantage of forming a nice parallel with the next line, which attributes obedience of the nations to the Messiah from Judah. Thus, the nations will bring tribute to him. However, once again, this interpretation involves a slight adjustment of the Hebrew vowels. In addition, it also divides the word Shiloh into two words– say loh–whereas all manuscripts record this as one word, not two. Moreover, like the previous interpretation, loh is again taken to be a variant of the usual Hebrew lo. 

4. Finally, the Hebrew text can be read as it stands: "Until Shiloh comes". This would understand Shiloh not as a common noun, but as a proper noun naming the Messiah. 

An objection to this interpretation is that Shiloh would be a feminine noun but the verb he comes is masculine (e.g. Hamilton [1995: 659]). However, if Shiloh is understood to be a proper noun naming a man and not a common noun naming a city (which is always feminine in Hebrew), then that objection is moot.  

The name most likely ought to be derived from the Hebrew root slb, meaning "to be at ease", "to rest", "to be prosperous" (Job 3:26: 12:6; Ps 122:6; Jer 12:1; Lam 1:5). Thus, it would picture the Messiah as a man coming from the tribe of Judah to bring rest and prosperity to Israel and the nations (see Mt 11:28; Rom 14:13). Several ancient Jewish interpretations of this passage simply substitute "Messiah" for Shiloh here: 

Until the coming of  the Messiah of Righteousness, the Branch of David, for to him and to his descendants has been given the covenant of the kingship over his people for everlasting generations.

(4Q Patriarchal Blessings)

Until the Messiah comes, whose is the kingdom and unto whom shall be the obedience of the nations.

(Targum Onkelos)

Until the time that the King the Messiah shall come, the youngest of his sons, and on account of him shall the peoples flow together

(Targum Pseudo-Jonathan)

What is his [i.e. the Messiah's] name?–The School of Rabbi Shila said: His name is Shiloh, for it is written, until Shiloh comes.

(Talmud,  bab Sanhedrin 98b)

In addition, Christians have traditionally understood other OT passages as giving descriptive names to the Messiah (e.g. Isa  7:14 [Mt 1:23]; 9:6; Jer 23:6; Zech 3:9), so this type of interpretation is neither unique nor unexpected.

The final line of v10 notes that the obedience of the peoples belongs to him. This is a reference to the Messiah's dominion over all peoples, an extension of the promise of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that all people would be blessed through their descendant (12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 28:14).

Vv11-12 go on to depict in highly figurative terms the lush benefits of the Messiah's reign. He will tie his donkey to a vine. Later messianic passages associate the coming of the Messiah with a donkey (Zech 9:9; Mt 21:5; Jn 12:15). Normally one would not tie one's donkey to a valuable grapevine  since the donkey would eat it. However, the picture is one of such abundance that the loss of a vine is seen as inconsequential. Moreover, the Messiah will wash his clothes in wine. Once again, the picture is that normally expensive wine will be as common as water so that the Messiah will not hesitate to use it to wash his clothes. Note that the expression blood of grapes (v11) refers to the juice used to make wine (Deut 32:14). Finally, the Messiah's beauty is described as his having eyes darker than wine and teeth whiter than milk (v12). A. Steinmann, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary (IVP 2019), 454-59.