Letter from Isaac Leeser to
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The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah &c Genesis XLIX.10
That these words contains such a prophecy of the messiah as has been found in them by readers and commentators, I take to be one of the? most gratuitous of all baseless imaginations. The word Shiloh has no conceivable application to the messiah. It is the well known name of a city near the centre of Palestine. Jacob pointed out to his children whom they should acknowledge as their leader, 'till their expedition to recover their patrimony had proved success=ful, the centre of their territory having been reached.
without any reference to such a view as I propose of the? passages, Hebrew rendered "a Lawgiver" has been otherwise translated "the staff" or "the standard." The word signifies any person or thing that controls or guides.
J. G. Palfrey "Lectures &c." Vol. 11. p. 116 note
Hebrew properly, a rod, figuratively a sceptre-or the Tribe. The sceptre re=mained in the tribe of Judah from David until Isidkia (Zedekiah). Hebrew Ce mot n'est confins? de personne, &c (this word is not understood of person): &c &c Onkelos* and the Talmudists pretend that it has reference to the messiah: for the letters Hebrew added together numerically make three hundred & fifty eight, and the word Hebrew (Messiah) makes the same x the Sept=tuagint translates it ce qui lui a été confiè.
The most plausible explanation, in our opinion, is the following given by Raschbam (Hebrew):- Shilo is the name of a place very near Sicheno & one is often put for the other (See Joshua XV14.1). Now, it was at Sicheno that the people assembled for the purpose of crowning *Onkelos (C. Æ. 100) said to have been son or nephew of Emperor Titus was a convert to Judaism and wrote the Chaldean Paraphrases on the Pentateuch.
Rehoboam the Son of Solomon: until this reign the sceptre re=mained undisturbed (intact) under three consecutive kings, in the tribe of Judah. But under this third king, the division (scission) occurred & the crown no longer remained entirely in the tribe of Judah. But as this objected as a difficulty that Jacob predicted a period of misfortune (sin temps de revers) Vater & Herder apply the first part of the verse to the description of the camp & of the march in the desert, where Judah is mentioned as the chief. Numbers 4. 3. 9—x.14 & many commentators take Hebrew in the sense of Hebrew rest, tranquility: until he (Judah) arrives at a place of rest: there are some texts which have Hebrew without Hebrew?. Harder nevertheless takes Shiloh for the name of a place. Cohen. La Bible. Vol. 1./1(3'7) 212. Note.
The family of David discontinued to possess regal power in the 11th year of the reign of Zedekiah 2270 years ago = 422 years B. C. since which time the house of David have had no regal power either greater or less. During, or within this time, two different Dynasties not of the? house of David held in a great or less degree the regal power: to wit, the maccabean dynasty of the house of Levi, and after them the Herodean, from the house of Esau, who were not even of the house of Israel. The Jew. p. 101.
Rev. Mr. Leeser says: I have left this verse as it is in the English version inasmuch as it is in accordance to Onkelos and Rashi: but Arnheim gives: "Till he of Shiloh cometh, and the obedience of the tribes be turned to him," and refers "he of Shiloh" the Achiyah (ahijah) the prophet of Shiloh, who foretold to Jeroboam that a part of the
Kingdom should be taken from Solomon and transferred to him (1 Kings XI.31) which prediction afterward came to pass, when Rechoboam refused to redress the grievances of the people: and "to him" there alludes to Jeroboam, to whom the tribes of Israel here called Hebrew (See Gen. XIV.4) were to turn from the house of David. Mendelssohn, in giving a somewhat different version, refers to the same event; others again give: "The sceptre shall not de=part from Judah, nor a law giver from his descendants for ever; * because Shiloh shall come, and to him shall be the gathering of the Nations." This version is predicated upon the words Hebrew being separated by a disjunctive accent, and they stand for "for ever" and "because;" whilst the Yetib is a greater disjunctive than the Pesseck in II Samuel xxiii.10. Rev. Mr. Leeser. Hebrew. Vol. 1. p. 131.
* This view of the words of Jacob is the one which I believe is adopted by Rev. Dr. Raphall.
Hebrew rest, tranquillity, quiet: such seems to be the meaning of the word in the difficult passage Gen. XLIX. 10, the sceptre shall not depart from Judah Hebrew until rest shall come, and the nations obey him (Judah): then shall he bind &c &c That is, Ju=dah shall not lay aside the sceptre of a Leader, until he shall have subdued his enemies and obtained dominion over many nations: &c &c &c See Gesenius' Lexicon p. 1060. It is noted that Shiloh (place of rest) pr. n. of a city in the tribe of Ephraim, situated among the hills to the north of Bethel &c where the sacred Tabernacle remained for a long time [Joshua xviii.1_ I Saml IV.3) is written in various
various ways Hebrew Judges XXI. 21 &c Hebrew &c a Jerem. vii.12 Hebrew Judges xxi. 19. 1 Sam. 1.24 iii.21. Hebrew Joshua xviii.1.8. I Saml. I. 3. 9. 1 Kings ii.29.
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