The Vision (12.12.25): The scepter shall not depart from Judah

 

Image: Snow covered branches, North Garden, Virginia, December 2025.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Genesis 49.

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from beneath his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be (Genesis 49:10).

In Genesis 49 Jacob offers a prophetic blessing upon his sons who will form the twelve tribes of Israel. The blessing on Judah (vv. 8-12) is a prophecy of Christ.

Judah’s name means “praise.” From him would come the kingly line. Jacob says he will be at the neck of his enemies (v. 8b). His father’s children will bow down before him, just as they had bowed to Joseph (v. 8b).

His sign is a lion (v. 9). The ancient Hebrews also knew this animal as king of the beasts, the most powerful and fearsome.

Then Jacob prophesies that the scepter of rule shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from his feet (from his line of descent), until Shiloh come. Some suggest the name “Shiloh” means the peacemaker or Saviour (M. Poole). One commentator called it a “cryptogram” meaning “Messiah” (MacArthur Study Bible).

From Judah would come King David, and his descendants would rule in one form or another all the way up to the time when Herod the Idumean (Edomite) was made the King of the Jews by the Romans. And who was born then? The Lord Jesus Christ, Shiloh, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords. In John’s vision of heaven in Revelation 5:5 one of the elders says to him, “Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” But when John looks he sees “a Lamb as it had been slain” (v. 6).

Jacob says, “and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (v. 10b). This means all his elect people, Jew and Gentile.

In v. 11 it says he washed his garments in wine. This figure anticipates the shedding of his blood in his atoning death on the cross. We see this in Revelation 19 when John sees Christ as a victorious champion riding on a white horse in his second coming, “clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God” (v. 13).

In Genesis 49:12 it adds his eyes shall be red with wine. This does not mean bloodshot but that the pupil of his eye will be full and dark, a sign of extraordinary health and vigor. And his teeth white as milk, pure and strong.

This is the apex of Jacob’s prophetic blessing. It points us toward the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer! He came from the line of Judah through King David, in the fullness of time, born in Bethlehem.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle