Gen 49:8-12 (KJV)
8) Judah, thou [art he] whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand [shall be] in the neck of thine enemies;
thy father's children shall bow down before thee.
9)
Judah
[is] a lion's whelp: from the prey,
my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old
lion; who shall rouse him up?
10)
The
sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
until Shiloh come; and unto him [shall]
the gathering of the people [be].
11)
Binding
his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his
garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
12)
His
eyes [shall be] red with wine, and
his teeth white with milk.
As we can see in our text, Judah received the preeminent
blessing of the family bestowed upon him by his father Jacob. Normally, the distinguished blessing was
reserved for the first born son of each family, however, just as with His
ancestors Isaac (2nd born) and Jacob (2nd born), Judah (4th
born) was given the privilege of the receipt of the dominate blessing among his
other siblings. This was done under the total control of the Lord, who as
Sovereign, is able to choose to whom He desires blessings to flow without any
earthly limitations of traditions or of desires of the human will. (Rom 9:7-17)
In this blessing we find a prophecy of the events
and status of the descendants of Judah, but more importantly, we find a
wonderful prophecy of the coming Messiah, who is the “Lion of the tribe of
Judah”, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Let’s take a look at this blessing and what it teaches us about our
Lord.
THE
SCRIPTURES:
Genesis
49:8-12
THE
STUDY:
Judah,
The title Judah means “praise” or “honor” . In Genesis 29:35 we are told that this title
was given in an effort to praise Jehovah for allowing Leah to conceive.
thou [art he]
whom thy brethren shall praise:
As a part of God’s sovereign plan, his name would
have another meaning as well. He was given
the title of “praise” because his brothers and their descendants would praise
him for a variety of reasons. What follows is a listing of all the many
reasons why Judah and his descendants would be praised throughout the ages:
1. The great victories of war had by Judah and his
descendants are one reason why Judah would be praised far above all other of
his brethren….
thy hand [shall
be] in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down
before thee.
Throughout history Judah was known for its many
military victories. This is pictured by
the conquering warrior finding absolute control in his defeated foe’s
neck. The victor would place his hand on
the neck of the conquered foe, making him defenseless and entirely under his
control. Normally this was done in
public, symbolically declaring to all who could see that the foe was totally
defeated. The victories wrought within
the nation of Judah are many….
1. It begins
with Judah, the man himself, and his personal victories over his enemies
(Judges 1: & 3).
2. But even
more so with his descendant, King David, who had victory over Israel’s enemies. This resulted in a time of peace for King
Solomon allowing him to build the temple of God in Jerusalem (1 Chron 28:3, 1
Chron 22:9). This secured for the Jews a
permanent place of worship for Jehovah.
3. These
victories continued sporadically throughout the Southern Kingdom’s history
under the reign of several Godly kings.
3. But the most important “victor” to come from
Judah’s line was the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who has given us the victory
over sin and death. (1 Cor 15:55-57)
2. The gradual increase of Judah’s strength,
boldness, wisdom and victories is the second reason why they would be praised
above all others….
Judah [is]
a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he
couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
Here we find Judah’s beginnings pictured as a
lion’s whelp and gradually increasing in power, cunningness, and ability just
as a lion matures to adulthood. This adult lion is so strong and dangerous no
one is willing to awaken him.
The tribe of Judah displayed an amazing increase of
strength and boldness from the days of the original blessing to the times of
David and then finally Christ. Through
the Lord’s intervention, the strength of their tribe increased, as well as the
boldness, as they led the Jews and fought many victorious battles against far
more powerful enemies.
Of course, the ultimate supreme display of power,
ability, wisdom and boldness was given by Christ who secured the eternal
victory for all of His people through His shed blood on the cross. As He defeated Satan Himself and all the
powers of darkness.
3. The third reason Judah would be praised among
all their brethren would be the line of kings that would descend from this
tribe…
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a
lawgiver from between his feet,
The scepter was a rod that a king held symbolizing
his authority over his nation. When we
see a lawgiver spoken of here, it is clearly referring to a king. From the forming of Israel into a nation,
they only had two different types of political rulers… judges and kings. The main difference between a judge and a
king was that a judge only had authority to upohold the laws that God had given
to the nation. A King had authority to
uphold God’s laws AND WRITE LAWS OF THEIR OWN.
Hence the title for a king was “a lawgiver”.
(Please note: This explains why the Lord was so
displeased with Israel when they were dissatisfied with the rule of the judges
and demanded that the Lord place a king over them (1 Sam 8:4-8). What they were saying was…. “Lord, your laws
are not good enough for us. We want a
King who can write other laws on our behalf”. What a sad situation when we reject the
commands for the Lord and substitute them with the commands of men.)
There were 22 Kings that reigned for 400+ years
that came from the line of Judah extending from King David (1000 BC) to
Zedekiah (586 BC). The next longest
dynasty of any nation in this same time frame was a 250 year dynasty in Egypt
(18th dynasty which included King Tut). Clearly the 400 year Judah dynasty brought
them a tremendous amount of praise and honor.
However, the coming of Jesus Christ, the King of
Kings and Lord of Lords, was certainly a much greater event and deserving of
far more praise than their previous record-length dynasty. In the coming of Christ we have the coming of
our Creator, the Sovereign of the Universe, humbling himself in submission to
His Father’s commands, motivated by love for His people. He came, He suffered and He died on the cross
so that He might pay the price of the sins of His people and live together with
Him for all eternity. (Phils 2:1-14)
In this first part of our study we have seen three
reasons why Judah would be the recipient of praise from his brethren and all
nations throughout history….
1. The great victories had by Judah and his
descendants are one reason why Judah would be praised far above all other of
his brethren….
2. The gradual increase of Judah’s strength,
boldness, wisdom and victories is the second reason why they would be praised
above all others….
3. The third reason Judah would be praised among
all their brethren would be the line of kings that would descend from this
tribe…
Please note that all three of these reasons are a
combination of accomplishments of Judah both before, and including, Christ and
His work on our behalf. In the last part
of this 2 part series we will be looking at the concluding portion of Judah’s
blessing which will involve an exclusive look at Christ and His many
accomplishments on our behalf….
until Shiloh come;
and unto him [shall]
the gathering of the people [be].
Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt
unto the choice vine;
he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in
the blood of grapes:
His eyes [shall be] red with
wine,
and his teeth white with milk
PRACTICAL APPLICATION:
As we study the history
of the tribe of Judah let’s always remember that Judah was a very special
tribe, because through it, came the Messiah; the One who has gotten us the
victory over sin and death; the One who gained a spiritual eternal victory that
far transcends any earthly human victory; the One who is the King of Kings and
Lord of Lords, the One to whom we owe our total allegiance.
If
you have any questions about salvation, I have a tab available on my blog that
gives in depth information on what salvation is and what you must do to be
saved. Please click on this link for more
information about salvation.
If you continue to have questions or concerns about your salvation,
find a Bible-believing church in your area.
The Pastor would be glad to share Christ and the way of salvation with
you. If you feel more comfortable
communicating through email, you are always welcome to email me at settledinheaven@gmail.com.
May the Lord bless you as you seek His truth.
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salvation and your life’s faithfulness be “Settled in Heaven.”
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