The scepter shall not depart from Yehudah, nor a lawgiver from among his descendants – until Shiloh arrives; an assemblage of obedient nations will be his.[2]
This pasuk created quite a stir eight hundred years ago. Assuming, as Onkelos does, that Shiloh means mashiach,[3] the plain sense of the pasuk is that leadership belongs to Yehudah and his descendants, ending with his arrival. Now, malchus Yehudah clearly has ceased. So, say the Christians, our guy must have been the messiah!
When a community asked the Rashba[4] how they should respond to this argument, he related that he has debated the same point with a Christian rep, and reported what he told his interlocutor. The Rashba went a few rounds with him.
Rashba: Ad/until means up to and including. Rulership continues into the messianic age, when a descendant of Yehudah picks up the mantle again, and continues the dynasty.
Christian: Won’t work. Clearly Yehudah’s rulership was interrupted. Nothing continuous there.
Rashba: Well, if you are looking at actual kings, they petered out way back in Biblical times. That leaves Your Guy out of contention as well!
Christian: Not really. After all, the Sanhedrin kept exercising power right up until close to Our Guy’s time
Rashba: Nice try; no cigar. The Sanhedrin wasn’t from Yehudah! Besides, when they were led out of Yerushalayim in shackles, they weren’t exactly exercising any power. Sounds like a clean break to me!
Christian: GRRRR! So how do you understand this verse?[5]
The Rashba proceeded to offer his explanation, which is very different from the most common understandings of the plain meaning of the pasuk.[6] We could offer an explanation along more traditional lines, compliments of Yeshaya, who wrote about mashiach, “[He] will not need to judge by what his eyes see, nor decide by what his ears hear.”[7] Chazal refer to his capacity to “sniff and judge.”[8] What all this means is that mashiach will not be limited or constrained by typical material forces. He will have powers beyond them; he will not have to go about doing things the way they are usually done.
His rulership will benefit from this. He will not need to rule by force. “An assemblage of obedient nations will be his.” Nations will willingly seek him out for guidance and authority, and heed his words. No compulsion necessary.
This is not the way things ordinarily operate. Chazal[9] discuss the “scepter that doesn’t depart” of our pasuk. They say that it refers to the Exilarchs, the official heads of the exiled Jewish communities in Bavel, who descended from the House of Dovid. These were invested with authority by the non-Jewish governments of their times. They most certainly did need and use the scepter of power, including coercive measures.
What our pasuk means, therefore, is that the use of such power will remain with all those of Yehudah, whenever they reign. At least, that is, until the arrival of Shiloh/mashiach. From then on, the regnant power of a restored Davidic dynasty will be through the power of his words and his message. People, Jewish and non-Jewish, will willingly comply with his decisions.
Something to look forward to.
- Adapted from Divrei Shaul, by Rav Yosef Shaul Nathanson, the Shoel U-Meishiv ↑
- Bereishis 49:10 ↑
- There are quite a few other translations of Shiloh. According to those, the pasuk offers no theological challenge to us at all. ↑
- Teshuvos Ha-Rashba 4:187 ↑
- The curiosity is not strange. There is a good chance that this Christian was a meshumad, as were so many of the Christian persecutors of Jews who had considerable familiarity with Jewish texts, and might have been genuinely interested in hearing a good explanation. ↑
- It is cited briefly by Rabbenu Bechaye, Bereishis 49:9 ↑
- Yeshaya 11:3 ↑
- Sanhedrin 93b ↑
- Sanhedrin 5a ↑