er
and dominion are designated, and that, for this reason, the _beginning_
of the fulfilment cannot be sought for in any period previous to the
time of David. But even if we were to come down to the mere
_leadership_ of Judah, we could demonstrate that even this did not
belong to him. His marching in front of the others cannot, even in the
remotest degree, be considered as a leadership. Moses, who belonged to
another tribe, had been solemnly called by God to the chief command.
Nor was Joshua [Pg 82] of the tribe of Judah. In him, on the contrary,
there appeared the germ of Ephraim's superiority, which continued
through the whole period of the Judges, and which came to an end only
by David's having been raised to the royal dignity. (Compare my
commentary on Ps. lxxviii.)

Others (_Tuch_, _Maurer_) give the explanation: "As long as they come
to Shiloh." This, according to them, the "poet" meant to be identical
with: "in all eternity." They think that his (the "poet's") meaning
was, that the holy tabernacle, which at his time (_Tuch_ assigns the
composition of Jacob's blessing to the period of Samuel) was at Shiloh,
would remain there to all eternity. To this exposition it would
be alone sufficient to object that, according to it, the phrase
[Hebrew: ed ki], which uniformly means only "until," is taken in the
signification "as long as." _Further_,--History plainly enough shows
how little the sanctuary was considered to be bound to Shiloh; to which
place it had been brought, not in consequence of an express divine
declaration, but only in accordance with Joshua's own views. When the
ark of the covenant was carried away by the Philistines, this was
considered as an express declaration of God, that He would no longer
dwell in Shiloh. How different was the case as regards Jerusalem!
Notwithstanding the destruction by the Chaldees, the city continued to
be the seat of the sanctuary. _Further_,--This view implies a strange
blending of gross error--viz., the supposition that the sanctuary
would remain for ever in Shiloh--and of true prophecy, viz., the
announcement, uttered at the time of Ephraim's leadership, of the
dominion of the tribe of Judah, which was first realized in David's
royalty. The only ground in support of the Ephraimitic Shiloh--the
fact, namely, that Shiloh, wherever else it occurs in the Old
Testament, always signifies the name of the place--we hope to
invalidate by and by; when it will be seen that the town r