Twofold, as I already touched in the foregoing question, was the partition of the promised land among the tribes. And the prior indeed happened in Galgala [Gilgal] (concerning which [it was] said in chs. 4 & 5), as is clear from ch. 14, v. 6. For when that [division] was to be made, or was just about to be made — “There came,” says the text, “the children of Juda to Joshua in Galgala, and Caleb son of Jephone spoke to him.” But the place of the later [division] was Shiloh [Silo] (below ch. 18, v. 1 & following) — because, namely, in both [places], in those times, was the Lord’s tabernacle: in the former place indeed, earlier; in the later, later. And it was fitting [that] in a sacred place — before, as it were, the very face of God, sitting upon the Cherubim — the parts should be attributed to all the tribes: partly so that the whole partition should be made peaceably, entirely, and holily; partly so that the single [tribes] might reckon their own part [to be] given to them by the Lord, as [it were] by an outstretched hand. For the place has, toward religion and the remembrance of God, no small force to move minds. And therefore also afterward (ch. 19, v. 51), when an end is put to all the lots of all the tribes, so accurate a repetition of this most sacred and most holy place of the divisions is employed — that [that] which had been done should be [made] ratified and fixed unto all posterity, and [that] no one should ever dare to move or disturb the bounds set for any tribe. Now Shiloh is both a mountain, and a city situated upon it, distant from Jerusalem perhaps a three hours’ journey, toward the north; whose more accurate description is [in] Judges 21, v. 19, according to our version, and nearly the Greek 70: “Behold, [there] is a solemnity of the Lord in Shiloh, from year to year, which is celebrated from the northern part of [the house of] the Lord God (which is there), toward the rising of the Sun, at that beaten road which from the house of God ascends into Sichem, and on the south [side of] Lebona.” I said “nearly, as to the Greek version,” because — since in it [there] are not those two words, “situated” and “of the city” — it could in a certain way be drawn into that sense which some wish from the Hebrew: [namely] that [it is] not [a description] of the site of Shiloh, but a [description directed] to the place where the festival (of which mention is there made) [was]; [and] that [it] was described in this manner: “Behold, the festival of the Lord is in Shiloh, from year to year, which is celebrated from the northern part of the Lord God (which is there), toward the rising of the Sun, at that beaten road which from the house of God ascends into Sichem, and on the south [is] Lebona.” Now in today’s Hebrew Bibles [there] is “Silo” (Gen. 49, v. 10). For [in place of] these words, “until he come, who is to be sent,” is read: “until Shiloh come.” And R. Joseph thinks [it] to be the name of the said place; and takes the Hebrew word “of coming” as [it] is sometimes attributed to the Sun, so that the sense may be: “until Shiloh set [go down],” that is, “until the end of Shiloh itself come” — and then will come David the King. But for many causes the exposition is quite inept, concerning which [more] in that place [Gen. 49]. But one [point] pertains to here: [that] there it is written with “iod schiloh,” but here without it, with “chirek” alone. Which also elsewhere, when that word is put for the place, has been observed. But because by the name of “peace”
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[peace,] quiet, abundance, and all prosperity the Hebrews signify [by that name], [he] would not be a vain conjecturer who should fetch this very name of Shiloh from the verb “schalah,” which is “to be peaceable [pacific].” For thence too is “schaluah,” that is, “peace” (Ps. 121, v. 7; Prov. 1, v. 32, & ch. 17, v. 1; Jer. 22, v. 21; Ezek. 16, v. 49; Dan. 11, vv. 21 & 23), [and] elsewhere — perhaps also the Latins’ “salve” and “salus [health/salvation],” which exposition (on the Epistle to the Romans, in St. Augustine) P. Valerius the Bishop derived from the Punic and Hebrew. “Salos,” which signifies “three,” [was] as though secretly insinuated — [namely] that from the Most Holy TRINITY the true salvation is to be expected. But finally to this place Josephus himself (bk. 5, ch. 1) attributes “τὸ κάλλος [to kallos],” that is, beauty and amenity; and [it had] also its own mountainous and steep site [as] a strength, and — against all the injuries of war — quiet and a fortification. Moreover today it is called “Mount Samuel,” and by Brocardus and our Breitenbach, “Rama.”