Shilonite

Shi'lonite

[some Shilo'nite] (Heb. with the art. hash-Shiloni', הִשַּׁילוֹנֵי [2 Chronicles, 9:29], השַּׁלוֹנַי [x, 15], הִשַּׁילֹנַי [1Ki 11:29; 1Ki 12:15; 1Ki 15:29; 1Ch 9:5 (A. V. "the Shilonites")], or הִשַּׁלֹנַי [Ne 11:5; A. V. "Shiloni"]; Sept. ὁ Σηλωνίτης; but in 1Ch 9:5, ὁ Σηλωνί;' in Ne 1:5, Δηλωνέ v. r. ᾿Ηλωνί and Σηλωνί), a patrial or patronymic, used for two classes of persons.

1. A native or resident of Shiloh-a title ascribed only to Ahijah, the prophet who foretold to Jeroboam the disruption of the northern and southern kingdoms (1Ki 11:29; 1Ki 12:15; 1Ki 15:29; 2Ch 9:29j 10:15).

Its connection with Shiloh is fixed by 1Ki 14:2,4, which shows that that sacred spot was still the residence of the prophet. SEE SHILOH.

2. A descendant of Shelah, the youngest son of Judah a title that occurs (Ne 11:5) in a passage giving an account (like 1Ch 9:3-6) of the families of Judah who lived in Jerusalem at the date to which it refers, and (like that) it divides them into the great houses of Pharez and Shelah. The same family are mentioned among the descendants of Judah dwelling in Jerusalem at a date difficult to fix (1Ch 9:5). They are doubtless the members of the house who in the Pentateuch (Nu 26:20) are more accurately designated SHELANITES SEE SHELANITES (q.v.). This is supported by the reading of the Targum Joseph on the passage "the tribe of Shelah," and is allowed by Gesenius. The change of Shellani to Shiloni is the same which seems to have occurred in the name of Siloam-Shelach in Nehemiah and Shiloach in Isaiah. SEE SHELAH.