Devotional - 99-02-27 - Genesis 49

Last week we covered a few verses from Genesis 49. And I wrote that it is difficult to expound all the details of this amazing prophecy in one devotional, so I will undoubtedly spend a few weeks with this chapter. History has shown that Jacob's words came true. Certainly there is a lesson here of personal responsibility and accountability - for some of the tribes lost their blessings because of the sins of their founders. Sin never pays. There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end leads to death. But there are also some other aspects to this chapter that give us some very important information regarding Jesus of Nazareth. I find as I study these passages of Scripture that my soul through prayer seeks more and more to cooperate with God as He reveals His plans and purposes to me through the Bible.

Genesis 49:10 Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise: Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; Thy father's sons shall bow down before thee. 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 a lioness; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh come: And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.

A lot is said of Judah in these two verses. They certainly were successful in war. Their father's sons did bow down to them and the Greatest King (Shiloh) to ever live came from their midst. It is about this King I wish to share with you today.

It should be the royal tribe, and the tribe from which Messiah the Prince should come. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, till Shiloh come, Jacob here foresees and foretells:

That the sceptre should come into the tribe of Judah, which was fulfilled in David, on whose family the crown was entailed.

That Shiloh should be of this tribe - his seed, that promised seed, in whom the earth should be blessed, that peaceable and prosperous one, or the Saviour, so others translate it, he shall come of Judah. Thus dying Jacob, at a great distance, saw Christ's day, and it was his comfort and support on his death-bed.

That after the coming of the sceptre into the tribe of Judah it should continue in that tribe, at least a government of their own, till the coming of the Messiah, in whom, as the king of the church, and the great high priest. Till the captivity, all along from David's time, the sceptre was in Judah, and subsequently the governors of Judea were of that tribe, till Judea became a province of the Roman empire, just at the time of our Saviour's birth, and was at that time taxed as one of the provinces.

Luke 2:1 And at the time of his death the Jews expressly said, We have no king but Caesar. Hence it is undeniably inferred against the Jews that our Lord Jesus is he that should come, and that we are to look for no other; for he came exactly at the time appointed.

Many times during the Christmas season the story of the exact timing of the Messiah to be born is brought out in the light of Genesis 49:10. It is a marvelous teaching that points to the Sovereignty of God who overrules in the plans of men to establish His plans and purposes both in heaven and on earth. It is undeniably true that the ruling sceptre did remain in the tribe of Judah until this time and forty years after the Lord Jesus was baptized the nation of Israel was dispersed into the nations. Judah no longer ruled and Israel ceased to be. So before this dispersing could have happened the Messiah would need to make His appearance and He did. Next week as I write more on this subject I would like to bring to light another related passage from the Book of Daniel -- until then I hope that your journey through the Bible is fruitful and that you find the grace to be faithful day to day. I hope your fellowship is blessed and God answers your prayers in accord with His will and May God bring peace to Jerusalem and may we live to see it in our day-amen

In His Service, Liv4Yeshua

liv4yeshua@cfdevotionals.org
http://www.cfdevotionals.org