Index 


Shibmah Fragrance, a town of Reuben, east of Jordan (Num 32:38).

Shield Used in defensive warfare, varying at different times and under different circumstances in size, form, and material (Sa1 17:7; Sa2 1:21; Kg1 10:17; Ch1 12:8, Ch1 12:24, Ch1 12:34; Isa 22:6; Eze 39:9; Nah 2:3). Used figuratively of God and of earthly princes as the defenders of their people (Gen 15:1; Deu 33:29; Psa 33:20; Psa 84:11). Faith is compared to a shield (Eph 6:16). Shields were usually "anointed" (Isa 21:5), in order to preserve them, and at the same time make the missiles of the enemy glide off them more easily.

Shiggaion From the verb shagah, "to reel about through drink," occurs in the title of Ps. 7. The plural form, shigionoth, is found in Hab 3:1. The word denotes a lyrical poem composed under strong mental emotion; a song of impassioned imagination accompanied with suitable music; a dithyrambicode.

Shihon Overturning, a town of Issachar (Jos 19:19).

Shihor Dark, (Ch1 13:5), the southwestern boundary of Canaan, the Wady el-'Arish . (See SIHOR; NILE.)

Shihor-Libnath Black - white, a stream on the borders of Asher, probably the modern Nahr Zerka, i.e., the "crocodile brook," or "blue river", which rises in the Carmel range and enters the Mediterranean a little to the north of Caesarea (Jos 19:26). Crocodiles are still found in the Zerka. Thomson suspects "that long ages ago some Egyptians, accustomed to worship this ugly creature, settled here (viz., at Caesarea), and brought their gods with them. Once here they would not easily be exterminated" (The Land and the Book).

Shilhim Aqueducts, a town in the south of Judah (Jos 15:32); called also Sharuhen and Shaaraim (Jos 19:6).

Shiloah, The Waters of =Siloah (Neh 3:15) and Siloam(q.v.)

Shiloh (1.) Generally understood as denoting the Messiah, "the peaceful one," as the word signifies (Gen 49:10). The Vulgate Version translates the word, "he who is to be sent," in allusion to the Messiah; the Revised Version, margin, "till he come to Shiloh;" and the LXX., "until that which is his shall come to Shiloh." It is most simple and natural to render the expression, as in the Authorized Version, "till Shiloh come," interpreting it as a proper name (compare Isa 9:6). (2.) A place of rest, a city of Ephraim, "on the north side of Bethel," from which it is distant 10 miles (Jdg 21:19); the modern Seilun (the Arabic for Shiloh), a "mass of shapeless ruins." Here the tabernacle was set up after the Conquest (Jos 18:1), where it remained during all the period of the judges till the ark fell into the hands of the Philistines. "No spot in Central Palestine could be more secluded than this early sanctuary, nothing more featureless than the landscape around; so featureless, indeed, the landscape and so secluded the spot that from the time of St. Jerome till its re-discovery by Dr. Robinson in 1838 the very site was forgotten and unknown." It is referred to by Jeremiah (Jer 7:12, Jer 7:14; Jer 26:4) five hundred years after its destruction.

Shilonite Ahijah the prophet, whose home was in Shiloh, is so designated (Kg1 11:29; Kg1 15:29). The plural form occurs (Ch1 9:5), denoting the descendants of Shelah, Judah's youngest son.