"thanksgiving" or "praise,"
Gen 37, when he and his brothers cast Joseph into a pit out of jealousy after Joseph approaches them while they are working in the field flaunting a coat of many colors. It is Judah who spots a a caravan of Ishmaelites (alternatively described as Midianites) coming towards on the way to Egypt and suggests that Joseph be sold to the Ishmaelites rather than killed. (Gen. 37:26-28, "What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? ... Let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our flesh.")
Judah marries the daughter of Shua, a Canaanite. Genesis chapter 38 Judah and his wife have three children, Er, Onan, and Shelah. Er marries Tamar, but God kills him because he "was wicked in the sight of the Lord" (Gen. 38:7). Tamar becomes Onan's wife in accordance with custom, but he too is killed after he refuses to father children for his older brother's childless widow, and spills his seed instead.[3] Although Tamar should have married Shelah, the remaining brother, Judah did not consent, and in response Tamar deceives Judah into having intercourse with her by pretending to be a prostitute. When Judah discovers that Tamar is pregnant he prepares to have her killed, but recants and confesses when he finds out that he is the father (Gen. 38:24-26).[4]
Other than Joseph (and perhaps Benjamin), Judah receives the most favorable treatment in Genesis among Jacob's sons
Judah's position is further enhanced through the downfall of his older brothers: Reuben, the eldest, cedes his birthright through sexual misconduct with Jacob's concubine Bilhah (Gen. 35:22), and the bloody revenge taken by Simeon and Levi following the rape of Dinah (Gen. chap. 34).[13] disqualifies them as leaders.[14]
blessing of Jacob (Gen. 49:1-33)
4. (8-12) Judah: The scepter shall not depart from Judah.
“Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father’s children shall bow down before you.
Judah is a lion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes;
And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
Binding his donkey to the vine,
And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
He washed his garments in wine,
And his clothes in the blood of grapes.
His eyes are darker than wine,
And his teeth whiter than milk.”
a. Judah,
you are he whom your brothers shall praise: Judah wasn’t a
completely exemplary character. He suggested a profit motive in getting rid of
Joseph (Genesis 37:26). He did not deal faithfully with his daughter-in-law
Tamar (Genesis 38:26), and he had sex with her as a prostitute (Genesis 38:18).
But he showed good character when he interceded and offered himself as a
substitute for Joseph (Genesis 44:18-34). Overall, this blessing is an example
of the richness of God’s grace.
i. Jewish tradition says after
Judah heard what Jacob had to say to Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, he was afraid
because of the evil he did.
b. You
are he whom your brothers shall praise…as a lion…the scepter shall not depart
from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet…to Him shall be the obedience
of the people: Each of these refer to the ruling position
Judah will have among his brethren. He inherited the leadership aspect of the
firstborn’s inheritance. This leadership position among his brothers meant that
the eventual kings of Israel would come from Judah and that the Messiah –
God’s ultimate leader – would eventually come from the tribe of Judah.
i. In Revelation 5:5, Jesus is
called the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
ii. “The firstborn normally had
two rights. First, he became the leader of the family, the new patriarch.
Second, he was entitled to a double share of the inheritance, receiving twice
as much as any of the other brothers.” (Boice)
c. Until
Shiloh comes: The leadership prophecy took some 640 years to fulfill
in part with the reign of David, first of Judah’s dynasty of kings. The
prophecy took some 1600 years to completely fulfill in Jesus. Jesus is
referred to as Shiloh, the name
meaning, He whose right it is and a title anciently understood to speak
of the Messiah.
i. From David until the Herods, a
prince of Judah was head over Israel (even Daniel in captivity). The promise
was that Israel would keep this scepter
until Shiloh comes. Even under their
foreign masters during this period, Israel had a limited right to self-rule,
until a.d. 7. At that time, under
Herod and the Romans, their right to capital punishment – a small but
remaining element of their self-governance – was taken away.
ii. At the time, the rabbis
considered it a disaster of unfulfilled Scripture. Seemingly, the last vestige
of the scepter had passed from Judah,
and they did not see the Messiah. Reportedly, rabbis walked the streets of
Jerusalem and said, “Woe unto us, for the scepter has been taken away from
Judah, and Shiloh has not come.” Yet God’s word had not been broken.
iii. Certainly, Jesus was alive
then. Perhaps this was the very year He was 12 years old and discussed God’s Word
in the temple with the scholars of His day. Perhaps He impressed them with His
understanding of this very issue.
d. Binding
his donkey to the vine: This blessing also contained a description
of Judah’s material abundance (the vine…the
choice vine). Judah’s land was great wine-growing country.
No comments:
Post a Comment