(3.) If we understand Shiloh to be a person, we see that the blessing pronounced on Judah is one complete homogeneous whole. It begins with laying emphasis on his name, " He that shall be praised," a verb which certainly is used habitually, it would even seem ex- clusively, of God; as if to hint that there is a mysteri- ous fulness of blessing in Judah's case which involves something more than human. It promises him all praise and favor from his brethren; and in the middle of this it places his invincible superiority to his ene- mies. It compares hiin to a lion, in respect of his re- sistless activity, and of his safety when he lies down ; and on this metaplior it enlarges througlu)iit a verse. It carries the blessing onward to its culmination in Shiloh : for tliere is no change of subject, since Shiloh is a ))art of Judah, its head and noblest part ; and there is no limitation in the word " until," wliicli has an in- clusive (not an exclusive) meaning in tliis as in many passages, as much as to say, "The sceptre does not de- part till Shiloh comes, and of course after his coming there is no risk of its departure." And so Judah, at whose head is Shiloh, enjoys a rest at once glorious and luxurious in the I'roiTiised Land, possessing all tlie ful- ness of (iod's gooihicss, as is related of the earthly Sol- omon's reign (1 Kings iv, 24, '25; v, 4, 5), and as shall be realized more nol)ly in the reign of the heavenly Solomon, wliose life on earth already contrasted with that of liis ascetic forerunner in certain respects, to which liis enemies called attention for a malignant |)ur- pose (Luke vii, 3:5, 34).
(4.) Tliis interjiretation is confirmed by other texts referring to it. The prophecies of Baiaatn refer more than once to the Ijhfssing ])ronouuced on Judah, the lion-like course of the people, the royal honor in store for them, and the leader liy wliom all the noblest things were to be achieved. Especially Nimib. xxiv, 17, "I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold liim, but not nigh; there shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scejj-
tre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the comers of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth," of tu- mult or of pride. Perliaps this distance of the time of fidtilment of the prophecy may be the reason of the ex- treme brevity of the blessing of Moses pronounced on Judali; though its brevity may be also owing to this, tliat it is an allusion to the fuller blessing of Jacob. Again, in the age in which the sceptre and the law- giver a]>peared in Judah, we are at a loss to know what earlier stcitping-stone led to the language of Psa. ii and ex, and to that of Nathan's prophecy of the perpetuity and glory of David's line, if Shiloh be not a person: Psa. Ixxii, in particular, is the expansion of the faith in his glorious and peaceful reign. In the prophecies of Isaiah there are several references to the Messiah in language w'hich seems connected with this one; the very name " Prince of Peace"' (ix, 6) is an interpreta- tion of Shiloh. And in Ezek. xxi, 30-32 (25-27 in the English) there is a reference which few critics have hesitated to acknowledge, and whose influence upon the ancient translators must yet be noticed : "And thou profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord, Kemove the diadem and take off the crown ; this shall not be the same : exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: and it shall be no more, vnlil he come whose ru/ht it is; and I will give it him." To mention no more, there are names given to our Lord in the New Test, which must be traced back to this prophecy : such are found in Eph. ii, 14, "For he is our peace," and especially in Kev. V, 5, " the Lion of the tribe of Judah."
h. Objections to this Interpretation. — These have been greath- exaggerated. They are cliietly of a negative character.
(1.) Kurtz, following the earlier opinion of Hofmann in his Weissagung und Erfullnng, interposes a theoret- ical objection that the organic progress of prophecy in connection with the develo])ments of history is unfa- vorable to the notion of a jiersonal Messiah in the Pen- tateuch : it would not arise till the promises to the pa- triarchs had been realized so far as concerned the ex- pansion of the individual into a numerous offspring, when the necessity of a head would come to be felt, that this multitude might be led back to a unity again.
This assumption cannot be admitted: there is a con- nection certainly between history and pro[>hecy, yet it is nevertheless true that tlie latter, from time to time, bursts the limits which are imposed u)ion the former; so that, as we have already said, he who rejects the personal Jlessiah in this text must be prepared for pro]ihecy taking a much greater and more sudden leap in the age of David. Grant, too, for the sake of argu- ment, that ]\Ioses had no conceiition of a personal Mes- siah, there is nothing to hinder our belief that Jacob liad been gifted enough to see it; just as, if we deny that Jacob saw it, we must admit that Abraham did see Christ's day and rejoice, unless we renounce confi- dence in our Lord's testimony. Nay, we do not hold that the understanding of tlie prophets is the measure of the meaning of their ])redictions; so that our belief that Sliiloli is the Saviour does not necessitate our be- liel' tliat Jacob understood this in the way tliat we do. Vet, so far as we comprehend the circumstances, we know of 110 reason for doubting tliat Jacob did expect a personal Saviour wiioin he named Shiloh; for an in- dividual head seems re(|iiisite for the work mentioned in the text, at once subduing the heatlien and attracting them to willing obedience. Compare Psa. xviii, 40 sq., where the liead and ids work appear, when the sceptre of .ludali came into view; also Isa. xi; Iv, 4. Tliere is weight in llengstenberg's observation that the individ- ual comes strongly out in the ])atriar(;lial liistory on account of its biographical character; so that one feels no surprise at the mention of the personal Messiah af- ter reading jiassages like these: "I will bless thee" "In i/itfc," not less than "in thy seed, shall all the nations