Continued from Last week:

The Messiah in the Old Testament___

THE JUDAIC PREDICTION (GENESIS 49:8-12)

Jacob's family increased to twelve sons reaching 70 individuals (including grandchildren and dependents) by the time the family left for Egypt (Ex. 1:5). But__it was the 4^th son, Judah whom God singled out to be the channel though which the messianic line was to come.

This prophecy (Ge. 49:8-12) comes in the context of the patriarch Jacob giving his final blessing on each of his sons. He passed over the first three sons as the channels of this designated man of promise in favor of Judah, the 4^th oldest of the 12. Judah was promised:

1. the praise of his brothers

2. the preeminence in Israel

3. victories over his enemies

4. the obedience of the nations

5. unusual prosperity in his fields and his herds.

The interpretation of this prophecy depends in a large measure on what meaning is assigned to the Hebrew word "sylh" (v.10). In most English translations the word is translated as a proper noun ("Shiloh") and acts as the subject of the verb "comes." We may reject the city of Shiloh, which some purport on the basis of the alleged Akkadian reading silu, which means the "Prince, ruler of king."

Instead we refer to 38 different Hebrew manuscripts and the word seloh. This interpretation is confirmed by Ezekiel 21:27 [32] where the longer form of the word is used. It reads "until he comes to whom it rightfully belongs." This translation is confirmed again by the Septuagint and the Theodotion when they read "until that comes which belongs to him [Judah]___that is dominion over the world. Other variant readings of this passage read "until he comes to whom it [i.e. the scepter, or the rule] belongs."

Two things are foretold in this verse: the tribe of Judah will not cease to exist as a people and Judah will have a government of its own until the Messiah comes. The world "until" needs further explaining. Judah's rule and reign will reach up to the coming of Shiloh and beyond is the correct interpretation. Notice that Judah's reign is to be world wide (v. 10). The people's of the world will one day pay homage to "Shiloh" or "the One" to whom dominion belongs.

Under "Shiloh's rule Israel's land will enjoy unusual prosperity (vv. 11-12). One will be able to "tether his donkey to a vine."(v. 11a), since there are so many vines if one is damaged it will not be missed. Another indication of the abundant harvest is that one's garments will be washed in new wine (v.11c). That is how much wine there will be. Moreover, the eyes will be dark from drinking so much wine and the teeth will be white as milk from drinking from the overflow of the milking herd (v.12).

Here is what I think the prophecy means if we condense it down to the essentials.

The scepter [insignia of dominion] shall not pass from Judah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet [i.e. “from him”] until he [i.e. the Messiah] comes to whim it [the rule, the dominion] belongs. Judah will continue to govern until the Messiah comes.

Shiloh then, becomes a cryptic shorthand form of the personal name for the Messiah. When Shiloh comes all dominion will be given to Him (v. 11, “And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”)

Jesus makes that claim.