On the Road to Bethlehem #4: He Will Rule

"’Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father's sons shall bow down to you.
‘Judah is a lion's whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up
He couches, he lies down as a lion,
And as a lion, who dares rouse him up?
‘The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes,
And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
‘He ties his foal to the vine,
And his donkey's colt to the choice vine;
He washes his garments in wine,
And his robes in the blood of grapes.
‘His eyes are dull from wine,
And his teeth white from milk.’”

—Genesis 49:8-12 (NASB)

As we continue along in our journey on the road to Bethlehem, we come to another clue of God’s Messiah. We have seen that He will be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), and that He will be the God who dwells among men (Genesis 9:27), and the one whom will be blessed in order to bless others (Genesis 12:1-3), but today, we see that He will be a ruler to whom “shall be the obedience of the peoples.”

In the Old Testament, it was customary for the leader of the family to pronounce a prophetic blessing on his children before he died. The blessing would be a prophecy of sorts—giving a glimpse of their future and other aspects of their lives. On Jacob’s deathbed, he blessed his twelve sons. The first three sons: Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, were given blessings, but nothing in comparison with that of Judah, the fourth son. Judah was promised five things: praise from his brothers, (v. 8), victory over his enemies (v. 8), preeminence in Israel, (v. 10), the obedience of the peoples (v. 10), and unusual prosperity in his fields and herds (v. 11-12). But there appears a great deal more involved than that which is seen in a cursory reading. It goes far beyond Judah. Indeed, the real focus of the passage is found in verse 10,

"The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes,
And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”

The “scepter” and “ruler’s staff” indicates ruling authority. Here, we see that Judah will rule over the other eleven tribes “Until Shiloh comes.” The question is: who is Shiloh? It is not the city of Shiloh, because the spelling in Hebrew (remember, the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew) is different. The word indicates that it is a proper name and a specific individual. He is the one to whom shall be “the obedience of the peoples.” Jacob gives us a glimpse into the future—Judah will rule over the eleven other tribes until Shiloh comes. Shiloh will rule over all of the earth, and under His rule the entire earth will be blessed. Walter C. Kaiser Jr., offers some revealing insights,

“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), because there would be such an abundance of vines that the possible damage to one vine will not be missed. Another indication of the abundant harvest is that one’s garments will be washed in wine (v. 11c). That is, the winepress will be so full after squeezing out the juice from the grapes in the large vats by stamping on them with one’s feet that one’s clothes will be saturated with grape juice. Moreover, the eyes will be dark from drinking so much wine and teeth will be white as milk from drinking from the overflow of the milking heard (v. 12)”—Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., The Messiah in the Old Testament, p. 52.

Shiloh will be the ruler of all the peoples, and under His rule the entire world will be blessed. The name Shiloh then is a cryptic name for God’s Messiah! He shall be a descendant of Eve, Abraham, and Judah. He will defeat Satan by dying Himself. He will be the God who dwells among men and He will be the ruler of the entire world with unbelievable blessing occurring under His reign!

During this Advent season, be amazed all over again at the birth of Jesus. He is Shiloh, the one to whom proper reign belongs, and He is the coming King who will rule the world in unfathomable majesty! Amen.