Shiloh (Biblical)
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Shiloh (Hebrew: שלה Šīlōh, שלו Šīlô, שילו Šîlô) is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as a city and as denoting a person.
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[edit] Shiloh as a city
Shiloh is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as an assembly place for the people of Israel where there was a sanctuary containing the Ark of the Covenant until it was taken by the Philistines. According to the Book of Joshua 18:1, it was at Shiloh that the "whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled...and set up the tabernacle of the congregation...", being the tent which housed the ark. Later on, the portable tent seems to have been enclosed within a compound or replaced with a standing structure with "doors" (1 Samuel 3:15) a precursor to the Temple, that survived until the time of Samuel.
At Shiloh Samuel was raised by the priest Eli and later himself served as priest there. When the Israelites were defeated at the battle of Aphek, their Philistine foes (who had already captured the Ark of the Covenant) apparently destroyed the shrine (1 Samuel 4).
Despite the shameful defeat, Shiloh was revived, and an important prophet lived there - Ahijah HaShiloni.
The site of Shiloh is usually identified as modern Seilun, about eight miles north of Bethel. There is a tel and many impressive remains from the Caananite and Israelite eras, and till as late as the 8th century. During the following 12 centuries Shiloh is only noted as a station on sojourners' routes, usually having only its religious-historical significance to offer. Only in 1978 did it become residential again, as an eclectic group of Jews accompanying an archeological expedition at the ancient site rendered their tent-camp into the seed of a village.
In 1979 Israel claimed the village as an Israeli settlement, and named it "Shilo".
In Aug. - Sept. 2006 archeological excavations were carried out adjacent to Shiloh’s tel. Findings of great significance were found: elaborate mosaics, testimony of settlement in the Mamluk era and an unprecedented mosaic inscription in Greek referring to the site as the ”village of Shiloh” – a rare occurrence of an archeological site identifying itself.
[edit] Shiloh as a person
The term "Shiloh" occurs also in Gen. 49:10. The verse in question is from the benediction given by Jacob to his son Judah, where he states that "the scepter will not depart from Judah... until Shiloh (shêl-o, 'he to whom it belongs') comes...".
This has led to the interpretation that "Shiloh" here refers to a person, and is by Christians generally understood as denoting the Messiah (cf. Isa. 9:6).
The phrase is translated in the KJV as "(..) until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." The Latin Vulgate translates the word as "he who is to be sent," in allusion to the Messiah; the Revised Version (margin), "till he come to Shiloh;" and the LXX Greek, "until that which is his shall come to Shiloh."
While some Christian interpreters believe Gen. 49:10 to be a prophecy of Jesus, some Muslims interpret it as a prophecy of Muhammad, and likewise, some Rastafarians have associated the name with the return of Haile Selassie I.
Part of this text is taken from Easton's Bible Dictionary
[edit] Other Meanings
Shiloh can be interpreted as 'The Person who Grant and Bestow Peace', according to Gen 49:10 in The Chinese Study Bible (ISBN9623990111).
