Story 73 The Royal Blessing of Judah
God’s blessing for the next son was totally different from the ones given to Reuben, Simeon, and Levi. This son was Judah. We will read as he is given broad and wide blessings that would transform the nation of Israel and the world. These remarkable blessings will continue into eternity!
But why Judah? He was every bit as sinful as his other brothers. He married a pagan Canaanite woman. Two of his sons were so wicked that God ended their lives early to stop them from sinning against him. He abandoned his vulnerable daughter in law, putting her at risk for all kinds of danger, utterly forsaking his family duties to her. Then he committed terrible sin with her, believing she was a prostitute. And while he never tried to kill Joseph, it was his idea to sell him as a slave! For most of his life, he was a horrific model of righteous behavior.
However, that was not the end of his story. In the end, Judah became a beautiful model of righteous repentance. When confronted with the truth of his repulsive treatment of Tamar, he repented immediately. He didn’t cover it up or lie, he faced his own behavior with honesty, and he confessed. He turned towards his Lord, and he was changed. We can see the outflow of that magnificent transformation of Judah’s heart by looking at the behaviors that followed. It was Judah who laid his life down to save Benjamin.
Judah passed this beautiful repentance down to his sons and the descendants who followed them. They learned to desire to make things right and whole before God. They lived this way and passed it on to their own sons. These wonderful qualities of faith became the great marks of Judah’s whole tribe. And so God said that one day, he would give the tribe of Judah rulership over the entire nation of Israel. Here is the blessing of Jacob on Judah;
“‘Judah, your brothers will praise you;
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
your father’s sons will bow down to you.
One day, the other tribes of Israel would willingly give Judah the right to rule over the children of God. Judah would also win great victories over the enemies of Israel:
You are a lion’s cub, O Judah;
you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
like a lioness-who dares to rouse him?
A lion was a symbol of the magnificence of royal power. A lion is bold and daring when it hunts, fearless against any foe. It hunts animals and humans alike. The tribe of Judah would bring powerful warriors and great victory to the nation of Israel. Yet here, the lion lies down to rest. It is so full of might and power that it can go to sleep with no fear of its enemies. Nobody would dare wake up this lioness up or make her angry. Judah would reign with power and confidence.
The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belonged,
and the obedience of the nations is his.
A scepter is a royal cane that was been decorated with fine jewels and gold. It was a symbol of the power of the king. The sons of Judah would reign as the divinely appointed kings of the nation. This was a vital prophecy in the nation of Israel! God’s children would look back on these words for thousands of years to understand the movements of God among their people.
But perhaps the most remarkable thing about these words of Jacob was that God’s powerful blessing of royal reign for Judah will never end. These prophecies tell of a day when all the nations on earth would bow in obedience to a King from the line of Judah.
This is an interesting prophecy because it hasn’t happened yet. There was a time when all the tribes of Israel bowed to the kings of Judah. But there has never been a time when the people of every tribe and language and people and nation on earth has bowed before any king. The coming of the great Lion of Judah, the everlasting King hasn’t happened yet, but it will! (See Revelation chapter 5). We still watch and wait for that amazing time, because we will be there, too! Who do you think it will be?
Jacob went on:
He will tether his donkey to a vine,
his colt to the choicest branch;
he will wash his garments in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.
His eyes will be darker than wine,
his teeth whiter than milk.’”
Genesis 49:8-12
This part of Judah’s blessing is full of ancient imagery. At the time of Jacob, the riding of a donkey was a symbol of honor. It was royal. Now, if a donkey is tied up to a grape vine, it will probably destroy it. In times when there is little food and drink to go around, that would be a very foolish thing to do. But God would bless the line of Judah with such great abundance and wealth that they could be careless about something as precious as their vineyards. They could tie their donkey up to a grapevine because even if it destroyed it, there would still be plenty of grapes to make wine. And even something as fine and expensive as wine would be so plentiful that they would wash their clothes in it!
For Judah, life under the blessing of God would make him beautiful. His eyes will be dark and sparkling and his teeth will be bright and white with health. And as it went with Judah, so would it be for his descendants.
These blessings were poems that the people of Israel would know and memorize for hundreds and even thousands of years. All the other tribes would know that Judah was meant to reign over them one day. If they wished to honor the desires of their great forefather Jacob and the blessings of his God, this poem would carry the power to give the tribe of Judah kingship over Israel for every generation. Wow.