Commentaire de citation sur Les Juges 21:19

אלו הדברים, according to the plain meaning of the text the names mentioned in this verse all are names of locations, as we find that it is customary for the text of the Torah to give detail followed by further detail of the places whose exact location the Torah wishes to elaborate on in greater detail. For instance, in Genesis 12,8 when describing Avraham as pitching his tent in some place, it refers first to Beyt El, and then elaborates by saying that the he found himself with Beyt El on his east and Ai on the west. In Exodus 14,2, the Israelites are described as making a turnabout before a place described as Pi Hachirot, elaborating by saying that this Pi Hachirot is between Migdol and the sea to the north of Baal Yzefon. In Judges 21,19 an annual festival was observed at Shiloh which is described as situated north of Beyt El, east of the highway which runs from Beyt El to Shechem and south of Levonah.
If locations which did not have the distinction of serving as places where parts of the Torah were revealed to the Jewish people were described in such detail, it is not surprising that places where such parts of the Torah were revealed are described in detail. (compare Numbers 9,1, Exodus 12,1-2, Leviticus 25,1 Numbers 33,3) Here too, the locations are described with detail upon detail; they are the places that served Moses to explain the laws of the Torah, the ceremonial laws, the statutes, and the social laws. (compare 4,45-46, as well as verse 5 in our chapter.)

לא יסור שבט מיהודה, the position of royalty which all his 12 brothers bestowed on him, i.e. that they all prostrate themselves before him, will not be removed from him until Shiloh. Yehudah, i.e. King Rechavam of Yehudah son of Solomon who wanted to confirm his ascendancy to the throne in Shilo, which is very close to Shechem. (Kings I 12) [In the event, his stupidity in listening to inexperienced irresponsible counselors lost him most of his kingdom so that he ruled only over Yehudah and Binyamin. Ed.]

ושמרת את החוקה הזאת למועדה מימים ימימה, “You shall observe this decree at its designated time from year to year.” The words מימים ימימה mean “annually.” We find the expression מימים ימימה used in the sense of “years” also in Samuel I 1,3 where it describes Elkanah’s annual pilgrimage to the Temple at Shiloh. The same expression is also found in Judges 21,19 where it describes an annual pilgrimage to Shiloh being used to provide the surviving members of the tribe of Binyamin with Jewish girls for marriage. A third time the same expression is used is in connection with the annual pilgrimage to (the grave of?) Yiphtach’s daughter to commemorate what had happened to her (Judges 11,40).

because it was brought about, etc. so that the Lord God might establish His word as is delineated in I Kings (11:31–37), to remove from him the ten tribes and to give them to Jeroboam, and this is the meaning of (Gen. 49:10): “The scepter will not depart from Judah” [meaning that] he will not be banished from his kingdom, “until he comes to Shiloh,” meaning until Judah comes to Shiloh to crown Rehoboam there, and there “peoples will gather to him” to crown him, and there the kingdom was divided, and the reign over the ten tribes was lost. Now Shechem is a small city adjacent to Shiloh, as it is written at the end of Judges (21:19): “Behold, there is a sacrifice before the Lord in Shiloh from time to time, etc. on the east side of the highway that goes up from Beth-El to Shechem,” and it is written in Jeremiah (41:5): “from Shechem (and) from Shiloh,” and in honor of the Tabernacle of Shiloh, they would gather in Shechem, which was fit for the people to assemble in, and it adjoined Shiloh. And when they would assemble in Shechem, the scepter would depart from Judah, for there the kingdom was divided.