Genesis 49 :: The Messiah Foretold
As we begin this chapter, Jacob lies dying (in Egypt) and gathers his 12 sons around him and says: “I will tell you what will happen to each of you in the days to come.” (49:1) He then proceeds to pronounce what will become of his sons, their families, and their descendents. The purpose of this section of Genesis 49 is described by the author/commentator: “These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he told his sons good-bye. He blessed each one with an appropriate message.” (49:28) Although all are very interesting, I find two of the messages fascinating: Levi and Judah.
Although Levi’s message has noting to do with the foretelling of the Messiah, I find it very cool what Jacob says about him and about what his descendents will become. Levi, one of the brothers who killed the entire city’s population of men for the rape of his sister Dinah (34:25), is “cursed” as being violent and angry, and that “I will scatter them among the descendants of Jacob; I will disperse them throughout Israel” (49:7). That being said, Levi’s descendents became priests and were given no allotment of land in Canaan; they were dispersed among the 12 tribes of Israel. (When you remove Levi as a tribe inheriting land, there still remains 12 tribes when you include the “half tribes” of Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph’s sons whom Jacob made his own sons in Genesis 48:5.)
OK, now on to Jesus. Judah, who is not the eldest, becomes the son of The Promise. What does The Promise refer to? God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was the same; that God would swear “…by my own name that I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22:16-18, emphasis added.) The Promise is not just a group of descendents and land, but that the world will be blessed.
Remember the Covenant with Abram. Because Abram couldn’t keep his promise to “walk before me [God] and be blameless” (17:1), God had to keep His promise and be murdered so that we could be blameless before God, through Jesus (see
Covenant Blog). In order for The Promise of God to be fulfilled, God choose to bless Abraham, followed by Isaac (not the first born, but the child chosen for The Promise), Jacob (again, not the first born, but the child chosen for The Promise), Judah, through to David (the first to hold the scepter of Judah) all the way down to Jesus (see Matthew 1). Part of The Promise was the lineage of Jesus. Through The Promise, he chose and protected these people until Jesus came to bless the whole world. We all, not just the Jewish Nation (see also Ephesians 2:13-17), are blessed with forgiveness and mercy through The Promise.
Now, read the central part of Judah’s “appropriate message” (49:28). Genesis 49:10 NLT “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.” The rightful ruling of the nation would flow from Judah and that his descendents would hold it until the “one to whom it belongs” comes. David is the first from the Tribe of Judah to become king. Interestingly enough, Judah is called “a lion's cub” (49:9 NIV) here. And later, in reference to this, in Revelation 5:5, Jesus is called “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne.” The true owner of the right to rule? God. Jesus is God. (see Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58) Jesus is The Promise and “all nations” will not only honor Him, but trust in Him for salvation. Here also is where Jesus is foretold of being from the Tribe of Judah. Also here, I would almost give double meaning to the word scepter; that it is not just meaning a ruler or king, but also as The Promise being fulfilled through the line of Judah, fulfilled in Jesus.
OK, so the next few versus regarding Judah are a bit poetic and weird to me. However, when I read them, I look at them through the lens of what Jesus did for me and I see something interesting. “He will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.” (49:11) Jesus was pure and had done nothing, but took on my sin and my punishment. He dirtied himself for me, and his blood covers me and makes me clean.
