It is probable, however, that there is here a play upon words. The words "Until Shiloh come" are rendered by some scholars "Till he (Judah) come to Shiloh," and interpreted as meaning "Till he come to rest." The Samaritan version ("donec veniat Pacificus") seems to identify Shiloh with Solomon. (Colenso, Pent. iii. p. 127.) But this is transparently Shelah over again. Shelomoh (Solomon), Shelah, and Shiloh are substantially of the same etymological significance. It will be observed that in Gen. xxxviii. Shelah is the only person whose character is not blackened. The Ephraimic poem, the "Blessings of Jacob,"--each blessing a vaticinium ex evento,--could well afford a half-disguised compliment to Solomon who had made no attempt to suppress the rebels of Shiloh,--the city of Abijah, who originated the Jeroboamic revolution which divided the Davidic kingdom. Jacob's blessing on Joseph is of course a blessing on Ephraim: it closes with a transfer of the crown (from Judah) to "him that is a prince among his brethren." This is "rest" from the arrows of David, this is the coming of Shiloh; it occurred under the reign of the Prince of Peace, Solomon, and it could not be undone by Solomon's son Rehoboam. CHAPTER VII. SOLOMONIC ANTIJAHVISM. The ferocities of Josiah and his Jahvists indicate the presence of an important Solomonist School. Their culture and tendencies are reflected, as we have seen, in the rage of prophets against them, and the continuance of their strength is shown in the preservation of Agur's Voltairian satire on Jahvism, and Job's avowed blasphemies: "If indeed ye will glorify yourselves above me, And prove me guilty of blasphemy-- Know then, that God hath wronged me!" This translation from Job, quoted from Professor Dillon, need only be compared with that of the authorised and the revised versions to show us the causa causans to-day which of old added four hundred interpolations to the Book of Job to soften its criticism. It appears strange, however, that Professor Dillon has not included among The Sceptics of the Old Testament three writers in the composite eighty-ninth Psalm, nor remarked its relation to the Book of Job. At the head of this wonderful composition the mythical wise man of 1 Kings iv. 31, Ethan, rises ("Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite," perhaps meaning Wisdom of the Everlasting Helper) to attest the divine mercies and faithfulness in all generations. This is in two verses, evidently ancient, which a later hand, apparently, has pointed with a specification of the covenant with David. After the "Selah" which ends these four verses come fourteen verses of sermonising upon them, in which nearly all of the points made by Job's "comforters" are put in a nutshell. The sons of God who presented themselves, Satan among them, in his council (Job i. 6) appear here also (Ps. lxxxix. 6): "Who among the sons of the gods is like unto Jahveh, A God very terrible in the council of the holy ones."