Carey's Bible Study Notes
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judah
life of christ: Genesis 49.1-12
judah: the transmitter of the blessing
introduction
Up to this point in the study of the life of Christ, we saw the Father using Jesus to create the world and in His own image mankind. God was so pleased with creation that He blessed it, that is, He granted it the privilege of letting it live in favor with Him. When given an opportunity, mankind fell into sin and brought curse instead of blessing upon themselves. The primary element of this curse was that from now on enmity would exist between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (Satan). Instead of the situation getting better, it rapidly regressed. Mankind fell into such sin that eventually God regretted even creating the world and decided to destroy it with a flood. Only Noah, his family and the animals he brought into the ark escaped the deluge. After the flood, mankind refused to repent but instead continued to rebel against God. After mankind builds a tower in order to assert himself as being divine, God disperses the people by inflicting them with numerous languages.
With the coming of Abraham, God begins to lift the curse. This is highlighted by the fact that at least 11 times in the account of Abraham, Moses uses the word "bless" or one of its cognates. Although God promised that He would bless primarily 2 people with the blessing�Abraham and one of his seed, this blessing is intricately tied up with the person of Isaac. The blessing was going to pass through Isaac and not through any of the other children Abraham was to bear. With the attempted sacrifice of Isaac on Mt. Moriah (which is located in present-day Jerusalem), God gives a preview of the day when He would sacrifice One who was not only Abraham�s see but also His own Son�Jesus.
from abraham until jacob (Rom. 9:6-13)
Before we pick up the story of Jacob and his blessing, we need to survey briefly the significance of the events which occurred between the time of Abraham and the time of Jacob. One of the major concepts operating during this time period is that God is going to carry out His promise by means of miracle. Abraham does not produce an heir through the fertile Hagar or Keturah; instead God gives him a son by means of a miracle through his barren wife Sarah. At the very outset of His relationship with His people, God shows that a person can be right with Him only by means of a miracle. If you and I are experiencing the life Christ died to give us, then it is only because He miraculously produces that life in us by living in us. If any Christian is living a life that a non-Christian can live, then s/he has failed at the highest level to fulfill God�s purpose for his/her life.
The second concept operating here is the theme that whatever God does, He is doing it as a result of Him taking the initiative and not as a result of Him being either manipulated or moved by our own personal merits. In other words, when God chooses Abraham, He does not choose Abraham because Abraham is good. Rather He chooses Abraham simply because He chooses to do so. Furthermore, if God had been following human custom, He would have chosen Ishmael (Abraham�s first-born) to be the primary vessel of transmitting the blessing to the next generation. Instead, out of His own free will, God chooses Isaac. Finally, this is ultimately reinforced in the selection of Jacob over Esau as being chosen to be the transmitter of the blessing. Whereas in the case of Isaac, you could argue that God chose Isaac over Ishmael because Sarah was Isaac�s mother and Hagar was Ishmael�s, the fact is that Jacob and Esau sprang from the same mother. Moreover, God chose the younger Jacob over the older Esau even before either of the 2 had been born and had shown their true natures. (If one were going to argue on the basis of character, Esau might have been the winner.)
Rather by selecting Isaac and Jacob over their brothers when human custom would have dictated otherwise, God is showing that He is the one who initiates our relationship�not man. Man left to his own devices will never come to God. The only way we�re able to come to Him is by Him reaching out to us and our responding to Him in faith. (Notice that God did not curse Esau and Ishmael; in fact, He blessed them by promising each that they would become fathers of great nations. What He did was He decided that they were not to be the transmitters of the blessing, that is, the ancestors of Christ.)
the blessing passes through judah (Gen. 49:1-12)
At the end of Genesis, Jacob calls his 12 sons to his bedside so that he can bless them before he passes away. The custom of that day dictated that Jacob bless his oldest son Reuben and then dispense minor blessings to his other sons. Once more the theme that God is the One who is controlling and initiating these affairs is operating here. Instead of passing Abraham�s blessing on to Reuben, Jacob not only skips over Reuben but also over the next 2 older sons�Simeon and Levi. Jacob passes over Reuben because Reuben had slept with Jacob�s concubine Bilhah and had therefore disgraced his father Jacob. On the other hand, Jacob passes over Levi and Simeon because of their treatment of Shechem, the son of the prince of Shechem. Earlier, Shechem a Canaanite had forced Dinah, Jacob�s daughter, to have sexual relations with him. Shechem had tried to act honorably by proposing marriage to Dinah. Jacob negotiated a settlement in which Dinah would be able to marry Shechem on condition the men of the city of Shechem submitted to circumcision. After they consented to these terms and submitted to circumcision, Levi and Simeon murdered the men of Shechem while they were in great pain and could not fight due to the rite of circumcision. These 2 had disgraced Jacob and thereby forfeited the right to be the transmitters of the blessing.
When Jacob came to the fourth son, Judah, Jacob pauses to pronounce that he would be the transmitter of the blessing until the son would come who would be the final recipient of the blessing. First, by making a play on the name "Judah" which means "praise," Jacob declares that his brothers would praise him. In the context in which Jacob says this, the praise his brothers render him is probably the praise he receives after he has achieved great victories over Israel�s enemies. Jacob pictures Judah as pushing his captives forward by pushing them on the back of the neck.
Jacob then goes on to compare Judah with the king of beasts�the lion who is victorious in his battles. In this image, the lion has just finished vanquishing his foe and is now ascending a mountain to a cave where he can lie securely in his den. (Disney�s The Lion King pictures just this very thing when it has Simba�s family living up the cliff overlooking the plain below.) Jacob asks the rhetorical question as to who would rouse him. The answer is simple: none would dare rouse him if they knew what was best for them.
This imagery found its fulfillment in Judah�s role in the days ahead. When Moses organized the tribes upon their exodus from Egypt, he placed Judah to the east of the Tabernacle signifying her preeminence since east and not north was the preeminent location in the ancient world. Whenever the tribes broke camp to march towards Canaan, Moses placed Judah in the position of the vanguard. Later when the tribes began their conquest of Canaan, the author of Judges claims that Judah was the tribe which led out in their conquest. This prophecy finds its greatest fulfillment during OT times with the coming of the Jewish king David who smashed Israel�s enemies and elevated her to the status of a world power. This prophecy will find ultimate fulfillment with the return of Christ when He, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, will completely vanquish the foes of God�s people (see Rev. 5:5).
Not only is Judah going to be preeminent among the tribes, but kings are going to emerge from her ranks, and not only kings but a certain king whose reign will be permanent and prevent the emergence of other kings. Although Saul the first king hailed from the tribe of Benjamin, with the emergence of David all future legitimate kings hailed from the Davidic dynasty. The Israelite kings in the north were imposters who eventually saw their dynasty come to an end with the invasion of the Assyrians in 721 BC. On the other hand, the line of David remained in tact until the birth of Christ whose immortality forever put an end to the on-going succession.
This future king (possibly called "Shiloh" here) would not be a petty king but would actually rule over the rest of mankind. We see this fulfilled partially now as people from every nation under earth confess Jesus as Lord. It will find its ultimate fulfillment when God finishes subjecting each and every person beneath the lordship of Jesus Christ. On that day, all of creation�human, animal, and spiritual will submit to His lordship (Phil. 2:10-11).
Jacob next describes the quality of life people will experience with the coming of this future ruler Shiloh. He will bring such an abundant life that Jacob pictures the land as being so fertile that the rider of a donkey would feel no qualms at all in tying up his donkey to the vine in a vineyard. Normally in Palestine, growing grapes for wine is not an easy task. These grapes are precious commodities which need to be protected. In those days though, the reign of Shiloh�Jesus�will be so prosperous that vines will be growing everywhere. Grapes will be so plentiful that all the donkeys eating grapes without restraint won�t even begin to put a dent in the production of grapes and wine. In fact, wine�the symbol of prosperity�will be so plentiful that in those days people would even be able to wash their clothes in it if they wanted to. Production of wine will be prosperous that He won�t have to skimp on the wine; Shiloh will be able to drink to his heart�s content. In fact, His eyes will get red by consuming the wine at His pleasure. Milk too as a symbol of prosperity will be in abundance. He will drink milk to such an extent that it will even color his teeth white.
Whereas much of this finds fulfillment during the reign of David (a type of Christ), it finds its ultimate fulfillment in the ministry and person of Jesus. It is by no accident that the first miracle Jesus performs is that of transforming 120-180 gallons of water into wine. Once the wine had been watered down 8-1 as was typical in those days, Jesus would have provided the wedding party with at least 960 gallons of wine to drink. By performing this miracle, Jesus was declaring that Shiloh had come and the time for feasting and banqueting had begun. Jesus describes His reign as being one of a great banquet. When He describes His reign in these terms, He is pointing us to these verses and similar OT passages (Is. 25) to stake His claim to be the Messiah, the king God sends in fulfillment of this passage. Jesus in response to the centurion�s faith claimed that a day would come when peoples from all over the world would come to dine with Him at His banquet table at which the guests of honor would be none other than Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When Jesus feeds the 5,000, He gives the people a little preview of the superabundance which will greet them when He consummates His kingdom. Look at Jesus� Parable of the Prodigal Son. What happens right after the son returns home with a repentant spirit? The father throws a banquet for him. The Father is preparing a banquet right now for all those who love His Son and is inviting us to enjoy it even right now.
Although much of what we�re talking about is future, we can experience this to a real degree in the here and now. How? By responding obediently to what God is saying to me right now and by living in His might and power. This kind of life is not just a possibility for the Christian but is mandatory. Sure life can become really hard for the Christian. I think sometimes that Christians suffer a whole lot more than non-Christians do; however, Christians suffer because God is trying to mature them into the kind of adults He wants them to be. Any athlete will tell you that stress on the physical muscles is what develops athletes. Well, stress on the spiritual nature is what develops you and me into strong Christians. If I am wallowing in self-pity or am besieged by anger, then I need to quit blaming it on my circumstances and freely admit that I am not living under the lordship of Christ and in His Spirit because if I were, I would be experiencing the abundant life that Moses describes here as being true of those who live under the lordship of Jesus, our Shiloh.