A Strong Promise

Please Note: the full transcript is available in the Manuscript link above.

Genesis 49:1-12

1 Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come.

2 Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob; and listen to Israel your father.

3 Reuben, you are my firstborn; my might and the beginning of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.

4 Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it—he went up to my couch.

5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are implements of violence.

6 Let my soul not enter into their council; let not my glory be united with their assembly; because in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they lamed oxen.

7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is cruel. I will disperse them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

8 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.

9 Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up?

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.

11 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.

12 His eyes are dull from wine, and his teeth white from milk.”

In Genesis 49:8-12, God promises the establishment of a preeminent one who brings blessing

v. 8 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

3 characteristics of God’s preeminent One that demands our allegiance

1. His Unassailable Strength in Righteousness (v. 9)

v. 9 Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up?

2. His Eternal Rule over All People (v. 10)

v. 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 (nations).

3. His Abundant Prosperity (v. 11-12)

v. 11-12 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 (dark) from wine, and his teeth white from milk.