The scepter and Shiloh
Whether Shiloh is a place, a title of the coming ruler, or a mistranslation, and when the scepter departs.
Genesis 49:8-12
8“Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s sons will bow down before you.
9Judah is a lion’s cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up?
10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.
11Binding his foal to the vine, his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; he has washed his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.
12His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk.
What each tradition says
Rabbinic / Midrashic
Rashi reads “until Shiloh come” as “until the King Messiah comes, whose will be the kingdom,” citing Genesis Rabbah 99:8. He notes Onkelos renders it the same way. A midrashic interpretation identifies Shiloh with shai lo, “a present unto him,” as in Psalms 76:12.
Rashi (R. Solomon ben Isaac), Rashi on Genesis 49:10 — Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann (1929-1934), served by Sefaria — Commentary on Genesis 49:10 (on 'until Shiloh come')
Patristic
Justin Martyr cites the prophecy that Judah's sceptre and lawgiver would not depart until He comes for whom it is reserved; He will be the desire of the nations, binding His foal to the vine, washing His robe in the blood of the grape. Justin urges inquiry up to whose time the Jews had their own lawgiver and king.
Justin Martyr, First Apology (ANF01. The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus) — Ch. 32 (on the sceptre of Judah, Gen. xlix. 10)
Catholic
Haydock observes that almost every word in this verse has been explained differently. Yet he says all the ancient Jews agree with Christians that it predicts the Messiah and points out the period of his coming.
George Leo Haydock, George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary — Commentary on Genesis 49:10
Orthodox
Philaret of Moscow says that in the crucifixion under Pontius Pilate we see the fulfillment of Jacob's prophecy. The prophecy is: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come: and He is the desire of the nations" (Gen. 49:10).
Philaret of Moscow, The Longer Catechism of The Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church (R.W. Blackmore trans., 1845; pravoslavieto.com) — Q. 202 (why the crucifixion 'under Pontius Pilate' is worthy of remark)
Reformed / Protestant
Calvin reports that because Jerome rendered Shiloh “He who is to be sent,” some think the place was corrupted by substituting h for ch; he calls this objection plausible but not firm. He rejects the view that some Jews suppose, that Shiloh denotes the place where the ark was long kept, saying it is entirely without reason.
John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis - Volume 2 — On Genesis 49:10 (the meaning of Shiloh)
Evangelical
Wesley says Jacob foretold that the scepter would come into the tribe of Judah, fulfilled in David, on whose family the crown was entailed. He also says Shiloh would be of this tribe: the seed in whom the earth would be blessed, the peaceable prosperous one, or Savior, who would come from Judah.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament — Note on Genesis 49:10