Judah Praised, Triumphant, And Reigning In The Coming One

By S. Lewis Johnson, Jr. [1]

Lewis Johnson served as a teaching elder and regularly ministered the Word at Believers Chapel in Dallas, Texas for more than thirty years. During his academic career he held professorships in New Testament and Systematic Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. At the time of his death in 2004 he was Professor Emeritus of New Testament Literature and Exegesis at Dallas Seminary. Both MP3 files and printed notes of Dr. Johnson’s sermons and theological lectures may be downloaded from the web site of the SLJ Institute «www.sljinstitute.net».

An Exposition Of Genesis 49:8-12

Introduction

It is a prevalent view of modern theology that the early church is responsible for the view that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled in his life and ministry the Old Testament Scriptures, although he is not really there at all. In fact, modern scholarship pictures the church as ransacking the Old Testament to find texts to “prove” that Jesus was the Messiah. The names of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were noms de plume, i.e., pen names, but they were not the real authors. Unknown members of a day later than our Lord are responsible for the gospels.

There are many flaws in this scheme of things. In the first place, it discounts objective Christian tradition for the subjective speculations of scholars notorious for changing views. Second, it assumes that the early church had no interest in the factuality of Jesus’ life, a thoroughly unnatural perception of human psychology.

More fundamental, however, is the conviction of many scholars that predictive prophecy is impossible. Contrary to most liberal scholars, Rudolph Bultmann was very honest in acknowledging his own presupposition that there are no miracles in our day. All of our history, he claimed, occurs within a closed continuum, and in it everything proceeds according to natural law. [2]

R. P. Carroll, the author of When Prophecy Failed, sympathizes with the view that God can foresee the range of things that may happen, but he cannot see what is to happen. What is to happen depends on the exercise of human freedom. What Carroll has is a limited God, an ungodded God! [3]

These humorless scholars, who apparently fail to recognize their assumptions, remind me of the well-known Chinese proverb, “To prophesy is exceedingly difficult, especially with regard to the future.”

Actually the early church did not ransack the Old Testament for scripture texts to prove Jesus was the Messiah. If they did, then they missed some scintillating ones which are not found in the New Testament at all. A bipartisan reading of the Old Testament reveals that the New Testament is quite restrained in citing messianic texts. The authors omit many clear ones such as Genesis 3:15, Numbers 24:17, Isaiah 9:6, and 32:1-2; even some admitted as genuine messianic texts by the critics, such as Isaiah 11:1-5, and Jeremiah 23:5-6.

In our continued study of the Old Testament anticipation of the Messiah we now look at one the critics missed and should have admitted was messianic, Genesis 49:10, where Jacob in his final blessing of his sons looks into the future and foretells what awaits them and their tribal descendants. Of Judah he says, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” This text ultimately looks on to the Messiah..

The Princely Power Of Judah

Recognized By His Brethren, Verse 8

Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you.

This series of blessings upon the tribal heads of the nation are the last words of Jacob, as is clear from the last verse of the chapter. It reads, “When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people” (Gen. 49:33). Some have thought it incredible that Jacob at his decrepit old age could utter thoughts so clear-cut and virile. That reminds me, an old man, of Robert Orben’s words, “I don’t even remember when I was young. Sometimes I think I went directly from Dr. Spock to Dr. Scholl’s!”

Socrates in his Apology says, “I am now at that point where the gift of prophecy comes most readily to men: at the point of death.” [4] The same idea is expressed in the lines:

The soul’s dark cottage, batter’d and decayed,
Lets in new light through chinks that time hath made. [5]

Jacob’s last charge is a great lesson in faith (cf. vv. 28-32), and his death is sublimely recounted. There is always something grand in a believer’s death. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Ps. 116:15, NIV). Jacob “breathed his last,” Moses writes, indicating there was little in common with our Lord’s death (cf. John 19:30) who bowed his head and voluntarily “gave up His spirit” (John 19:30). Then the text says that he was “gathered to his people,” suggestive of consciousness and recognition. Luther once said that ministers were made by oratio, or prayer, meditatio, or meditation, and tentatio, or trial. If that is true, then I can hear the angel who introduced Jacob to Adam in paradise, if there is anything like that there, saying something like this: “Adam, first believer of the human race, let me introduce you to Jacob, a crooked man who learned of God’s sovereign grace in the fires of oratio, meditatio, and tentatio with a lot of the third!”

Judah was the fourth son, but he is first in the list of Jacob’s sons to receive such a rich and unmixed blessing. To him Jacob says, “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, who dares rouse him up?”

When Judah was born, he was given the name that meant “praise.” “His nomen was an omen,” [6] to use a well-worn pun. Jacob fills out the picture a bit by saying that Judah’s brethren shall praise him for military skill against their enemies. In other words the royal stature of the tribe was acquired from his lion-like nature, manifested in David and in David’s greater Son, the Lion of the tribe of Judah (cf. 1 Sam. 18:6, 7, 16; 2 Sam. 5:1-2; 7:1-19; Luke 1:32-33; Rev. 5:1-14). In the final analysis his nature and stature were given by God in sovereign grace.

Recognized By The Prophetic Word, Verse 9

Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up?

The picture Jacob paints in describing Judah’s future is that of a young, growing lion, seizing its prey, killing it, and then ascending to its mountain lair and resting in majestic quietness, with nothing to fear from other beasts. The words point on to David’s successes and the power of universal empire to come (cf. 1 Sam. 17:34-36: the lion met a greater lion!; [7] Rev. 6:17; 11:15). From this source has come Great Britain’s national symbol of the “Lion Couchant.” [8]

Since Judah is the lion of the tribes, how suitable it is that Judah’s noblest Son should be called “The Lion of the tribe of Judah”! Kidner suggests that the figure of the slain Lamb standing in Revelation 5:6 displays an even finer strength. [9] If the “standing” represents resurrection power, and I think it does, then I have to agree. These two verses create a tremendous sense of expectation, fully justified by the rest of the Bible.

The Sovereign Rule Of The “Lion Of Judah,” Verse 10

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

Judah’s Rule To The Coming One, Verse 10a-C

The patriarch looks on down the path of time from his day in prophetic vision, declaring, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” His vision points to a critical time, the coming of something or someone called “Shiloh,” or שִׁילה (šîlōh) as the Hebrew text has it (unfortunately a word not yet absolutely clear in meaning). And then the vision looks on to the gathering of the people. I would sum this up as a vision of a progressive march of events to Messiah and his rule. Let us analyze the prophecy.

We have no problem in identifying the scepter as a long staff in its earliest form, and a symbol of regal command. Messiah shall come from the ranks of Judah. But who, or what, is “Shiloh”? It is wise to avoid dogmatism. There are three major interpretations: [10]

1. First, it has been suggested that Shiloh is the city of Shiloh referred to in the Old Testament. But Judah had no rule at Shiloh when that city became Israel’s spiritual center, the tabernacle having been pitched there after the conquest of Canaan (cf. Josh. 18:1; Judg. 18:31; 1 Sam. 1:3, etc.). Nor had Judah rule up to that time, so that Jacob’s prophecy would then be no prophecy at all, being “entirely unfulfilled.” [11]
2. Second, it has been suggested that it is a personal name, meaning rest-bringer. Our Lord, of course, is that, but the linguistic support is feeble at best. [12]
3. Third, it is possible to take Shiloh to be a clause, meaning, “until he comes to whom it belongs.” [13] The Jewish Targum Onkelos has, “until the time that the king Messiah shall come, whose is the kingdom.” [14] This meaning finds some confirmation from Ezekiel 21:27, which seems to be built upon this meaning of Genesis 49:10. In a clearly messianic text Ezekiel has written, giving the message God gave him, “A ruin, a ruin, a ruin, I will make it. This also will be no more until he comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him.” [15] I therefore understand Shiloh to be a clause that refers to the Messiah, asserting that the tribe of Judah shall have dominion until he comes to assume it personally. [16]

Judah’s Rule After He Comes, Verse 10d

Jacob refers to Judah’s rule after the Messiah comes in the next clause, “And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” The old patriarch’s words ultimately refer to the end of the age, when the Lord Jesus Christ shall gather all his people to himself. He is the true and only center of the redeemed, and together they form the sacred brotherhood of the genuine Christians who rest in his cross for eternal life.

The world-wide dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ is described in striking visual form in Revelation 5:1-14, where John sees the Lamb in heaven. [17] He is the center of heaven’s attention and worship, having won for himself and his redeemed, who are represented by him as their covenantal head, the title to the universe he created. John heard the heavenly elders singing songs to the Lamb containing these thrilling words, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth” (Rev. 5:9-10). This text makes it plain that his world-wide dominion, that is, the right “to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, and glory, and blessing” as all the hosts exclaim, is grounded in his blood sacrifice. Salvation for his people and sovereignty over the universe are the purchased results. It is no wonder that he is the only center of true unity, both to his people and to the world. No ecumenical movement in the churches that fails to accord him his divine rights and his exalted place in his creation can hope to succeed.

It cannot be stressed too much that it is the cross of Christ around which true Christians gather. They may not agree on all points of Christian doctrine yet, but they all agree about the Son of God and his saving sacrifice. And we love them who love him, our common Savior. We kneel in earnest prayer in his name to our Father, and we arise to discover how much we are alike in our praise of him.

It is said that John Wesley, the Arminian, did not like Augustus Toplady, the Calvinist. Toplady called Wesley “an old fox,” and said he would pluck him and have him “tarred and feathered.” Those were vigorous days when man were frank and spoke their minds unhypocritically. But look at your hymn book and you will find Wesley’s, “Jesus, Lover of My Soul,” by the side of Toplady’s, “Rock of Ages.” With all their failings they found common ground at the cross. Unto Shiloh, the rest-giver, the Coming One to whom it all belongs, shall the gathering of all his people be, including all those who found it difficult to get along perfectly on earth.

The Golden Age Of Abundance, Verses 11-12

He ties his foal to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; he washes his garments in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are dull from wine, and his teeth white from milk.

The Figure Of The Animals, Verse 11

The temporal sequence of things is continued here and, thus, the things referred to in this verse are things that follow the coming of the Messiah, the One to whom it all belongs. And the subject of the abundance of possessions is the One to whom the blessing pertains, namely, Judah. Of course Judah’s blessings only come from the messianic Warrior who conquers the enemies of heaven in his infinite power at his second coming, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

The language is figurative, no doubt, but designed to portray “exuberant, intoxicating abundance,” being “the golden age of the Coming One.” [18] Think of it! Grape vines are used as hitching posts, and the wine from the vines is used for washing clothes!

The Figure Of The Man, Verse 12

The language of excess continues in verse 12 with, “His eyes are dull from wine, and his teeth white from milk.” Wine and milk, the most valuable produce of the land, are so abundant that they may be enjoyed to the full. The curse of Genesis 3:17-19, the sorrow, the thorns and thistles, the sweat, and the culmination in death are gone in the renewal of the earth. The King has overcome his enemies and, as Proverbs declares, “A cheerful heart has a continual feast” (Prov. 15:15).

The first of the messianic signs in John’s gospel, the turning of the water into wine, symbolized this very age to come in the same type of imagery. “This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory” (John 2:11).

Conclusion

In the celebration of the first coming of our Lord, let us not forget the second advent, when our Lord as Judah’s noblest son shall gather all the crowns and scepters of this earth to himself, for he is King of kings and Lord of lords. To him belongs the right to reign.

Spurgeon has a beautiful comment here. “Have you not seen the picture that represents Nelson on board a French man-of-war,” he says, “receiving the swords of the various captains he has conquered, while there stands an old tar [sailor] at his side putting all these swords underneath his arm as they are brought up. I have often pictured to myself our great Commander, the only King by divine right, coming back to this our earth, and gathering up the scepters of the kings in sheaves, and putting them on one side, and collecting their crowns; for he alone shall reign King of kings and Lord of lords. When the last and greatest of all monarchs shall come a second time, ‘without a sin-offering unto salvation’—oh, the glory of his triumph!” [19]

And let us be sure that we are among the ones mentioned by the patriarch, when he said, “And unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (v. 10, KJV). His genuine sheep, drawn to him by the Father like iron filings are drawn to a magnet, hear his voice and in the power of the eternal life given them, they follow him. He is the Good Shepherd who gave his life for the sheep and has become “the Great Gatherer” of his flock. Have we been gathered to him?

The only alternative to that gathering is the gathering of the spiritually dead before him at the judgment of the great white throne (Rev. 20:11-15). It is either “to him” or “before him.” It is either trust him or tremble before him. Which shall it be?

Notes

1. This is article four in a twelve-part series, “Anticipations of the Messiah in the Old Testament.”
2. Rudolph Bultmann, Jesus Christ and Mythology (New York: Scribner’s, 1958), 14-15. Anti-supernaturalism was Bultmann’s presupposition (ibid., 35-44).
3. Robert P. Carroll, When Prophecy Failed (New York: Seabury, 1979), 29-40.
4. Socrates, Apology 39, in Plato, The Last Days of Socrates: The Apology, Crito, Phaedo, trans. Hugh Tredennick (Baltimore, MD: Penguin, 1954), 47.
5. Marcus Dods, The Book of Genesis, Handbooks for Bible Classes (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1882), 195.
6. That is, “his name was a prophetic sign of what was to happen.”
7. “But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear’” (1 Sam. 17:34-36). David’s success against his enemies, whether animal or human, foreshadows the success of the ultimate Lion of Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ, against his enemies.
8. That is, the lion represented as lying down but with his head raised.
9. Derek Kidner, Genesis, TOTC (Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 1967), 218; cf. Henry Barclay Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, 3d ed. (1909; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), 77.
10. For a summary of the debate and a brief bibliography, see HALOT, s.v. “שִׁי'לה,” 2:1478-79; Claus Westermann, Genesis 37-50, trans. John J. Scullion (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1986), 230-31; Gordon Wenham, Genesis 16-50, WBC (Dallas: Word, 1994), 477-78. Westermann wrote, “The whole discussion has not yet reached even a limited consensus.”
11. C. F. Keil, The Pentateuch, vol. 1, in Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament by C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, trans. James Martin (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1864; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, n.d.), 397.
12. See the discussion of Franz Delitzsch, A New Commentary on Genesis, trans. Sophia Taylor (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1888), 2:379-80.
13. Cf. BDB, s.v. “שִׁי'לה,” 1010; Gerhard von Rad, Genesis, OTL, 3d ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1972), 425.
14. The Targum of Onkelos on The Book of Bereshith or Genesis, in The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch , trans. J. W. Etheridge (New York: KTAV, 1968), 1:336.
15. Further discussion may be found in E. A. Speiser (Genesis, AncB [Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964], 365-66, 372), who finds the clause in which the word שִׁי'לה is found “obscure,” and in von Rad (Genesis, 424-26). The Targum has, “until Messiah shall come, to whom belongs the kingdom,” the Aramaic terms for Messiah and kingdom being מְשִׁיחָא and מַלְוּתָא. The Latin Vulgate and the Syriac versions support the reference to a personal Messiah, while the Septuagint is less clear, having, “until there come the things stored up for him; and he is the expectation of the nations.”
16. On Judah’s rise to supremacy after Shiloh had ceased to be the spiritual center for Israel’s tribes, see Keil, The Pentateuch, 1:396-97. Keil wrote (397), “We regard Shiloh, therefore, as a title of the Messiah, in common with the entire Jewish synagogue and the whole Christian Church, in which, although there may be uncertainty as to the grammatical interpretation of the word, there is perfect agreement as to the fact that the patriarch is here proclaiming the coming of the Messiah.”
17. S. Lewis Johnson, Jr., “The Mediator’s Cross according to Heaven,” Reformation and Revival Journal 5 (Winter, 1996):17-31; David J. MacLeod, “The Adoration of God the Redeemer: An Exposition of Revelation 5:8-14,” BibSac 164 (Oct., 2007): 454-71.
18. Kidner, Genesis, 219.
19. Charles Spurgeon, “Shiloh,” in The Treasury of the Bible (reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981), 1:175.