‘And there was Ta’anith [the lamenting of] Shiloh’, which means the place which made whoever saw it mourn for the sacrifices which he ate there. (1) R. Abbahu said: Scripture saith, Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine through the eye: (2) [this means,] let the eye which would not feed upon and enjoy that which did not belong to it, (3) be privileged to eat [of sacrifices] as far as it can see. R. Jose son of R. Hanina quoted: ‘And the desire of him that dwelt in hatred’: (4) [this means,] let the eye that did not desire to enjoy that which did not belong to it, be privileged to eat [sacrifices] among those that hated it. (5) It was taught: When they said, [As far as the eye could] see, they meant: [from] wherever one could see [the Tabernacle] without anything interposing. R. Simeon b. Eliakim observed to R. Eleazar: Give me an example. Said he to him: E.g., the synagogue of Maon. (6) R. Papa said: When they said, ‘see’, they did not mean that one must see the whole of it, but that one must see part of it. R. Papa asked: What of [a place whence] one could see [the Tabernacle] whilst standing, but not when sitting? R. Jeremiah asked: What [of a place where] if one stood on the edge of the valley one could see [it], but when he sat in the valley he could not see [it]? The questions stand over. When R. Dimi came [from Palestine], he said: The Shechinah rested on Israel in three (7) places: in Shiloh, in Nob and Gibeon, (8) and in the Eternal House; (9) and in all of these it rested [on Israel] only in the portion of Benjamin, for it is said, He covereth him all day: (10) all ‘coverings’ will be naught elsewhere but in Benjamin's portion. Abaye went and told this to R. Joseph. Said he to him: Kaylil (11) had but one son, and he is not ‘finished’. (12) Surely it is written, And He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh; and it is written, Moreover He abhorred the tent of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim? (13) — Said R. Adda [b. Mattenah]: What is his difficulty? perhaps the Shechinah was in Benjamin's portion, while the Sanhedrin (14) was in Joseph's portion, (15) as we find in the Eternal House that the Shechinah was in Benjamin's portion, whereas the Sanhedrin was in Judah's portion? How compare? replied he. There the territories [of Judah and Benjamin] were contiguous; but were they contiguous here? (16) — They were indeed contiguous, even as R. Hama son of R. Hanina said: (17) A strip issued from Judah's portion and entered Benjamin's portion, and on this the altar was built. The righteous Benjamin grieved thereat every day, [wishing] to absorb it; (18) so here too a strip issued from Joseph's portion into Benjamin's portion, and that is the meaning of Taanath-Shiloh. (19) This is a controversy of Tannaim: ‘He covereth him’; this alludes to the first Temple; ‘all the day’, to the second Temple; ‘and He dwelleth between his shoulders’, to the days of the Messiah. (20) Rabbi said: ‘He covereth him’, alludes to this world; (21) ‘all the day’, to the days of the Messiah; ‘and He dwelleth between his shoulders’, to the World to Come. Our Rabbis taught: The duration of the Tent of Meeting in the wilderness was forty years less one; the duration of the Tent of Meeting at Gilgal was fourteen years, [viz.,] the seven [years] of conquest and the seven of division. (22) The duration of the Tent of Meeting at Nob and Gibeon [combined] was fifty-seven years. Thus for Shiloh was left three hundred and seventy less one. ‘The duration of the Tent of Meeting in the wilderness was forty less one.’ How do we know it? — Because a master said: In the first year (23) Moses made the Tabernacle; in the second the Tabernacle was set up, and Moses sent out the spies. ‘That of Gilgal was fourteen years, [viz.,] the seven [years] of conquest and the seven of division.’ How do we know it? — Because Caleb said: Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land; and I brought him back word as it was in my heart; and it is written, and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. (24) How old was he when he crossed the Jordan? Seventy eight years; (25) and he said, ‘[I am this day] fourscore and five years old’: thus [you have] seven years for the conquest. And how do we know the seven years of division? — I can say, since the conquest took seven [years], the dividing too took seven years. Alternatively, because [otherwise] we cannot explain [the verse] In the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten. (26) ‘The Tent of Meeting at Nob and Gibeon lasted fifty-seven years. How do we know it? — Because it is written, And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, [that he fell from off his seat... and died]. (27) Now it was taught: When Eli the priest died, Shiloh was destroyed and they repaired to Nob; when Samuel the Ramathite died, Nob was destroyed and they went to Gibeon. And it is written, And it came to pass, front the day that the ark abode in Kiriath-jearim, that the time was long, for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel yearned after the Lord. (28) These twenty years [were made up as follows]: Ten years during which Samuel ruled alone, (29) one year that Samuel and Saul ruled [together], (30) two years that Saul reigned, (31) and the seven which David reigned [in Hebron],

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(1). ↑ Before the Tabernacle was destroyed. There is no such text in the Bible. Rashi suggests, and Sh.M. cites as a var. lec., Josh. XVI, 6: And the border turned about eastward unto Ta’anith-Shiloh. — He treats Ta’anith as an adjectival substantive, the lamenting of, from Anah to lament (cf. ta'aniah in lsa. XXIX, 2: and there shall be mourning (ta'aniah), and explains it as in the text, and thus infers that sacrifices could be eaten wherever the Tabernacle at Shiloh could be seen.
(2). ↑ Gen. XLIX, 22. E.V. by a fountain. — Shiloh was in Ephraim's (i.e., Joseph's) territory.
(3). ↑ Potiphar's wife.
(4). ↑ Deut. XXXIII, 16. By a play on words סנה is connected with שנאה hatred. E.V.: And the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush. The verse refers to Joseph.
(5). ↑ Sc. in the territories surrounding Shiloh, which belonged to the other tribes whose ancestors had hated Joseph. — Presumably ‘as far as the eye could see’ would embrace the borders of these territories. — This interpretation, of course, is merely aggadic and is not the actual source of the law.
(6). ↑ In Judea. From there one would have an uninterrupted view of the Tabernacle at Shiloh — The text is emended.
(7). ↑ Marginal emendation; four.
(8). ↑ These were two separate places, but they are generally coupled, which probably explains why cur. edd. read ‘three’, treating these as one.
(9). ↑ The Temple in Jerusalem.
(10). ↑ Deut. XXXIII, 12. — This refers to Benjamin.
(11). ↑ Rashi suggests that this was the name of Abaye's father.
(12). ↑ That one son — Abaye — is but half-baked — he has not mastered his studies.
(13). ↑ Ps. LXXVIII, 60, 67. The comparison of these two verses shows that the Tabernacle was in Ephraim's portion, not Benjamin's.
(14). ↑ The religious and civil court; v. Sanh. 2a.
(15). ↑ He assumes that the Sanhedrin had its seat in or by the Tabernacle, and that the verses in Psalms refer to the forsaking by the Divine Presence (Shechinah) of this Sanhedrin.
(16). ↑ Did Joseph (Ephraim) and Benjamin have a common boundary at Shiloh?
(17). ↑ In reference to the Temple at Jerusalem.
(18). ↑ V. supra 53b.
(19). ↑ Josh. XVI, 6; v. supra. He now suggests that it means: (Benjamin's) mourning for Shiloh, that it was in Joseph's territory.
(20). ↑ On this view only the two Temples were in Benjamin's territory. but not the Tabernacles at Shiloh and elsewhere.
(21). ↑ Wherever the Shechinah rested in this world, i.e., in both Temples and in all Tabernacles, it was in Benjamin's territory.
(22). ↑ Dividing the land among the tribes.
(23). ↑ Of the Exodus.
(24). ↑ Josh. XIV, 7, 10. — ‘This day’ means when they started dividing the country.
(25). ↑ Since the spies were not sent out at the beginning of the second year, but some months later.
(26). ↑ Ezek. XL, 1. According to the Talmud (‘Ar. 12a), this was a jubilee year, while the Release years (Shemittoth) and Jubilee years did not commence until the land had been divided. The calculation is then as follows: The Temple was built four hundred and eighty years after the Exodus, which was four hundred and forty years after their entry into Eretz Israel. The Temple stood four hundred and ten years, making a total of eight hundred and fifty years from their entry until its destruction, which is thirty-seven Jubilees. Deducting fourteen years for conquest and division, as these did not count for Jubilee, we find that it was destroyed fourteen years before a Jubilee year, and therefore the fourteenth year after its destruction was a Jubilee year. (The Talmud deduces that this was a Jubilee year independently of this calculation.)
(27). ↑ I Sam. IV, 18. This refers to Eli the priest.
(28). ↑ Ibid. VII, 2. The Ark was placed in Kiriathjearim when it returned from the land of the Philistines, where it had been four months.
(29). ↑ As judge.
(30). ↑ I.e., Saul ruled with the advice of Samuel. Sh.M. reads: the eleven years that Samuel ruled, and deletes one... together’.
(31). ↑ V. Ibid. XIII, 1. Rashi maintains that the first year, when he ruled with Samuel, is not counted.