Until Shiloh Come – Part two

The Prophecy of Jacob

Jacob was an old man — about to die — when he called his sons together. He spoke to each individually, but his words had a much greater significance than simply that of personal communications. Jacob spoke concerning the twelve tribes of Israel in the future. His purpose is stated in v. 1:

“That I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.”

In this case (as in most others), the Scriptural phrase “last days” means one of two things (or perhaps both) :

• The last days of Jewish times, which ended with the overthrow of the city of Jerusalem, after her rebellion against the Romans. The Jewish law and way of life had decayed and waxed old, and was then (70 A.D.) ready to vanish away.
• The last days of Gentile times, which will end shortly with the second coming and the kingdom of Christ. We see the stages of transition now: It was predicted by Christ himself that “Jerusa­lem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, (only) until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Jerusalem is now in Jewish hands for the first time in 2,500 years, certainly a sign that the fulfillment of times is fast approaching.

Both these “last days” have a place in this prophecy of Gen. 49, and they have a close connection as well with the two advents of Christ:

The first few verses (3-7) give hints of the condition and actions of the Jewish nation at Christ’s first coming. The nation had degenerated morally and spiritually; they were — as Jacob had predicted —”unstable as water”—weak, “flowing down,” decreasing in godliness, “not excelling” — a shame to their Father’s eyes. In this condition they had no use for the message of salvation preached by Jesus, and with their “instruments of cruelty” “they slew a man” — that is, Jesus. Thus they, in effect, “digged down the wall” of their city Jerusalem; and they were divided and scattered—because they did not recognize the “day of visitation.” And thus, these “last days” of Judah are sad ones, a panorama of man’s sins and futile striving’s.

“The Last Days of the Gentiles”

From the eighth verse to the conclusion of the chapter, the “last days” in which the prophecies are to be fulfilled are concerned with the last days of the Gentiles, leading to the following events:

1. The coming of Christ to judgment, to select the true spiritual Israel;
2. The destruction of Israel’s ene­mies;
3. The establishment and continuation of God’s kingdom; and
4. The institution of natural Israel as the head of the mortal nations — the first dominion of the king­dom.

The Praise of His Brethren

We shall concentrate on three verses (8-10) in the section of this chapter concerning Judah:

“Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hands shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee” (v. 8).

“Judah . . . whom thy brethren shall praise.” There is a play on words here, for the name Judah means in fact “praise.” Judah was to be the tribe of kings, the largest and most powerful of the tribes. The tribes of Judah did attain a small degree of pre-eminence over the other tribes. But the language of this verse goes much beyond anything which happened in the past, during God’s first kingdom.

Paul speaks of the Jews of the Old Covenant — and he makes a comparison, similar to Jacob’s, between “Judah” and “praise:”

“He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the ‘flesh’ (Rom. 2:28).

The vast majority of the Jews were not the true Judah. In fact, only one person truly merits the title of “Judah;” and this is Christ, for he alone always showed forth the praise of his Father. In him these words of Paul find their fullest application:

“But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (v. 29).

”Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies.” This could be true of the natural tribe of Judah only in a very small, inconsequential sense, when we consider the whole scope of history. It must find its true fulfillment in Christ and his immortal armies — who execute God’s vengeance upon the heathen in the future (i.e., Psa. 149).

“Thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.” This points most definitely to Christ. Jacob’s children gave only very grudging and limited loyalty to the kings of Judah; ten of the twelve tribes soon separated into another nation. But of Christ this phrase has much significance: All those who are truly the children of his Father in heaven will bow down before him. The others, the sons of their father the devil, have nothing to do with Christ. In Psalm 69 David speaks prophetically the words of Christ:

“I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.”

Jesus’ half-brothers and other relatives were among his enemies, disclaiming his actions and teachings — until, after his death and resurrection, they were finally persuaded to believe in him.

There is a thought-provoking lesson for us here: Are we truly the Father’s children? We must judge ourselves in this respect: We do not become the children of God simply by giving intellectual assent to certain doctrines. We are only the children of God and the brethren of Christ if we bow down before him, and if we obey his words and love one another.

“Judah” then, in this verse, is no more than another name of Christ. It may be our name as well — if we are truly a part of the one body of Christ — that is, if we give praise to God in our prayers and services, and in our daily lives. Peter speaks to the believers:

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (I Peter 2:9).

A Lion’s Whelp

“Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he crouched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?” (Gen. 49:9).

John Thomas, commenting on this verse in Elpis Israel, speaks first of all concerning national Israel:

“Judah is now (1848) ‘stooping down” and coughing as an old lion;’ and in view of his present prostration, Jacob inquired, “Who shall rouse him up?’ Yes: who shall do it? Who shall start him to his feet again, that he may rend and tear down, and devour the enemies of Jerusalem? Who but the Shiloh, whose goodly horse in the battle Judah is appointed to be?”

Judah, and the other tribes of Israel, should have been God’s lion in battle — strong and fearless, putting thousands of the enemy to flight. But they failed because they put their trust in everything imaginable, except their God. Thus we have seen here a sad picture: Judah, tired and old, unable to wage her battles.

Israel, God’s nation, may seem to be strong now, as she stands before her Arab enemies. But against the final great onslaught of the great host, she will be revealed a feeble lion. Only when Christ and the saints roar out of Zion as a great lion, will the Jews’ fortunes be reversed.

Then Judah will become again that great lion of Balaam’s prophecy. Then the words of Balaam, which we quoted before, will be realized in full:

“Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain” (Num. 23:24).

Until Shiloh Come

“The scepter 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” (Gen. 49:10).

The word “Until” in this verse has occasioned much misunderstanding concerning this passage. As it appears in the A.V., it seems that Judah will continue to reign until the moment when “Shiloh” (or Christ) comes, and then he will cease to reign. This is not the intended understanding of this passage, as Brother Thomas comments (Elpis Israel, p. 281).

The Hebrew word translated “until” is actually of very indefinite meaning. What is really meant is this: The scepter (or royalty) has already departed from Judah. This happened when the last of David’s descendants was removed from his throne in 589 B.C. by the Babylonians. Christ will restore the scepter to Judah, for he is a natural descendant of that tribe — as well as the one true “Judah” of God.

The Kingdom of God is perpetual — it lasts forever. It has not, however, been continuous. It has instead been liable to long interruptions — as the one in which we are living today. When “Shiloh” comes, it will never be interrupted again — until at last it is delivered up to the Father.