TORAH
Gen. 47:28-50:26
Gen. 47:28-50:26
HAFTORAH
1
Kings 2:1-12
B’RIT HADASHAH
Acts 7:9-16 (15-16)Heb. 11:21-22
1 Peter 1:3-9; 2:11-17
By
means of the blessing that Jacob gives to his son Judah, God sovereignly sets
in motion another phase in His unique plan for the redemption of His chosen
people, the remnant, who are the seed of the promise made to Abraham.
Judah
was not Jacob’s first born and, according to tradition, should not have been
the recipient of such a blessing. In fact this blessing is a variant of the two
previous blessings when Jacob deceived Isaac into giving him the blessing that
should have fallen, by tradition, to Esau and again when Jacob unexpectedly turned
the tables on tradition, giving Joseph’s son Ephraim, the younger, the blessing
that would normally be part of the birthright of Manasseh the elder. (Incidentally,
we learn from 48:22 that Joseph, not Reuben, received the double portion
reserved for the firstborn.)
By these unexpected means, God demonstrates
His own hidden (that is to say, sovereign) purpose in creation and
simultaneously teaches that “my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9). God’s sovereign will is of
necessity hidden from our sight and understanding until such a time as it comes
to fruition. It is in this sense that the blessing can be understood as
being two-dimensional: it not only predicts the events that will unfold toward
the close of time, the “latter days” of some translations, but it in fact is
instrumental in bringing those events to fruition, “so shall my word be that goes out from my
mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I
purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isa. 55:11). This
illustrates the essential aspect of true prophecy: it not only foretells but is
the actual working out of what God wills within creation. Rarely is prophecy
understood except in hindsight, that is, until accomplished.
So
how then are we to understand Jacob’s blessing of Judah?
Jacob
is clearly prophesying a prominent role for the descendants of Judah. In fact,
he is prophesying that kings shall come from Judah who will rule all Israel and
who will be victorious over their external enemies as well. Jacob likens the
tribe of Judah to a lion (for majesty, dignity and justice) and a lioness (for
strength, ferocity and prowess). These qualities must be found in all good rulers
and leaders of peoples. The greatest of these earthly kings were David and his
son Solomon. According to verse 10d, “to him shall be the obedience of the
peoples (or nations).” This was true to some degree in David’s life but more
completely in the heyday of Solomon (1 Kings 4:20-21).
But
is this a prophecy only about David and Solomon alone or even about the dynasty
of David? Yes and no. It certainly points to David as being the progenitor of a
dynasty of Kings but it goes far beyond that for we learn from the OT that the
Messiah would come from the house of Jesse, David’s father. And as such, He is
a direct descendant of David, in David’s role as King over all Israel. “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit” (Isa. 11:1-5. See also
2 Sam. 7:12-13; Jer. 23:5). We learn that the earlier prophecies were
fulfilled in the person of Yeshua ben Yoseph according to Matt. 1:1-3; Luke3:33; Acts 13:22-23, Rom. 1:3 and Heb. 7:14. So according to the Bible, the
Messiah was to come from the tribe of Judah and the house of David. Indeed, in
Revelation He is titled the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” (Rev. 5:5) who is also
of the “root of David.”
Now what was not fully understood by many people of the OT,
and only hinted at in the prophets, mostly in Isaiah, was that the Messiah
would come not once but twice, according to God’s sovereign will: His first
appearance in humility and servant-hood, and His second in majesty and
authority. Verse 10 of our passage seems to describe someone from the tribe of Judah in terms
of royalty (i.e. the scepter and ruler’s staff, both emblematic of regal
authority). Different Bible versions offer differing translations of 10b:
“until tribute comes to him” (ESV, JSB); “until Shiloh come” (KJV, NASB);
“until he comes to whom it belongs” (NIV, CJB) and so on. The word shiloh,
according to John Sailhamer (Expositor’s
Bible Commentary, vol. 2, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1990, p. 276) is “simply
an untranslated form of the Hebrew expression meaning ‘one to whom it belongs.’
It is not a name as such, [Shiloh, in some Christian traditions was considered
one of the names of the Messiah] nor is it to be associated with the site of
the tabernacle in the days of Samuel (1 Sam 1:3).”
Because of the context as well as later, fuller revelation
from the NT, I believe an appropriate translation would agree with that of J.
Barton Payne’s, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah until the One come
whose it is” (Encyclopedia of Biblical
Prophecy, Baker House, Grand Rapids, 1973). Payne also points out that “the
same Hebrew syntax is repeated in the confirmatory Messianic prophecy of Ezek21:27.”
Gen.
49:10 speaks not in general terms but specifically of an individual who will
rule—not only his own nation of Israel, but all nations (“peoples”, ESV). This
theme of course is taken up in several places in the Bible including Psalm 2:8;Dan. 7:13-14 and Rev. 5:5, 9.
What
is being described by these few verses is a further elaboration of the promise
found back in Gen. 3:15 in which the hint of a Saviour (i.e. her offspring,
singular) is given, but now more fully disclosed in our present passage. The
passage, in describing the obedience of the peoples in future tense is alluding
to a future reign, one in which at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of
God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11, see also Isa. 45:23).
As prophecy, this short passage
makes it clear that a Messiah will indeed return to take up the rulership, not
just of Judah, but a united Israel as well. Moreover, we know by comparing this
predictive passage with several others—especially in the Revelation—that this
Messiah is to be identified first with Israel when, for example, He is spoken
of as the “lion of Judah”—Judah being a metonymy for all Israel, and again
where in Rev. 19:11-16 He is eloquently and clearly described, “Then I saw heaven
opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and
True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His
eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a
name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed
in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of
God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine
linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From
his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he
will rule them with a rod of iron. He
will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On
his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of
lords.” This passage is in full agreement with Isaiah who declares, “In
that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him
shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious” (Isa.
11:10) which predicts the coming to faith of Gentiles as well as Jews.
So we have here a picture of the returning King Messiah,
removed as it were for a time in order to ensure that all who have been
appointed for salvation have “come in to their fullness”, including all born
again believers, Jew and Gentile alike “‘I have made you a light
for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ And
when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of
the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts
13:47b-48). But this King Messiah will no longer be a “servant.” Indeed
as we see from Revelation, He is coming to exact payment from the reprobates
and to dispense blessings and rewards to the elect from all generations.
Does
this bring us hope or fear, confidence or uncertainty? The NT prophet and
apostle John speaks of these things in his letters. He reminds us that we are
able to know we love God, and are therefore loved by Him, when we are keeping
His commandments—His easy yoke and His light burden, Matt. 11:30—“And by this
we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments”; “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know
that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us”; “And this is love,
that we walk according to his commandments;
this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you
should walk in it” (1 John 2:3; 3:24; 2 John 1:6).
Keeping
the commandments is, when performed out of love, not burdensome. Nor can we
keep the commandments without God’s sovereign grace. Only His
intervention—through faith by the Holy Spirit—will re-vivify our spiritually
dead souls and enable us –through wills now fully redeemed and so truly free—to
demonstrate our love to God and His precious Son by our obedience to His
commandments, which are the same commandments as found in the so-called OT. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God,
the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your might. And these words that I command you today
shall be on your heart”; “You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord” (Deut. 6:4-6; Lev. 19:18. See also Matt. 22:37, pars; Mark 12:31,
pars.). These, among other such commandments are still in effect for all those
called as His disciples. Not only so, but by quoting these commandments and
using their teachings as an aspect of His teachings, He not only legitimizes
them, He makes them His own, therefore still binding. And since in quoting
these and other commandments and teachings, He in effect is demonstrating that
the whole teaching of the OT—the Torah—is still operative in the lives of
believers. Therefore, let us pay close attention to these things lest we should
become disqualified from winning the prize.
AMEN
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