Blessing of Jacob, Might of Judah

INTRODUCTION

It is not often we associate a deathbed with Advent, but that is where we find ourselves this morning.

Jacob, the grandson of Abraham—who we spent time with in Genesis 12 last week—has come to the end of his life.

He is handing out blessings to his sons from his bed. This is why Genesis 49:2 says, “Assemble and listen, O Sons of Jacob...”

He is calling them near and pronouncing the destinies of his children over them and the destinies of the tribes they represent.

But most of this is not future-telling prophecy. We are not really talking about predictions. The most prophetic portion of the text is the one we are looking at this morning.

Instead of predicting prophecies, blessings from the patriarch of the family would have been seen more as statements that should be taken seriously. Statements that they would expect to have some bearing on the future.

But this is not future-telling the way we saw in Isaiah 9 a couple of weeks ago.

We also can’t miss the location of Jacob’s bed.

Last week, we saw how Jesus ultimately fulfills the promises made to Abraham in the Abrahamic Covenant.

He will fulfill the covenant by giving us the new heavens and the new earth to dwell in for eternity.

But in the immediate, the promise was about the land of Canaan.

Genesis 12:1–3 ESV

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

And yet, as Genesis is ending, Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, is not dying in Canaan.

He is not surrounded by flowing fountains of milk and honey

He is dying in Egypt. Forced out of the Promised Land because of famine.

So how will the Abrahamic Covenant be fulfilled? Is God’s plan not on track?

That is the tension hanging over the deathbed blessings of Jacob over his sons.

We will focus on verses 8-12 this morning because for the purposes of Advent, that is where we find the hope of the Messiah.

That is where we find hope that God’s plan is not deterred, despite Abraham’s people being stuck in Egypt.

That from Judah, there will come One who makes all things right for His people.

READ Genesis 49:8-12

Genesis 49:8–12 ESV

“Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

PRAISED BY HIS BROTHERS (v. 8)

There are five statements we can make about Christ from this prophetic blessing this morning. Those statements will serve as our teaching points. We start with the beginning of the blessing in verse 8.

Judah, you brothers shall praise you… & your father’s sons shall bow down before you.

Teaching Point #1: Christ will be praised by His brothers (v. 8).

When we think of one of Jacob’s boys being praised by his brothers, we don’t think of Judah. We think of Joseph.

Joseph is the one who had two dreams about his brothers bowing down to him.

In one, he and his brothers are binding sheaves in the field and his sheave stands upright and all of his brothers sheaves go prostrate before his

In the other dream, the sun, moon and eleven stars are bowing down to him, foreshadowing how his father and mother and brothers would all bow down to him.

And all of that happened in Egypt when there was famine in the region and Jacob and his family had to flee and they found Joseph and the food they needed down in Egypt

But this blessing is not pronounced over Joseph, but Judah.

It is surprising because Joseph is a faultless character in Genesis.

We know he was not a sinless man, but we don’t see him sin in the actual story of Genesis.

Some say that he is arrogant toward his brothers, but you have to read that into Genesis.

Moses portrays Joseph as beyond any blame in the Genesis narrative—a true shadow of the blameless One to come in Christ.

But this is not Joseph. This is Judah.

Judah is kind of a mess.

In Genesis 37, he helps sell Joseph, his own brother, into slavery.

In Genesis 38, Judah’s wicked son, Er, dies and leaves his wife, Tamar, as a widow.

Judah tells his son Onan to take her as his wife, but Onan schemes his way out of that and God takes his life.

This leaves Tamar with no husband and no one to speak for her, so she is sent back to her family’s household. She should have been married to Judah’s third son, but instead, he just dismisses her.

Years later, after Judah’s wife dies, he travels to Timnah.

Tamar hears about it and goes there and poses as a prostitute in order to sleep with Judah.

It works. He doesn’t know it is her, sleeps with his daughter-in-law and she is impregnated by him.

When he hears of her getting pregnant outside of marriage, he demands for her to be burned, until he realizes he is the father.

It’s not a great sequence for Judah.

His lack of compassion and hot-headedness and hypocrisy is all on full display

And it is that sort of behavior that makes it surprising for us to hear this blessing about his brothers bowing down to him

But here is the thing—this really isn’t about Judah.

It is about the One who will come from Judah’s line.

In the immediate, the sons of Jacob will bow down to Joseph.

But in the long run, the tribes of Israel will praise Judah’s name when they praise the Messiah born from his line

What we really have being prophesied in this blessing is the praise of God’s Messiah coming from the mouths of His people

The joy of God’s people over the Messiah begins before Jesus is even out of the womb

Luke 1:39–41 (ESV)

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,

And then, as you go through the narrative of Jesus’ life, you see Him continuing to be praised by the tribes of Israel

Whether it is the shepherds at His birth, or the sinful woman pouring out her alabaster flask on His feet, or the disciples after He calmed the storm, or the throngs of people shouting Hosanna as He entered Jerusalem—Christ is being praised by descendants of Jacob’s sons.

This praise then expands as the Gospel crosses the boundaries of Judea and invades Samaria and the ends of the earth

In Acts 2, you see the Jewish disciples speak in tongues as they receive the Holy Spirit

In Acts 10, a non-Jewish man named Cornelius comes to Christ and speaks in the same tongues, showing that Cornelius is being saved and is receiving the same Spirit as the Jewish disciples

And what that shows, is that God has brought Gentiles into the covenant and is making one new spiritual community in the place of the old

This is the New Testament Church—Jew and Gentile, brought together as one body, under the blood of Christ

So then, when you and I get together like this and sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to Jesus, the son of God from Judah’s line, we are seeing this prophetic blessing be fulfilled.

Every time you sing Holy, Holy, Holy with the local church—the prophetic blessing is being fulfilled.

Every time you belt out your favorite worship song or hymn in the car—the prophetic blessing is being fulfilled.

Every time you sing nighttime praises with your children before bed—the prophetic blessing is being fulfilled.

You have the faith of Abraham, which means you are a part of Abraham’s family, by faith in Christ.

So every time you bow down in faith to worship Christ, the Messiah from Judah’s line, the blessing is coming to pass.

This should motivate us to worship even more.

To be even more committed to gathering with the saints

What will that look like for you in 2022? Maybe God is calling you to go beyond Sunday mornings and commit to attending Midweek this year, doubling your weekly worship time with the gathered church.

I don’t think there will be bad results from that

Or maybe God is calling you to go deeper in your daily worship

To go beyond “a devotion a day keeps the devil away,” and to truly have a plan for daily worship in your Christian walk

We have actually created a resource to help you with that. We will talk more about it at the end of the service.

But the bottom line, is the words “your brothers shall praise you,” is a prophetic blessing that you should be a part of bringing to pass every single day.

Until one day, the Lord returns, and He will gather His people into His Kingdom, and the prophetic blessing will come to pass as every redeemed soul spends eternity in the perpetual praise and service of Christ the King.

Revelation 22:3–5 ESV

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

DEFEATING HIS ENEMIES

But how will that ultimate peaceful praise come about? What will come of all this sin and depravity that is around us? What will become of evil people doing horrible things? What will become of those who reject the Lord and the rule of His Son?

This brings us to the rest of verse 8 and our second teaching point this morning:

Teaching Point #2: Christ will defeat His enemies (v. 8).

Jacob says that Judah’s hand will be on the neck of his enemies.

This is certainly prophetic as it is not true about Judah.

Judah doesn’t have his hand on the neck of his enemies. Judah is living out his years in a foreign land, dependent upon their food reserve.

He is not in a position of power. This is clearly about his ancestors.

I think this prophetic blessing finds its fulfillment in David first.

David was a great, unifying King whose reign was marked with multiple successful military conquests.

And God promised that David’s throne would have someone from his lineage sitting on it.

2 Samuel 7:12–13 ESV

When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

David came from Judah’s body and he showed us what it looks like for God’s King to drive back his enemies

But ultimately, Jesus comes from David’s body and He does not just defeat His enemies for a time—He eviscerates them once and for all

We don’t always think of Jesus this way at Christmas.

We tend to think of the baby in the manger, meek and mild.

When I pastored a country church, a farmer didn’t like the sermons I preached on hell. He said, “Preach about the meek and lowly Jesus.”

I said, “That’s where I got my information about hell.”

Havner, Vance

Now to be fair, in His first coming, Christ was indeed meek and mild.

But the Child of Bethlehem grew up and went on His mission as the Brave Warrior who would slay sin and death for His people.

Colossians 2:13–15 ESV

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Anyone that God has made alive has had their worst enemies defeated by Christ’s work at Calvary.

If God has saved you and made you alive, your sin and your death are dealt with.

Christ has laid His hand forcefully and sufficiently on the neck of your worst enemies

In light of that, whom shall we fear?

And then, one day, the child born in the manger is going to return on the clouds and anyone who has continued to reject Him and has not received life from Him will be counted as His enemy.

Revelation 19:19–21 ESV

And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

Our response to this reality should be to repent if we haven’t yet. Surrender. Surrender now and receive grace, rather than surrender later and receive judgment.

Or—if we have repented—our response should be to tell. With gentleness and respect we should be giving a defense for the hope within us, every chance we get.

THE LION OF JUDAH (v. 9)

Let’s keep going. We look to verse 9 where we first see the lion identified with the tribe of Judah

Genesis 49:9 “Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?”

Verse 9 gives us two different pictures of a lion.

One is a young cub.

The other is as an entrenched, older lion who is ready to pounce.

I think this portion of Jacob’s blessing has a double fulfillment.

On one hand, it describes the future evolution of Judah as a tribe.

In the days of Joshua and the Judges and into the reign of Saul, Judah was a cub.

Other tribes were more important.

Joshua was from Ephraim

Only 2 of the 12 judges are from Judah and it isn’t the more prominent judges like Deborah, Gideon and Samson

Saul is from Benjamin

But then Judah rose up as David came from their tribe.

He was a fierce king who fought Israel’s enemies and brought peace to the Israel’s pack

As David and Solomon reigned, Judah became the entrenched old lion that you should think twice about before rousing

So on one hand, Jacob’s words are referring to the immediate future of Judah

However, on the other hand, we know these words are referring to Christ because He is explicitly called the Lion of Judah in the New Testament

Revelation 5:5 “And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.””

Teaching Point #3: Christ is the Lion of Judah (v. 9)

Jesus came to earth in the manger as a cub

The God of the Universe in a little human body

He took humanity into His deity: that is the whole meaning of the incarnation. That is precisely what happened at Bethlehem.

Saved in Eternity, 103

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones

But He grew up and ministered.

He showed His strength and prominence in His miracles and His authoritative words

He showed His majesty in His transfiguration

And then the Lion was tied down in the prime of His life and was slain like a Lamb

He was roused and murdered. If this was the end of the story, how could we really call Jesus the entrenched Lion of Judah? He has died. How could he be?

But then the Lion resurrected to show that He truly is the Son of God and that He had completed the task set out for Him—He was an acceptable sacrifice for the sins of His people.

Then He ascended to the right hand of the Father and now He sits there until one day when He returns

And when He does, the entrenched Lion will be roused indeed

He will roar and His enemies will perish once and for all

Jesus being the Lion of the Tribe of Judah should give you daily encouragement.

There is a bit of an alarming verse in 1 Peter 5:8

1 Peter 5:8 (ESV)

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

I’m not sure of all the anxieties you all walked in with this morning, but I can guarantee it is not made easier by knowing that the devil is walking around ready to pounce on you like Scar in Lion King.

He looks at your weaknesses

He looks at your doubts

He looks at your struggles

And it is all bloody, red meat to Satan

Areas he can attack to try and steal your joy and keep God from being glorified in your life

But as alarming as that verse might be to us, the good news of Genesis 49:9 is that we have a better Lion.

A Lion that is entrenched. A Lion you don’t want to rouse.

A Lion that is greater than he who is living in the world.

Praise God that our Lion is stronger and our Lion will win in the end.

THE RULER TO COME (v. 10)

So we have seen that Christ:

Will be praised by his brothers

Will defeat His enemies

And is the Lion of Judah.

Now we move to Teaching Point #4: Christ is the Ruler to Come (v. 10).

Jacob says that “the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet.”

The scepter refers to the tribal rod.

The symbol of authority held by ancient rulers

It communicated royalty

This scepter will not depart from Judah

The staff from between his feet is a reference to having children.

The ruler staff will remain with those who come from between Judah’s feet or between his loins.

It will be reserved for those who come from his loins.

Jacob says that the scepter will not leave Judah and the staff will not be removed from between his feet “until tribute comes to him.”

This is one of the most confusing phrases in the book of Genesis.

Here is how the KJV puts it:

Genesis 49:10 KJV 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.

Shiloh is a composite word made up of two Hebrew words:

Shi = Tribute

Loh = To Him

That is why it is translated the way it is in the ESV

Shiloh appears 33 times in Genesis

All but one of those refers to an area of land—except this one

In the end, what we have is a composite word that refers to the Messiah

The Messiah is the coming One that is due tribute

So we could paraphrase verse 10 by saying, “Authority will not leave Judah and rulers will keep coming from His line, until the One to whom all tribute is due comes.”

And when He does, the obedience of the people will belong to Him.

We can say, without a doubt, that this is all about Jesus.

The One born in Bethlehem ended the hunt for the Messiah. It ended the search for the ultimate Israelite King.

The Jewish people don’t need to hope for a king like David anymore. Now they have the promised Son of David, of the House of Judah, sitting on the throne forever.

There was a succession of kings that came from Judah. Some good. Some bad. Some in-between.

And that succession led all the way to a feeding trough in David’s town.

This is why Herod was bent on having Jesus killed.

Sometime after Jesus is born in Bethlehem, wise men come looking for Him from the East.

They show up in Jerusalem and say they have followed a star there to worship Him.

Herod didn’t like this. Even though he was barely Jewish, the Romans appointed him king over Israel.

The idea of another king threatened his puppet throne.

So he came up with a plot to kill Jesus. He was going to have the wise men locate Jesus and then he was going to travel there and harm Him so he could keep his power.

When the wise men never came back to see him, he revved things up a gear:

Matthew 2:16 ESV

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

Herod knew a Messiah would a King with more right to the throne than him.

And according to Jacob’s words, once we have that Messiah, there are no more kings from Judah’s line. He is the Final One. The Only One Israel truly needs.

Then, you see at the end of verse 10, Jacob prophetically states that “to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”

This is how you know if you are a subject of Christ’s Kingdom.

If you are in the Kingdom, you will obey the King. Simple as that.

Not perfectly, but consistently.

Citizens of the Kingdom pay tribute to the King.

This sentence in Jacob’s blessing eliminates the concept of a “carnal Christian.”

Someone who claims the name of Christ with their mouth, but nothing in their life demonstrates surrender to Christ as Lord.

A carnal Christian is the carcase of a true Christian.

Thomas Manton

If a true believer could be spiritually dead, they would look like a carnal Christian. That is what the old English Puritan is saying there.

Christianity without obedience can’t claim love for Christ because He told us that if we love Him, we will obey Him:

John 14:15 ESV

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

If we don’t obey Him, we don’t love Him. If we don’t love Him, how we can say we know Him? How can we claim redemption? How can we claim His name as our authority and our final say?

Obedience is not an idea. It is an action.

And our actions should show love for the King, if we are going to say we are in the Kingdom.

PROSPERITY TO HIS PEOPLE (v. 11-12)

And then we wrap it up with our final teaching point, which comes from verses 11 and 12. What we see there is a promised time of prosperity that is ahead.

It is described as a time when the King is tying his donkey to the best vine in the vineyard and letting it eat the grapes because there is so much good wine flowing that no one is worried about it

A time where the King will do His laundry in wine, just because He can

“We have so much good wine that I can wash my clothes in it.” That’s prosperity!

Like I don’t even know if Bezos would wash his clothes in an ‘81 Merlot, you know?

There will be a time when there is no famine and you will be able to tell by looking at the King

The irises of his eyes will look darker because the whites of his eyes will truly be white.

When there is famine, people get yellow eyes because they are jaundiced and sick

It will not be so with the King

His teeth will be white from drinking so much milk

Ultimately, there is hyperbolic language to communicate the ideas of Prosperity, Abundance and Health.

The King will enjoy these on His throne

But remember, this is a prophetic blessing for the whole tribe.

So what is insinuated is that while the royalty from Judah’s line will experience this prosperity, it also belongs to those who will be in His Kingdom.

Teaching Point #5: Christ brings prosperity to His people (v. 11-12).

This should get us excited for the Kingdom that is to come. That is part of what Advent is.

We are not just looking back at Christ’s first coming, but His ultimate return.

He established the Kingdom in His First Coming. He will consummate it when He comes again.

If we believe this—that Christ will come again and bring prosperity to His people—then we should live in anticipation of His coming each day.

We should look for it.

Titus 2:12–13 ESV

training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

Looking doesn’t just mean staring at the horizon or even just thinking about it.

To anticipate the return is to live in light of it. To do that which Paul calls Titus to.

Christ is going to return and bring an eternity of prosperity to us.

Since I believe that I am going to:

Renounce ungodliness and worldly passions

To renounce ungodliness is to deny it

To deny it as a viable source of joy

To deny it as an acceptable activity for a redeemed child of God

Live self-controlled

Self-control is the Christian virtue that keeps us from going back on our renunciation of the world

If you are not self-controlled, the Bible says you are like a city without walls—Satan can come and take what he wants

To live self-controlled is to rely on God’s power to keep us from that sin which we have renounced

Upright, godly lives

If we renounce ungodliness and rely on Christ for God-honoring self-control, the result will be upright, godly lives. Lives of integrity.

And that life is that life that is anticipating Jesus’ return on the daily.

That is the life that rejects what the world offers now and says, “I’m holding out for the prosperity of the Ruler to come from Judah’s line. I trust in His reward. I reject the reward of the present age.”

CONCLUSION

Jacob’s blessing shows us a Messiah who is:

Praise-worthy

Enemy-defeating

Majestically-royal

Eternally-ruling

Prosperity-rending

What can we do in response but surrender to Him. Praise Him. Anticipate Him. And enjoy Him now and forever.

As the band comes up, maybe you would think, “All this sounds great, but I am pretty sure it is for someone else.”

Maybe you think that the promises of God are beyond you

You have messed up too much

You are down and out

People expect God to work in the lives of others, but never you

Can we just pause and take a step back and look at God bringing Jesus from Judah’s line?

Not Joseph’s line

Not the line of the good son, who never messed up on camera, did everything right and saved his family

The Messiah does not come from that line

He comes from the line of Judah

He doesn’t even come from Reuben’s line! Reuben is the oldest. Son of Leah—Jacob’s first wife.

If it were Reuben, it would make sense in terms of household position.

No—it is Judah.

Judah, who sent his daughter-in-law away destitute because he was callous toward her and then accidentally impregnated her because he thought she was a prostitute.

The sinless Savior comes from that guy’s lineage.

If that is the case, then maybe you are just the sort of person God loves to save. You have just the sort of life He loves to work in.

The Messiah is as much for you as He is for anyone, so far as you are willing to admit you are a total mess.

If you are willing—and you repent and you trust in Him, He won’t just clean up the mess. He will bring you eternal prosperity.

Because this is what He does. He saves those who cannot save themselves. Those who turn to Him with open hands and say, “I need you.”

He will be there ready to lovingly usher into His Kingdom.