Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 49:10

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him [shall] the gathering of the people [be].

10. The sceptre ] Lit. “rod.” Either a king’s sceptre, or a general’s baton. LXX = “ruler”; Lat. sceptrum. The rendering of the LXX, which gives a personal explanation, is unsupported by any evidence.

the ruler’s staff ] R.V. marg., as A.V., a lawgiver. The same word is found in Num 21:18 (“the sceptre,” marg. “the lawgiver”) and Psa 60:7, “Judah is my sceptre” (marg. “lawgiver”). LXX = “leader”; Lat. dux; Syr. Pesh. “an interpreter”; Targ. Jerus. “scribe.” The parallelism of the clauses makes it almost certain, that we have in this clause “the lawgiver’s staff” corresponding to “the ruler’s sceptre” in the previous clause.

Whether the “sceptre” and the “staff” are the insignia of national monarchy or tribal government, has been much debated. The picture of a person bearing these emblems is most suitable to the Oriental conception of a king.

from between his feet ] The literal explanation is the simplest and the most picturesque. The lawgiver seated on his throne holds the wand emblematical of his office between his feet. Another explanation, illustrated by Deu 28:57, makes the expression refer to the descendants of Judah. So LXX ; Lat. de femore ejus.

Until Shiloh come ] These are among the most difficult and controverted words in the book. The alternative renderings in the R.V. text and marg. represent the different lines of interpretation which have been followed. (1) “Until Shiloh come.” This rendering was not known until a.d. 1534, when it was first suggested by Sebastian Mnster, possibly on the strength of a Talmudic tradition. There is no allusion elsewhere in the O.T. to “Shiloh” either as a personal name, or as a Messianic title. Except for this passage, the use of “Shiloh” as indicating a person would be devoid of meaning to the Hebrew reader. True, the song is full of obscurities. But the improbability of this late interpretation is so great, that it may be dismissed from consideration. (2) “Till he come to Shiloh,” i.e. “till he, Judah, comes to Shiloh.” Shiloh was the resting-place of the Ark, in the centre of the tribe of Ephraim, e.g. 1Sa 1:24. It was destroyed by the Philistines, and its sanctuary desolated; see Jer 7:12-15. The theory, that the prediction in this verse received its fulfilment in Jos 18:1; Jos 18:8-10, is difficult to comprehend. The Davidic monarchy began after the days of Shiloh. The reference to a place in the tribe of Ephraim is quite unsuitable in this context. (3) LXX , until that which is his shall come, and Old Latin donec veniant quae reposita sunt ei. This rendering gets rid of the difficulty of a proper name. It assumes that the disputed word represents a dialect form of Hebrew words meaning “that which to him.” The sense may then be Messianic. The rule of Judah shall continue until “that which is reserved for him,” i.e. the age of perfect prosperity, shall come to him. (4) “Till he comes whose it is” (so Syr. Pesh.). This is also supported by Targ. Onk., “Until Messiah comes, whose is the kingdom”; cf. Symmachus = “he for whom it is reserved.” This rendering may be illustrated from Eze 21:27, “Until he come whose right it is.” This last seems the most probable interpretation. Like many other passages in the song, the clause is obscure and oracular. No proper name is given 1 [60]

[60] The suggestion that “Shelah,” Judah’s third son (Gen 38:5), is intended obscurely to indicate the future hope, is most improbable.

. The objection, that in such early days the Messianic hope did not exist, is a petitio principii. If this rendering be correct, the Messianic hope is here indicated in its earliest and simplest form, although its primary application may be to the dynasty of David. Many scholars, in perplexity as to the right meaning of the words, are of opinion that there is some corruption of the original Hebrew text, and that the restoration of the true text cannot be expected. There have been many emendations proposed, e.g. msh’lh, “his ruler” (Giesebrecht). Lat. qui mittendus est follows another reading (?).

the obedience of the peoples ] The domination over foreign nations was to be the sign of Judah’s ideal sovereignty. LXX , Lat. expectatio, have missed the meaning.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Gen 49:10

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be

A revelation of Christ:

I.

Using the word prophecy in its predictive sense, this is THE LANGUAGE OF UNQUESTIONABLE PROPHECY.

II. This prophecy contains REVELATION OF CHRIST.

III. This revelation of Christ was connected with the announcement of THE PARTICULAR TIME WHEN HE WAS TO APPEAR.

IV. This announcement is connected with a statement showing IN WHAT WAY HIS PEOPLE WILL COME TO HIM. It is at once predictive and descriptive.

V. This statement suggests an inquiry into THE DESIGN OF CHRIST IN GATHERING THE PEOPLE TO HIMSELF. In harmony with His title as the Peaceful One, His grand design is to give them rest.

1. Rest, by reconciling them to God.

2. Rest, by effecting the spiritual union of man with man.

3. Rest, by leading us to perfect rest in another world. (C. Stanford, D. D.)

The Shiloh; or, the worlds tranquilizer:

I. THE FULFILLED PART OF THIS PROPHECY CONCERNING CHRIST.

1. That Judah should have regal power.

2. The continuation of this authority up to a certain time.

3. The fulfilled part of this prophecy shows two things–

(1) Mans power, through God, of foreseeing the future.

(2) Gods character as the Governor of the world.

(a) His faithfulness, strictly adhering to His word through the sweep of ages.

(b) His almightiness, so over-ruling the affairs of nations and of generations as to bring about to the very hour the facts He foretold.

II. THE FULFILLING PART OF THIS PROPHECY. Unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.

1. Self-sacrificing kindness attracts men.

2. Marevellousness attracts men.

3. Promise of good attracts men.

4. Sublime grandeur attracts men. (Homilist.)

The promised Shiloh:

I. THE TITLE OF THE SAVIOUR.

1. A messenger, or one who is sent (Joh 6:29; Joh 6:38; Joh 6:57; Joh 7:16; Joh 28:9-33).

2. Peace-maker (Eph 2:13; Col 1:20).

3. Prosperous Saviour.

II. THE APPEARING OF THE MESSIAH.

1. He was to be of the tribe of Judah.

2. He was to come before the rule and authority of the tribe of

Judah should cease.

III. THE WORK OF THE MESSIAH Unto Him shall the gathering of the people be. They are gathered–

1. To His cross as the source of salvation.

2. To His cause as His devoted followers.

3. To His Church as the visible friends of His kingdom.

4. To His royal standard as His loyal and obedient subjects.

5. To His glorious kingdom as the trophies of His grace, to shine forth in the lustre of purity and blessedness for ever and ever.

Learn:

1. The true character of the Lord Jesus. He is the promised Shiloh.

2. Have we been brought to a saving experimental knowledge of His grace?

3. The full accomplishment of the text is yet to come. (J. Burns, D. D.)

The prophecy of Jacob respecting Shiloh:

I. It will be proper, first, TO CONSIDER THE PROPHECY AND ITS FULFILMENT. Until the period at which it was delivered the nation of Israel was not divided into tribes; but from this period it was always so divided. The prophecy asserts that the sceptre should not depart from the tribe of Judah until a personage here denominated Shiloh should appear.

1. What we are to understand by the term sceptre, as here employed, is the whole question: whether it relates to regal authority, as some suppose. This appears improbable; for, in the first place, the regal sceptre was not specially placed in the tribe of Judah, and could not be said to depart from that tribe more than another; secondly, Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin, not of Judah; neither were the Maccabeans of Judahs tribe. Sceptre here denotes a staff of office; each tribe had its rod of power, and the meaning is that the authority of a tribe should remain in Judah until the period specified should arrive. After the three captivities the ten tribes, which had been separated from those of Judah and Benjamin in the reign of Rehoboam, were lost and blended among the nations. But Judah and Benjamin, thenceforward regarded as one tribe, still possessed its rod of authority, and hence the name of Jew, derived from Judah, was used to mark the whole nation. Judah remained as a separate people during the captivity at Babylon.

2. The term lawgiver must be limited in its interpretation by the term sceptre.

3. Concerning the meaning of the term Shiloh, which occurs only in the text, various opinions have been proposed; the most probable is that it denotes the Peace-maker, Jesus Christ, who came (as the angels celebrated His nativity) to give peace on earth; or, as others think, it may mark Him as sent, and thus be taken as the same word with Siloam, which the evangelist interprets as sent; He continually spoke of Himself as one whom God had sent.

4. The prophecy proceeds to state that to Him shall the gathering of the people be; words which express the dependence of faith, the allegiance of hope, which would centre in the promised Lord of all. Jesus Christ is the bond of a new society on earth!

II. BY WAY OF BRIEF IMPROVEMENT OBSERVE–

1. The force of prophecy as an evidence of inspiration. The sign and test of prophecy is its fulfilment, according to the rule laid down by Moses, if the word does not take place the Lord has not spoken.

2. The dignity of our Lord. He appears as the chief, the central object of prophecy; the light that illuminates its obscurity.

3. The consolation which believers may derive from the character which our Saviour sustains.

4. Our assembling on this and similar occasions proves the truth of the prediction; it is a comment on the words, To Him shall the gathering of the people be. Why are we not Gentile idolaters? it is because Shiloh has appeared among us.

5. Observe, as the last thing, the vanity of Jewish hope. The people to whom He came are still looking for another: contradicting all prophecy, all history! But when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, when the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled, the children of Judah shall yet be visited with the Spirit of grace and supplications; they shall look on Him whom they have pierced; and shall mourn for Him as one that mourneth for his first-born. Let us pray for their national conversion. (R. Hall, M. A.)

The prophecy respecting Shiloh:

I. WE SHALL ENDEAVOUR TO ASCERTAIN THE GENERAL PURPORT OF THE TERMS, SCEPTRE, LAWGIVER, AND SHILOH. If these words are satisfactorily defined, and correctly applied, there will be no difficulty whatever in the discussion of our second proposition. In our language the sceptre is a kind of royal staff or baton, which is borne on solemn occasions by kings as a token of their command and royal authority. In the Word of God it has evidently the same meaning, and was similarly used in ancient times. With regard to the word lawgiver it seems to signify legislative, or rather judicial, authority, and is intended to express the continuance of both civil and ecclesiastical power until the coming of Shiloh. But the remaining term appears the most important, and demands particular attention. It is the keystone of the prophetic edifice by which we must observe the symmetry, the magnificence, and the perfection of the whole. Shiloh evidently relates to some person, and the question is, Of whom speaketh the prophet this? Act 8:34). We hesitate not to reply, he speaks of the Messiah, even Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.

II. To CONSIDER OR PROVE THE EXACT ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE PROPHECY. The passage intimates–

1. The departure of the sceptre from the other tribes of Israel.

2. That on Messiahs appearance Judah should also give up his pre-eminence.

3. Men are to be gathered to Christ. It is of little consequence what name they bear in the professing world, what talents they possess, or with what external privileges they are favoured unless they are brought to Christ. He is the end of prophecy, the substance of ancient shadows,

(1) They shall be gathered for purposes of mercy by the ministration of the gospel.

(2) The people are to be gathered to Jesus by the agency of His own Spirit. It is the Spirit that quickeneth (Joh 6:63).

(3) The people shall be gathered to Christ in His Church.

(4) The people shall be gathered to Christ at the last day for judgment. (T. Wood.)

The Shiloh prophecy:

There are, you perceive, three parts of the blessing, each taking up and repeating the happy name of Judah: Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise, &c.; Judah is a lions whelp, &c.; and, The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, &c. Let us take these three parts in their order.

I. Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies: thy fathers children shall bow down before thee. There are here two things the relation of Judah to his brethren in Israel and his relation to the enemies of Israel. His relation to his brethren in Israel is expressed in the first and last clauses, Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise–thy fathers children shall bow down before thee. Now that there is a general reference here to the supremacy of Judah among the tribes is beyond doubt; but I cannot avoid the conclusion, a conclusion which has been strengthened by a very close examination of the principal words in this verse, that a greater than Judah is here, even Jesus, whose praise is sung by all the true Israel of God, before whom all the children of Abraham according to the spirit bow down and worship. This is supported by several considerations. The name Judah means Praise of God, or Glory to God. And there is, I cannot help thinking, something more than curiosity in the fact that if Hebrew equivalents were given for the Greek words in the hymn which was sung by angels over Bethlehems plains, when the great Son of Judah was born there, a Prince and a Saviour, it might read thus, Judah in the highest, on earth Shiloh; Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace. This view is still further strengthened by the fact that the word here rendered praise–thy brethren shall praise–is used almost exclusively of praise to God. And if we are right in our view as to the clauses which refer to the relation of Judah to his brethren in Israel, it follows that in that clause which refers to his relation to the enemies of Israel we see not only the victories of Judah over the nations around him, but the victories of the great Son of Judah over His enemies all over the world. We have in fact here the germ of those numerous prophecies of which the second Psalm may be taken as a specimen.

II. Judah is a lions whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up; he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion: who shall rouse him up? We have here Judahs supremacy and strength set before us in a lively figure, the figure of a lion. You observe of course the gradation in the prophecy: first the young lion rejoicing in his growing strength; then the adult lion in the full development of his power; and lastly, the old lion reposing in quiet majesty, satisfied with former triumphs, enjoying the fruit of them, but retaining his terrible strength, so that even the boldest dare not rouse him up. Here again we have the basis and explanation of not a little of subsequent prophecy. We find the Lion of Judah again in Balaams prophecy (Num 24:9; also 23:24). We find it in prophecies where perhaps we little expect it, e.g., Isa 29:1-2, where Ariel, you must remember, is the Hebrew for Lion of God. So, too, the lamentation of Eze 19:1-14. is all founded on this prophecy. The reference throughout all these is obvious, to the lion strength and prowess of the royal tribe of Judah. But is this all? Perhaps some of you may be ready to say, Yes, it is all. Surely it cannot be said that there is any of the testimony of Jesus in a passage like that. It certainly seems as unlikely as any other prophetic passage in the whole Bible. Yet even here, if we take the Scripture for our guide, comparing Scripture with Scripture, the testimony of Jesus is not absent. And if you wish proof, follow me to two passages far apart from each other and from this, and yet evidently related to each other and to this. First, let us turn to that chapter about Ariel, the Lion of God (Isa 29:1-24.). Read especially verses 11 and 12, and compare them with Rev 5:1-5. The Ariel of the Old Testament here appears as the Lion of the tribe of Judah in the New. Who is the Lion of the tribe of Judah? No one reading that chapter in Revelation can hesitate about the answer. After all it is ,Jesus, the meek and lowly, and yet the great and terrible Jesus, the Lamb slain, and also the Lion slaying. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah! We may not forget that there is such a thing as the wrath of the Lamb.

III. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come, &c. Who is Shiloh? Most clearly He is the Seed of the woman. I set aside the translation, until Judah come Shiloh, i.e., the place where the tabernacle was set up after the conquest of Canaan; I set it aside, because though grammatically possible, it is contrary to the scope of the prophecy, Judah having no more relation to the place long afterwards called Shiloh than any of the other tribes, and less than Joseph, in whose territory the place was; because it exhausts the prophecies in the early history of the tribes of Israel, whereas the patriarch says at the beginning that he is about to speak of that which shall happen in the last days; and because the supremacy of Judah over the other tribes, and her lion-like conquests, are to be found after, and not before, the children of Israel came to Shiloh. Besides, there is no evidence that any place of the name of Shiloh was known at this time, and there was certainly no gathering of the nations (the word in the Hebrew is not the singular, people, but the plural, peoples or nations) to Shiloh. Without any hesitation, then, we adhere to our own translation. And then the question comes: if Shiloh be the Messiah, as He evidently is, what is the meaning of the name? The vast majority of interpreters have always, and do still connect the word Shiloh with that well-known family of Hebrew words signifying peace, rest, so that Shiloh will signify the One who brings peace, the One who gives rest. There is almost everything in favour of this interpretation. It connects beautifully with the image of peace set forth in verses 11 and 12 which follow, and is strongly contrasted with the war-like metaphor of that which precedes (verse 9). It agrees with the circumstances under which the name Shiloh was given to the place where the Tabernacle of God was set up by the children of Israel after God had given them rest from their enemies. Then in 1Ch 5:2, we find, in explanation of the elder tribes being set aside, these words, For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and from him the chief ruler (or the prince)was to come, which you may compare with that beautiful passage Isa 9:6, Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Then, too, the name which David gave to his son Solomon (a name closely connected with the name Shiloh–it does not appear in English so distinctly as in the original); in that name we can scarcely fail to recognize the expectation of David, that in his just and peaceful reign there would be a type of the reign of the Prince of Peace–a position which is fully borne out by those Psalms of the kingdom, of which the well-known 72nd Psalm may be taken as a specimen. We have already referred to the angel doxology, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, where the words Judah and Shiloh come into a connection with each other very similar to what we find in this prophecy. Then we cannot help thinking of such precious words as these of our Shiloh, Come unto Me, ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And not to multiply passages, for many more might be given, do we not find at the close of the Word of God, in the Book of Revelation, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and the Lamb, the one the emblem of strength, and the other the emblem of gentleness and peace, close beside each other, and referring to the same glorious Saviour? We have already spoken of the Lion of the tribe of Judah–well, the Lamb is the Shiloh of our text. It is, then, the Prince of Peace whose coming is spoken of here. And unto Him shall the gathering of the peoples be. The meaning of this is surely very obvious now. The Shiloh is the Seed in whom all nations of the earth are to be blessed. Here is the culmination of the royalty of Judah. The true idea is that the royalty is never to pass away from Judah, but is to culminate in the everlasting kingdom of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, King of kings and Lord of lords. The sceptre is not to depart at all. The kingdom is to be an everlasting kingdom. The royalty of the tribe of Judah will last through all eternity, because the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Prince of Peace, the Shiloh of God, in whom that royalty culminates, is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, King of kings and Lord of lords for evermore! And then began the gathering of the peoples. It may be interesting to take a passing glance at this prophetic gathering, as actually realized already in history. To begin with, we have an earnest of it in the long journey of the wise men of the East to worship the child Jesus. There we have the first-fruits of the great ingathering of the long excluded Shemites. Then again you remember the Syro-Phoenician woman, who, when Jesus came into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, fell down at His feet and worshipped Him, and besought Him for a blessing for her child. There we see the first-fruits of the great ingathering of the Hamites. Yet again, you remember how, when Jesus was at one of the feasts in Jerusalem, there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast, who came to Philip of Bethsaida in Galilee, earnestly asking, Sir, we would see Jesus. There we see the first fruits of the great ingathering of the sons of Japheth. So ranch for the first fruits; now for the harvest. And here we find that saying true, The last shall be first, and the first last; for when Shiloh came the very Jews refused to gather to Him; that very tribe of Judah from which, according to the prophecy, He sprung, despised and rejected Him; and accordingly, in the just displeasure of God, they were set aside until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in Rom 11:25). Thus it is that the very Jews themselves are the last of all the peoples to gather unto their own Shiloh. (J. M. Gibson, D. D.)

Shiloh

The dying patriarch was speaking of his own son Judah; but while speaking of Judah he had a special eye to our Lord, who sprang from the tribe of Judah. Everything therefore which he says of Judah, the type, he means with regard to our greater Judah, the antitype, our Lord Jesus Christ. First, let the title Shiloh, and secondly the testimony, To Him shall the gathering of the people be, engage our attention.

I. The title Shiloh. What an old word it is! What an old world word! I should not wonder if it was one of Jacobs own coining. A pet name is often the product of peculiar love. Tender affection takes this kindly turn. Jacobs name for Jesus was Shiloh; and it is so long ago since he called Him Shiloh that I do not wonder that we have almost forgotten the meaning of it. He knew it had a wealth of meaning as it came from his lips, and the meaning is there still; but the well is deep; and those that have studied the learned languages have found this to be a word of such rare and singular occurrence, that it is difficult, with any positive certainty, to define it. Not that they cannot find a meaning, but that it is possible to find so many meanings of it. Not that it is not rich enough, but that there is an embarrassment of riches. It may be interpreted in so many different ways. Some maintain that the word Shiloh signifies sent. Like that word you have in the New Testament, He said to them, go to the pool of Siloam, which is, by interpretation, Sent, you observe the likeness between the words Siloam and Shiloh. They think that the words have the same meaning; in which case Shiloh here would mean the same as Mes-siah the sent one–and would indicate that Jesus Christ was the messenger, the sent one of God, and came to us, not at His own instance, and at His own will, but commissioned by the Most High, authorized and anointed to that end. Here let us stop a minute. We rejoice to know that, whatever this title means, it is quite certain Jesus was sent. It is a very precious thing to know that we have a Saviour; but often and often it has cheered my heart to think that this dear Saviour who came to save me did not come as an amateur, unauthorized from the courts of heaven, but He came with the credentials of the Eternal Father, so that, whatever He has done, we may be sure He has done it in the name of God. Jehovah will never repudiate that which Jesus has accomplished. Him hath God sent forth to be a propitiation; He is a mediator of Gods own sending. Dwell, sweetly dwell, upon this meaning of the word Shiloh. If it means sent, there is great sweetness in it. Others have referred it to a word, the root of which signifies the Son. Upon such a hypothesis the name would be strictly appropriate to our Lord. He is the Son of God; He is the Son of Man; He was the Son of Judah; He was the Son of David: Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given. Let us linger for a while upon this gloss–Until Shiloh, Until the Son shall come. Be the annotation right or wrong, Jesus is the Son of God. He that hath come to save us is Divine. Let us bless Him as the Son–the Son of God, the Son of man. A third meaning has been given to the word Shiloh which rather paraphrases than translates it. The passage, according to certain critics, would run something like this: Until He come to whom it belongs, to whom it is, for whom it is reserved; or, as Ezekiel puts it, Overturn, until He shall come whose right it is, and Thou wilt give it Him. It may mean, then, The sceptre shall not depart from Judah until He shall come whose that sceptre is. This meaning is supported by many learned authorities, and has its intrinsic value. The sceptre belongs to Christ. All sceptres belong to Him. He will come by and by and verify His title to them. Have you not seen the picture that represents Nelson on board a French man-of-war, receiving the swords of the various captains he has conquered, while there stands an old tar at his side putting all these swords underneath his arm as they are brought up. I have often pictured to myself our great Commander, the only King by Divine right, coming back to this our earth, and gathering up the sceptres of the kings in sheaves, and putting them on one side, and collecting their crowns; for He alone shall reign King of kings and Lord of lords. When the last and greatest of all monarchs shall come a second time, without a sin-offering unto salvation–oh, the glory of His triumph! He has a right to reign. If ever there was a king by nature, and by birth, it is the Son of David; if ever there was one who would be elected to the monarchy by the suffrages of His subjects, it is Jesus Christ. Let Him be crowned with majesty for ever and ever. To Him the royalty belongs, for Him it is reserved. The interpretation, however, which has the most support, and which I think has the fairest claim to be accorded correct, is that which derives the word Shiloh from the same root as the word Salem. This makes it signify peace. Until the peace, or the peace-bearer, or the peace-giver, or, if you like it better, the rest, or the rest-maker–shall come. Select the word you prefer, it will sufficiently represent the sense. Until the peace-bringer come, until the rest-maker come. His advent bounds the patriarchs expectation and his desire. Oh, beloved, what a vein of soul-charming reflection this opens! Do you know what rest means? Such peace, peace, such perfect peace as he hath whose soul is stayed; because he trusteth, as the prophet Isaiah hath it. Here is rest! Man may well take his rest when he has nothing to do, when it is all done for him. And that is the gospel. The worlds way of salvation is Do, Gods way of salvation is, It is all done for you; accept and believe.

II. Trusting, then, dear friends, that your faith has identified the Shiloh of Jacobs vision, let us occupy the few minutes that remain to us in considering the testimony which the patriarch here bears. Unto Him shall the gathering of the people be. Unto Him, as the Hebrew runs, shall the gatherings of the peoples be. So wide the circumference that converges in this glorious centre. It comprehends all the peoples of the Gentiles as well as Jews. Of course it includes the favoured nation, but it also takes in the isles afar off; yea, all of us, my brethren. Unto Him shall the gatherings of the peoples be. What joy this announcement should give us! Do you realize it, that around Jesus Christ, around His cross, which is the great uplifted standard, the people shall gather? Be assured of this: Christ is the only centre of true unity to His people. The true Christendom consists in all that worship God in the spirit, not having confidence in the flesh. The true Church consists of all that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are quickened by the Holy Ghost. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The gathering of the people to Shiloh

It seems to me the old man was sad. One, and another, and another of his sons passed before him, and from their posterity there came no Saviour, no Messiah. Judah came, and as his eyes rested upon him, and the visions of the future opened up, he beheld the tribe growing, becoming conspicuous, becoming the leader of the other tribes, and enduring; kings sat upon his throne, and princes were among his posterity; and then he saw Judah, becoming feeble, carried away; the tribeship crumbling; desolation is about to come, and just then he saw the star appear–a light shining on Judah–and he said: Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; and then cried out, as if his soul were enraptured with a vision: The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto Him shall the gathering of the people be. He saw the day of Christ. It was just as Judah was crumbling to decay; it was just as prince and lawgiver were for ever passing from among his posterity; but he had not quite gone until the light and joy of Israel appeared, and the Prince of Peace, whose right it was to take the kingdom, took possession, and then, instead of Israel being carried captive into strange lands–instead of his hosts being wasted on the plains of Babylon and Persia, instead of being fugitives and strangers among all nations–he saw a new Israel, a new nation, under a new covenant of promise; and he cried out: And unto Him shall the gathering–not of Judah, nor of Ephraim, nor of Manasseh, nor of Benjamin, merely, but, unto Him shall the gathering of the people be–all tribes, all nations, all kindreds. The sons of humanity everywhere shall gather around Him; for He takes in both Jew and Gentile, Greek and barbarian, bond and free. All shall receive the blessings of peace. Such was the vision that came to Jacobs peaceful departing hours. That we may the better understand this subject, we may refer to the expressions here used: The sceptre shall not depart from Judah. But there is another part of this prophecy. When that Shiloh should come, to Him should the gathering of the people be. Now, how beautifully was this contrasted with what Jacob saw in his vision t He had seen the scattering of the ten tribes–their being lost, merged into other nationalities, and he said: Are these gone for ever? He saw Jacob about to pass away, and that he was to be scattered, but as the compensation for all this, around the Shiloh, the promised Seed, the One who was to be sent, the Prince of Peace, should the gathering of the people be. In some particulars, this seemed to be an enlargement of the promises given to the Jews, and we may trace an apparent connection between their power and that under the reign of Shiloh. For instance, the gathering of the people was at Jerusalem. They came up three times in the year to worship before God on Mount Zion. Scattered, there is no longer the worship. The temple services have been long since closed. The people no longer come gathering around Mount Moriah. There is no temple standing, around which humanity gathers; but there was a cross erected. Shiloh hung on that cross, and He said: And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me. And now, as the result, do we not see the gathering of humanity around the Lord Jesus Christ? But while men, here and there, may remember the name of a Homer, or an Alexander, or a Plato–while their prowess and intellect may be admired in the schools–how few of the human race know anything of them 1 But the name of Jesus I At that name every knee shall bow; to R every tongue shall confess. It is being sung east and west, north and south. Men divide on everything else, but they are rallying around Jesus. He is reigning, King of kings, and Lord of lords. He has established a kingdom which is growing wider and wider every day. Civilization attends the preaching of the gospel; inventions and arts, and refinement and culture, go hand in hand with the proclamation of the name of Jesus; and in this respect humanity is gathering around Him. But the word here interpreted gathering means not merely assembling. Some translate it obedience. To Him shall the obedience of the people be. The idea, as I take it, embraces both. The people assemble for instruction and to obey. It is like the gathering of scholars in a school. They assemble, but it is for instruction, and it is to obey. (M. Simpson, D. D.)

Shiloh:

I. THE COMING ONE PREDICTED.

II. THE CHARACTER OF THE KING AND HIS KINGDOM. The name Shiloh means Peaceable, or Peace-givers or rest, and is akin to the name of Davids son Solomon. This name intimates that the King, who is to come, will give tranquillity to His people.

III. THE COMPLETENESS OF HIS RULE. The Christian religion is but the unfolding and the fulfilment of the hope of Israel. Do we rejoice in our knowledge of Jesus as King? Are we trying our best to serve and obey Him? and to do what we can to bring others under His peace-giving rule? (W. S. Smith, B. D.)

Shilohs sceptre spiritual, not political:

How constantly do we find this blessed assurance interpreted as if it were a shred of political news, a piece of political prognostication! The sceptre is interpreted as an earthly sceptre, the lawgiver suggests no other or higher conception than the head of an earthly government, and the gist of the whole promise is made to be that a certain earthly state, of very small account among the great kingdoms of the world, shall continue to exist till the coming of a certain person, and then shall pass away. It might be suggested, by the way, that on this principle of interpretation we should rather call it a threatening than a promise. If the coming of the promised Shiloh was to be the signal for the passing away of the very kingdom which was the subject of the prophecy, then Judah and all true lovers of Christs kingdom might well pray that Shiloh should be very long in coming. But let this pass, and look at the subsequent difficulties in which the political interpretation involves us. We have first a long period during which there was no political kingdom at all. Then, shortly after the setting up of the political kingdom, we have it rent in twain. Later on we find, first, the one part of it, and then the other, utterly subverted. Then we have hundreds of years, during the greater part of which it can not be said with honesty that there was a political kingdom at all. And when Shiloh did come, there was no political kingdom in Judah to pass away. These difficulties have been felt to be of such magnitude, that endless ingenuity have been expended in the attempt to evade or surmount them. Some have tried to twist history to make it agree with the passage, and others have tried to twist the passage to make it agree with the history, and neither of the methods has been found satisfactory; whereas all becomes simple, natural, beautiful, and most true, when interpreted, not according to the letter which killeth, but according to the spirit; when it is freed from those carnal, Jewish notions which have obscured it, when it is lifted out of the region of politics into the region of truth, where our Lords conversation with Pilate, as recorded by John, might well lead us to look for the kingdom of the prophetic word. Then we find a beautiful consistency both with the history of truth, and with the truth of history; with the former, as regards the inner reality, with the latter, as regards the outer form of the kingdom. First, in regard to the inner reality. Did not the kingdom in the truth, the kingdom in its essential, spiritual reality, continue in Judah all the while? Was not the kingdom of God among the chosen people before either Saul or David was anointed, while as yet Jehovah was their only King? Was not the kingdom of God in Judah still, when her sons and daughters sat by Babels streams, and hung their harps upon the willows, and wept as they remembered Zion? There, in their remembrance of Zion, have we the evidence that, though the form of the kingdom had passed away for a time, the great reality remained in the weeping heart of Judah still. Truth to tell, the kingdom had much more nearly passed away, while yet the political sceptre and lawgiver remained both in Judah and in Israel, in those dark days of infidelity and idolatry, when poor Elijah thought Gods kingdom the true theocracy, was reduced to one solitary individual, till he was assured by Him, who seeth not as man seeth, that He still had left remaining seven thousand loyal men. And was there not in Judah, through all her captivities and all her sufferings from foreign oppressors, a true kingdom of God? A very little one indeed at times, and especially in the times which immediately preceded the advent of Shiloh; but small as it was, was it not there all the while? And when we seek for the fulfilment of the old promise as to the continuance of the kingdom till the coming in human form of the King, we are to seek it, not where so many interpreters of prophecy have sought it, in the political administration of that infidel and villain, belonging to Idumea, and not to Judah, who happened to sway a little sceptre, and give out his little laws under the great sceptre and mighty law of a foreign tyrant, but in the lowly loyal lives of the Simeons and Annas of the time, who had the sceptre and law in their hearts, and who were waiting for the fulfilment of the kingdom in the coming of Shiloh. The fulfilment of the kingdom–for there is no evidence that these faithful ones imagined that the coming of Shiloh was to be the subversion of that kingdom, which, as true Israelites, they dearly loved, but every evidence that they regarded it as the firm establishment of Judahs throne, and the beginning of a triumphal progress which should not cease till every knee should bow before the sceptre, and every tongue confess that Judahs King was Lord. So much for the fulfilment of the promise in regard to its inner reality. And now a moments glance at the consistency of the prophecy with history, so far as form is concerned. Here we must bear in mind what Principal Fairbairn has so clearly shown in his work on Prophecy, that the great object of prophecy was to support the faith of Gods people–a support which would be especially- needed in times of darkness. Now, if the outward earthly form, in which the kingdom was for a time embodied, had been predestined to be abiding; had nothing been anticipated in the process of history which would look like the passing away of the kingdom, there would have been no need of such a special promise as that in Gen 49:10. On the other hand, the very fact that there is such a promise would lead us, a priori, to anticipate that there would be times, probably long times, when it would seem that the sceptre had departed from Judah–times during which it would be necessary for those who were waiting for the salvation of God, to have some assurance to rest upon, that, though the form had passed away, the reality was with them still. Thus we find that, when once we get rid of these carnal Jewish ideas of the kingdom, we discover not only an agreement between the prophecy and the true spiritual history of the kingdom, but also a correspondence between the expectations it suggests concerning the outward and formal history of the kingdom and the actual facts of the ease, as seen in the external history of the political kingdom of Israel. (J. M.Gibson, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 10. From Judah the sceptre shall not depart] The Jews have a quibble on the word shebet, which we translate sceptre; they say it signifies a staff or rod, and that the meaning of it is, that “afflictions shall not depart from the Jews till the Messiah comes;” that they are still under affliction and therefore the Messiah is not come. This is a miserable shift to save a lost cause. Their chief Targumist, Onkelos, understood and translated the word nearly as we do; and the same meaning is adopted by the Jerusalem Targum, and by all the ancient versions, the Arabic excepted, which has [Arabic] kazeeb, a rod; but in a very ancient MS. of the Pentateuch in my own possession the word [Arabic] sebet is used, which signifies a tribe. Judah shall continue a distinct tribe till the Messiah shall come; and it did so; and after his coming it was confounded with the others, so that all distinction has been ever since lost.

Nor a teacher from his offspring] I am sufficiently aware that the literal meaning of the original mibbeyn raglaiv is from between his feet, and I am as fully satisfied that it should never be so translated; from between the feet and out of the thigh simply mean progeny, natural offspring, for reasons which surely need not be mentioned. The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, and the Jerusalem Targum, apply the whole of this prophecy, in a variety of very minute particulars, to the Messiah, and give no kind of countenance to the fictions of the modern Jews.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The secptre, i.e. the dominion or government, which is oft expressed by this word, as Num 24:17; Psa 45:6; Isa 14:5; Eze 19:11,14; Am 1:5,8; Zec 10:11, because it is an ensign of government, Est 4:11. So it is a figure called a metonomy of the sign, than which nothing more frequent. The sense is, That superiority or dominion over his brethren, which I said he should obtain Gen 49:8 he shall keep; it shall not depart from him. Others, the tribe, as the word shebet signifies, 1Sa 10:19-21; 1Ki 11:32, &c. So the sense is this, Whereas the other tribes shall be captivated, dispersed, and confounded, the tribe of Judah shall be kept entire and distinct until Christ come. This is a great and important truth, and a singular demonstration of the all-disposing providence of God, and of the truth and Divine authority of the Scriptures; but it seems not to be the meaning of this place,

1. Because both the foregoing and following words do evidently speak of Judahs power and greatness, and particularly this shebet, or sceptre, is explained and restrained by the following lawgiver.

2. Because this renders the phrase improper and absurd; for the tribe had not departed from Judah, nor had they ceased to be a tribe, if the other tribes had been mixed with them in their land, as indeed they were sometimes. See 2Ch 11:16.

3. Because this is not peculiar to the tribe of Judah; for in this sense the tribe did not depart from Levi, nay, that tribe was kept more distinct than that of Judah; thus also the tribe did not depart from Benjamin, as appears from Ezr 1:5; 10:9; Neh 11:4. Nay, it is questionable whether in this sense the tribe departed from any of the other tribes, not only because there is a distinct mention of the several tribes, Eze 48:1-35, which was written after the dispersion and supposed confusion of the other tribes, and which speaks of the times after the coming of the Messiah, but also because of the great care which the Israelites generally took in distinguishing, not only their tribes, but their several families, in exact genealogies, of which we have many proofs and instances, as 1Ch 4:33; 5:1,7,17; 7:7,9,40; 9:1,22; Ezr 2:62; 8:1,3; Ne 7:5,64. The Jews indeed have another device to avoid the force of this text. They say shebet signifies a rod, to wit, a rod of correction, as the word is taken Pro 22:15. And so they say the sense is, The tyrannical sceptre, or the rod of the oppressor, shall not cease or depart from Israel till the Messiah come, who shall save them from all their oppressors and enemies. But this is a vain and frivolous conceit; for,

1. The following sentence, which expounds the former, as it is usual in Scripture, plainly shows that this shebet, or rod, is such as is proper to the lawgiver, and therefore is a rod of authority, or a sceptre, which is called also a rod, Eze 19:14, and not a rod of affliction.

2. This is contrary to the whole context, wherein there is nothing prophesied of Judah, but honour, and dominion, and victory, and safety.

3. There was no reason why the rod of affliction should be appropriated to Judah, which was common to all the tribes, and came sooner, and fell heavier, and abode longer upon the other tribes than upon Judah.

4. This interpretation is confuted by the event or history, both because the rod of correction did depart from Judah, and from them more than from the other tribes, for many generations before the coming of the Messiah; and because that rod is not removed from them, but hath continued longer and more dreadfully upon them since the coming of the Messias than ever before; which one consideration hath been the occasion of the conversion of many Jews.

5. Howsoever the modern Jews pervert this word and text out of enmity to Christ and Christians, it is certain that the ancient Jews, the LXX., and the Chaldee Paraphrast, with many others, take the word as we do, as the learned have proved out of their own writings. See my Latin Synopsis.

A lawgiver; so the Hebrew word signifies, as here, so also Num 21:18; Deu 33:21; Psa 60:7; 108:8; Isa 33:22. And the verb from whence this word comes signifies to make laws, as Pro 8:15, &c.; and the Hebrew word chok, which comes from the same root, constantly signifies a law or statute. Some render it the scribe, and that either the civil scribe, who belongs to the ruler; or the ecclesiastical scribe, the interpreter of the law; and so it signifies, that both the civil and the ecclesiastical power should continue in Judah till Christ came, and then should be taken away, both which the event did verify. But indeed the Hebrew word for scribe is sopher, not mechokek, which never is so used in Scripture, but always for a lawgiver, as I have showed; and so Kimchi and Aben Ezra, two late and learned Jews, with others, expound it.

From between his feet; from his posterity, or from those that come from between his feet, i.e. that are begotten and born of that tribe. And thus Kimchi, and the Chaldee Paraphrast, and other ancient Jews, understand this place. And the truth of this interpretation may appear, by comparing this with other texts of Scripture, as Deu 28:57, where

the young one is described to be one that cometh from between her (the womans) feet; and Eze 16:25, and with those places where the word feet is used for the secret parts, as Isa 7:20, the hair of the feet, not properly so called, for hair seldom grows there; and 2Ki 18:27; Isa 36:12, where the water which comes from the secret parts is called the water of the feet. And possibly that phrase of covering the feet, applied to them that eased their bellies, may note so much, because the Jews in that action were not to hide their feet properly so called, but their secret parts, which without due care might be discovered upon that occasion.

Shiloh, i.e. the Messias; which we need not stand to prove, because it is so expounded by all the three Chaldee Paraphrasts, and by the Jewish Talmud, and by divers of the latter Jews themselves. And the word signifies, either a peace-maker, or saviour; or, as others, her son, or one that came out of the womans womb, or out of that skin in which the child in the womb is wrapped, which this word, or one near akin to it, signifies. So it notes that the Messias should be born of a woman, though without the help of man. Or, as others, the sent, he who was oft promised and to be sent. And this signification may seem to be warranted by comparing Joh 9:7, with those places of the New Testament in which the Messias is described by that periphrasis of one sent, or to be sent, as Joh 3:34, &c. And the phrase here used is remarkable, till the Shiloh come, for the Shiloh, or Messiah, oft goeth under the name of him that was to come, as Mat 21:9; Luk 7:20; 13:35. And hence the kingdom of the Messiah is called the world or kingdom to come, i.e. of him who was to come, Heb 2:5; 6:5.

Unto him shall the gathering of the people be; they shall be gathered together, or united both among themselves, and with the Jews, under him as their Head. Others, the reverence, obedience, or worship; which comes to the same thing, for they that are gathered to him, do also reverence, obey, and worship him. The Hebrew word is used only here and Pro 30:17.

The people, i.e. the Gentiles, as the Jews themselves understand it. And so it is a plain prophecy of the conversion of the Gentiles by and under the Messiah; signifying, that whereas the ordinances of God, and means of worship and salvation, were confined to the Jews before Christs coming, Psa 147:19,20, when the Messiah should come, the pale of the church should be enlarged, the partition-wall between Jews and Gentiles taken down, and the Gentiles should worship the true God and the Messias. And this is no more than is foretold and promised in other prophecies, as we shall see hereafter. The sum of this verse is, The sceptre or dominion shall be seated in the tribe of Judah, though he doth not determine when it shall come thither; but when once it shall come, it shall not depart from thence till the Messiah come; and then Judah shall lose this sceptre and other privileges, and the Gentiles shall come into the stead of the Jews, and shall embrace that Messiah whom they shall reject. So now here is an undeniable argument to prove against the Jews that the Messiah is already come, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is he, because he was to come during the time wherein the sceptre was in the hands of Judah; and about that time when Jesus Christ came the sceptre was taken away from Judah and the Jews, and hath now been lost for sixteen hundred years together. The Jews are mightily perplexed and confounded with this argument; one evidence whereof is their various and contradictory expositions of the place, whilst some of them affirm this Shiloh to be Moses, others Saul, others Jeroboam, others Nebuchadnezzar, which neither need nor deserve confutation; others David; which, though some of the acutest of the Jewish doctors assert, is as contemptible as any of the rest, it being ridiculous to say the sceptre departed from Judah under him by whom it first came into that tribe, having been till Davids time in other tribes. But the great difficulty is, how this was accomplished; for if the event fully agrees with this prophecy, the cause of the Jews is lost, and Christ must be owned as the true Messias. The sceptre was for a time in other tribes; as in Moses of the tribe of Levi; in divers of the judges, who were of several tribes; and lastly in the tribe of Benjamin under Saul; but the sceptre departed from all these. But this is prophesied as Judahs privilege, that when once the sceptre or government came into that tribe, which it did in Davids time, it should not depart from it till Christ came, and then it should depart. And thus it came to pass. Concerning the time from David unto the captivity of Babylon there is no dispute, there being a constant succession of kings in that tribe all that time. For the time of the Babylonish captivity, wherein there may seem to be more difficulty, it is to be considered,

1. That the sceptre or government was not lost or departed from Judah, but only interrupted, and that but for seventy years at most, which in so long a space of time as above a thousand years is little to be regarded. As none will say the kingdom was departed from the house of David, because of those interreigns or interruptions which sometimes fell out in that family. Add to this, that God hath given them an absolute promise and assured hope of the restoration of Judahs sceptre; so that this was rather a sleep than the death of that government.

2. That within these seventy years there were some remainders and beams of Judahs sovereignty in Jehoiachin, 2Ki 25:27; in Daniel, who was of that tribe, Dan 2:25; 5:13, and of the kings seed, Dan 1:3; and in the successive heads or governors of the exiles, of whom the Jewish writers say so much; and they affirm that they were always of the house of David, and were more honourable than the governors of the Jews which were left in the land of Israel.

3. All that was then left of the sceptre of the Jews was in the tribe of Judah; nor was the sceptre departed from Judah to any other tribe; and that is the thing which seems especially to be respected in this prophecy: for Judah is here compared with the rest of the tribes; and it is here signified, that the power and dominion which was in Judah, when once it came thither, should not shift from tribe to tribe, as it had done, but whilst there was any sceptre or supreme government among the Jews, it should be in that tribe, even till the coming of the Messias. But if there should happen any total, but temporary intercision or cessation of the government among all the tribes, which now was the case, that was no prejudice to the truth of this promise, nor to the privilege granted to Judah above the rest of the tribes. After the captivity, the state of the Jews was very various. Sometimes they had governors put in by the Persian king, as Zorobabel, who was also of the tribe of Judah, and, as it is supposed, nephew of Jehoiachin; and Nehemiah, whom Eusebius affirms to have been of the tribe of Judah. And though he may seem to be numbered among the priests, Neh 10:8, yet a diligent reader will find that he is even there distinguished from them by his title the Tirshatha, Gen 49:1, and the word priests, Gen 49:8, relateth only to the rest there mentioned besides him; especially if this be compared with Neh 9:38, where the princes (among whom surely Nehemiah was the chief) are distinguished from the priests. And sometimes the people chose governors, or captain-generals, as the Maccabees, and others. But under all their vicissitudes, after their return from Babylon, the chief government was evidently and unquestionably seated in the great council called Sanhedrim or Synedrium, wherein, though some of the tribe of Levi were mixed with those of the tribe of Judah, yet because they, together with other members of that council, had their power both from that tribe by which they were chosen, and in it, and for it, the sceptre did truly remain in the tribe of Judah; even as it was rightly called the Roman empire, when Trajan a Spaniard, or other foreigners, administered it; or as we call it the kingdom of Poland, when they choose a king of another nation. How great and venerable the authority of this council was among the Jews, may easily be gathered,

1. From the Divine institution of it, Num 11:16, whereby indeed it was at first to consist of persons indifferently chosen out of all the tribes; but now the other tribes being banished and dispersed in unknown places, and Benjamin and Levi being as it were accessions to the tribe of Judah, and in a sort incorporated with it, it now becomes as it were appropriated to the tribe of Judah, as acting in its name, and by its authority; and the whole land is called Judea, and all the people Jews, from the predominancy of that tribe above the rest.

2. From the great power and privileges anciently granted to it, Deu 17:8, &c.; 2Ch 19:8,11; Psa 122:5.

3. From the testimony of Josephus, and other Jewish writers, which is most considerable in this argument, who largely describe and magnify the power and authority of it; who tell us that the power of their king was subject to that of this council; and therefore one of them addressing his speech to that council, where also the king himself was present, first salutes the senators, and after them the king. They affirm also that the power of making war or peace was vested in that council, and that Herod was tried for his life by it. If it be said that the power of this council was in a great measure taken away, which the Jews confess, Joh 18:31, and that the sceptre of Judea was in the hand of the Romans, and by them given to Herod, who was no Jew, but an Idumean, and this before the coming of the Messias, which is the only remaining difficulty; to this many things may be said:

1. That this happened but a few years before the coming of Christ, when Christ was even at the doors, and about to come, and therefore might well be said to be come; especially in the prophetical style, whereby things are oft said to be done which are near doing.

2. That the Jewish senators did long struggle with Herod about the government, and did not yield it up to him till his last year, when they took an oath of fealty to him, which was after Christ was born. Nor indeed was the sceptre quite gone from them then, for that council still had the power, though not of life and death, yet of civil and ecclesiastical matters. See Joh 18:31. So that if the sceptre was gone, the

lawgiver remained there still. Nor was their government and commonwealth quite destroyed until the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. And therefore some translate the place thus, and that with great probability, The sceptre shall not departuntil the Shiloh come, and until (which word is repeated out of the former member, as it is most usual in the Scripture)

the gathering of the people be to him, i.e. until the Gentiles be converted and brought in to Christ. And this interpretation receiveth countenance from Mat 24:14, The gospel shall be preached in all the world, and then shall the end come; not the end of the whole world, as it is evident, but the end of the commonwealth and government of the Jews, when the sceptre and lawgiver should be wholly taken away from that tribe and people.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

10. until Shiloh comeShilohthisobscure word is variously interpreted to mean “the sent”(Joh 17:3), “the seed”(Isa 11:1), the “peaceableor prosperous one” (Eph 2:14)that is, the Messiah (Isa 11:10;Rom 15:12); and when He shouldcome, “the tribe of Judah should no longer boast either anindependent king or a judge of their own” [CALVIN].The Jews have been for eighteen centuries without a ruler and withouta judge since Shiloh came, and “to Him the gathering of thepeople has been.”

Ge49:13. ZEBULUN was tohave its lot on the seacoast, close to Zidon, and to engage, likethat state, in maritime pursuits and commerce.

Gen 49:14;Gen 49:15. ISSACHAR

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,…. Which some understand of the tribe, that Judah should not cease from being a tribe, or that it should continue a distinct tribe until the coming of the Messiah, who was to be of it, and was, and that it might appear he sprung from it; but this was not peculiar to this tribe, for the tribe of Benjamin continued, and so did the tribe of Levi unto the coming of Christ: besides, by Judah is meant the tribe, and to say a tribe shall not depart from the tribe, is not only a tautology, but scarcely sense; it rather signifies dominion, power, and authority, as the sceptre always does, it being an emblem of it, see Nu 24:17 and this intends either the government, which was in the heads and princes of the tribe, which commenced as soon as it became a tribe, and lasted as long as it remained one, even unto the times of the Messiah; or kingly power and government, which the sceptre is generally thought to be an emblem of, and which first commenced in David, who was of the tribe of Judah, and continued unto the Babylonish captivity, when another sort of governors and government took place, designed in the next clause:

nor a lawgiver from between his feet; which may be rendered disjunctively, “or a lawgiver”; any ruler or governor, that has jurisdiction over others, though under another, as the word is used, Jud 5:14 and the sense is, that till the Messiah came there should be in the tribe of Judah, either a king, a sceptre bearer, as there was unto the captivity; or a governor, though under others, as there were unto the times of Christ under the Babylonians, Persians, Grecians, and Romans; such as Gedaliah, Zorobabel, c. and particularly the sanhedrim, a court of judicature, the members of which chiefly consisted of the tribe of Judah, and the , or prince of it, was always of that tribe, and which retained its power to the latter end of Herod’s reign, when Christ was come and though it was greatly diminished, it had some power remaining, even at the death of Christ, but quickly after had none at all: and if by the “lawgiver” is meant a scribe or a teacher of the law, as all the Targums, Aben Ezra, Ben Melech, and others interpret it, who used to sit at the feet of a ruler, judge, or prince of the sanhedrim; it is notorious there were of these unto, and in the times of the Messiah: in short, it matters not for the fulfilment of this prophecy what sort of governors those were after the captivity, nor of what tribe they were; they were in Judah, and their government was exercised therein, and that was in the hands of Judah, and they and that did not depart from thence till Shiloh came; since those that were of the other tribes, after the return from the captivity all went by the name of Judah:

until Shiloh come; which all the three Targums interpret of the Messiah, as do many of the Jewish writers, ancient and modern p; and is the name of the Messiah in their Talmud q, and in other writings r; and well agrees with him, coming from a root which signifies to be “quiet”, “peaceable”, and “prosperous”; as he was of a quiet and peaceable disposition, came to make peace between God and men, and made it by the blood of his cross, and gives spiritual peace to all his followers, and brings them at length to everlasting peace and happiness; having prospered and succeeded in the great work of their redemption and salvation he undertook:

and unto him shall the gathering of the people be; not of the Jews, though there were great gatherings of them to hear him preach, and see his miracles; as there were of all his people to him at his death, and in him as their head and representative, Eph 1:10 but of the Gentiles; upon his death, the Gospel being preached to all nations, multitudes among them were converted to Christ, embraced his doctrines, professed his religion, and abode by him, see Isa 11:10 some render it, the obedience of the people s, from the use of the word in

Pr 30:17, which sense agrees with the former; for those who are truly gathered by the ministry of the word yield an obedience to his doctrines and ordinances; and others read, “the expectation of the people” t; the Messiah being the desire of all nations, Hag 2:6 this, with what goes before, clearly shows that the Messiah must be come, since government in every sense has departed from Judah for 1900 years or thereabout, and the Gentiles have embraced the Messiah and his Gospel the Jews rejected: the various contradictory senses they put upon this prophecy show the puzzle and confusion they are in about it, and serve to confirm the true sense of it: some apply it to the city Shiloh, others to Moses, others to Saul, others to David; nay, some will have Shiloh to be Jeroboam, or Ahijah the Shilonite, and even Nebuchadnezzar: there are two senses they put upon it which deserve the most notice, the one is, that “Shebet”, we render “sceptre”, signifies a “rod”; and so it does, but such a rod as is an ensign of government, as it must here, by what follows, see Eze 19:11, but they would have it to signify either a rod of correction u, or a staff of support; but what correction or affliction has befallen the tribe of Judah peculiar to it? was it not in a flourishing condition for five hundred years, under the reign of David’s family? and when the rest of the tribes were carried captive and never returned, Judah remained in its own land, and, when carried captive, after seventy years returned again to it; add to which, that this is a prediction, not of affliction and distress, that should abide in the tribe of Judah, but of honour and glory to it: and besides, Judah has had a far greater share of correction since the coming of the true Messiah than ever it had before: and what support have the Jews now, or have had for many hundred years, being out of their land v, destitute of their privileges, living among other nations in disgrace, and for the most part in poverty and distress? the other sense is this, “the sceptre and lawgiver shall not depart from Judah for ever, when Shiloh comes w”; but this is contrary to the accents which separate and divide the phrase, “between his feet”, from that, “for ever”, as this version renders the word; though never signifies “for ever”, absolutely put, without some antecedent noun or particle; nor does signify “when”, but always “until”, when it is joined with the particle , as it is here; besides, this sense makes the prophecy to pass over some thousands of years before any notice is taken of Judah’s sceptre, which, according to the Jews, it had thousands of years ago, as well as contradicts a received notion of their own, that the Messiah, when he comes, shall not reign for ever, but for a certain time, and even a small time; some say forty years, some seventy, and others four hundred x.

p Zohar in Gen. fol. 32. 4. in Exod. fol. 4. 1. in Numb. fol. 101. 2. Bereshit Rabba, fol. 98. sect. 85. 3. Jarchi & Baal Hatturim, in loc. Nachmanidis Disputat. cum Paulo, p. 53. Abarbinel. Mashmiah Jesbuah, fol. 10. 1. R. Abraham Seba, Tzeror Hammor, fol. 36. 4. & 62. 2. q T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 98. 2. r Echa Rabbati, fol. 50. 2. s “obedientia populorum”, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Ainsworth with which agree the Targums of Onkelos and Jerusalem, Aben Ezra, Kimchi in Sepher Shorash. rad.

t , Sept Theodotion “expectatio Gentium”, V. L. u R. Joel Ben Sueb apud Menasseh, Ben Israel. Conciliator in Gen. Quaest. 65. sect. 8. v Written about 1750. Ed. w Vid. Menasseh, ib. sect. 3. x T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 99. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

10. The scepter shall not depart. Though this passage is obscure, it would not have been very difficult to elicit its genuine sense, if the Jews, with their accustomed malignity, had not endeavored to envelop it in clouds. It is certain that the Messiah, who was to spring from the tribe of Judah, is here promised. But whereas they ought willingly to run to embrace him, they purposely catch at every possible subterfuge, by which they may lead themselves and others far astray in tortuous by-paths. It is no wonder, then, if the spirit of bitterness and obstinacy, and the lust of contention have so blinded them, that, in the clearest light, they should have perpetually stumbled. Christians, also, with a pious diligence to set forth the glory of Christ, have, nevertheless, betrayed some excess of fervor. For while they lay too much stress on certain words, they produce no other effect than that of giving an occasion of ridicule to the Jews, whom it is necessary to surround with firm and powerful barriers, from which they shall be unable to escape. Admonished, therefore, by such examples, let us seek, without contention, the true meaning of the passage. In the first place, we must keep in mind the true design of the Holy Spirit, which, hitherto, has not been sufficiently considered or expounded with sufficient distinctness. After he has invested the tribe of Judah with supreme authority, he immediately declares that God would show his care for the people, by preserving the state of the kingdom, till the promised felicity should attain its highest point. For the dignity of Judah is so maintained as to show that its proposed end was the common salvation of the whole people. The blessing promised to the seed of Abraham (as we have before seen) could not be firm, unless it flowed from one head. Jacob now testifies the same thing, namely, that a King should come, under whom that promised happiness should be complete in all its parts. Even the Jews will not deny, that while a lower blessing rested on the tribe of Judah, the hope of a better and more excellent condition was herein held forth. They also freely grant another point, that the Messiah is the sole Author of full and solid happiness and glory. We now add a third point, which we may also do, without any opposition from them; namely, that the kingdom which began from David, was a kind of prelude, and shadowy representation of that greater grace which was delayed, and held in suspense, until the advent of the Messiah. They have indeed no relish for a spiritual kingdom; and therefore they rather imagine for themselves wealth and power, and propose to themselves sweet repose and earthly pleasures, than righteousness, and newness of life, with free forgiveness of sins. They acknowledge, nevertheless, that the felicity which was to be expected under the Messiah, was adumbrated by their ancient kingdom. I now return to the words of Jacob.

Until Shiloh come, he says, the scepter, or the dominion, shall remain in Judah. We must first see what the word שילוה ( shiloh) signifies. Because Jerome interprets it, “He who is to be sent,” some think that the place has been fraudulently corrupted, by the letter ה ( he) substituted for the letter ח ( cheth;) which objection, though not firm, is plausible. That which some of the Jews suppose, namely, that it denotes the place ( Shiloh) where the ark of the covenant had been long deposited, because, a little before the commencement of David’s reign, it had been laid waste, is entirely destitute of reason. For Jacob does not here predict the time when David was to be appointed king; but declares that the kingdom should be established in his family, until God should fulfill what he had promised concerning the special benediction of the seed of Abraham. Besides the form of speech, “until Shiloh come,” for “until Shiloh come to an end,” would be harsh and constrained. Far more correctly and consistently do other interpreters take this expression to mean “his son,” for among the Hebrews a son is called שיל ( shil.) They say also that ה ( he) is put in the place of the relative ו ( waw;) and the greater part assent to this signification. (205) But again, the Jews dissent entirely from the meaning of the patriarch, by referring this to David. For (as I have just hinted) the origin of the kingdom in David is not here promised, but its absolute perfection in the Messiah. And truly an absurdity so gross, does not require a lengthened refutation. For what can this mean, that the kingdom should not come to an end in the tribe of Judah, till it should have been erected? Certainly the word depart means nothing else than to cease. Further, Jacob points to a continued series, when he says the scribe (206) shall not depart from between his feet. For it behaves a king so to be placed upon his throne that a lawgiver may sit between his feet. A kingdom is therefore described to us, which after it has been constituted, will not cease to exist till a more perfect state shall succeed; or, which comes to the same point; Jacob honors the future kingdom of David with this title, because it was to be the token and pledge of that happy glory which had been before ordained for the race of Abraham. In short, the kingdom which he transfers to the tribe of Judah, he declares shall be no common kingdom, because from it, at length, shall proceed the fullness of the promised benediction. But here the Jews haughtily object, that the event convicts us of error. For it appears that the kingdom by no means endured until the coming of Christ; but rather that the scepter was broken, from the time that the people were carried into captivity. But if they give credit to the prophecies, I wish, before I solve their objection, that they would tell me in what manner Jacob here assigns the kingdom to his son Judah. For we know, that when it had scarcely become his fixed possession, it was suddenly rent asunder, and nearly its whole power was possessed by the tribe of Ephraim. Has God, according to these men, here promised, by the mouth of Jacob, some evanescent kingdom? If they reply, the scepter was not then broken, though Rehoboam was deprived of a great part of his people; they can by no means escape by this cavil; because the authority of Judah is expressly extended over all the tribes, by these words, “Thy mother’s sons shall bow their knee before thee.” They bring, therefore, nothing against us, which we cannot immediately, in turn, retort upon themselves

Yet I confess the question is not yet solved; but I wished to premise this, in order that the Jews, laying aside their disposition to calumniate, may learn calmly to examine the matter itself, with us. Christians are commonly wont to connect perpetual government with the tribe of Judah, in the following manner. When the people returned from banishment, they say, that, in the place of the royal scepter, was the government which lasted to the time of the Maccabees. That afterwards, a third mode of government succeeded, because the chief power of judging rested with the Seventy, who, it appears by history, were chosen out of the regal race. Now, so far was this authority of the royal race from having fallen into decay, that Herod, having been cited before it, with difficulty escaped capital punishment, because he contumaciously withdrew from it. Our commentators, therefore, conclude that, although the royal majesty did not shine brightly from David until Christ, yet some preeminence remained in the tribe of Judah, and thus the oracle was fulfilled. Although these things are true, still more skill must be used in rightly discussing this passage. And, in the first place, it must be kept in mind, that the tribe of Judah was already constituted chief among the rest, as preeminent in dignity, though it had not yet obtained the dominion. And, truly, Moses elsewhere testifies, that supremacy was voluntarily conceded to it by the remaining tribes, from the time that the people were redeemed out of Egypt. In the second place, we must remember, that a more illustrious example of this dignity was set forth in that kingdom which God had commenced in David. And although defection followed soon after, so that but a small portion of authority remained in the tribe of Judah; yet the right divinely conferred upon it, could by no means be taken away. Therefore, at the time when the kingdom of Israel was replenished with abundant opulence, and was swelling with lofty pride, it was said, that the lamp of the Lord was lighted in Jerusalem. Let us proceed further: when Ezekiel predicts the destruction of the kingdom, (Eze 21:26,) he clearly shows how the scepter was to be preserved by the Lord, until it should come into the hands of Christ: “Remove the diadem, and take off the crown; this shall not be the same: I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, until he come whose right it is.” It may seem at first sight that the prophecy of Jacob had failed when the tribe of Judah was stripped of its royal ornament. But we conclude hence, that God was not bound always to exhibit the visible glory of the kingdom on high. Otherwise, those other promises which predict the restoration of the throne, which was cast down and broken, were false. Behold the days come in which I will

“

raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof, and I will raise up his ruins.” (Amo 9:11.)

It would be absurd, however, to cite more passages, seeing this doctrine occurs frequently in the prophets. Whence we infer, that the kingdom was not so confirmed as always to shine with equal brightness; but that, though, for a time, it might lie fallen and defaced, it should afterwards recover its lost splendor. The prophets, indeed, seem to make the return from the Babylonian exile the termination of that ruin; but since they predict the restoration of the kingdom no otherwise than they do that of the temple and the priesthood, it is necessary that the whole period, from that liberation to the advent of Christ, should be comprehended. The crown, therefore, was cast down, not for one day only, or from one single head, but for a long time, and in various methods, until God placed it on Christ, his own lawful king. And truly Isaiah describes the origin of Christ, as being very remote from all regal splendor:

“

There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” (Isa 11:1.)

Why does he mention Jesse rather than David, except because Messiah was about to proceed from the rustic hut of a private man, rather than from a splendid palace? Why from a tree cut down, having nothing left but the root and the trunk, except because the majesty of the kingdom was to be almost trodden under foot till the manifestation of Christ? If any one object, that the words of Jacob seem to have a different signification; I answer, that whatever God has promised at any time concerning the external condition of the Church, was so to be restricted, that, in the mean time, he might execute his judgments in punishing men, and might try the faith of his own people. It was, indeed, no light trial, that the tribe of Judah, in its third successor to the throne, should be deprived of the greater portion of the kingdom. Even a still more severe trial followed, when the sons of the king were put to death in the sight of their father, when he, with his eyes thrust out, was dragged to Babylon, and the whole royal family was at length given over to slavery and captivity. But this was the most grievous trial of all; that when the people returned to their own land, they could in no way perceive the accomplishment of their hope, but were compelled to lie in sorrowful dejection. Nevertheless, even then, the saints, contemplating, with the eyes of faith, the scepter hidden under the earth, did not fail, or become broken in spirit, so as to desist from their course. I shall, perhaps, seem to grant too much to the Jews, because I do not assign what they call a real dominion, in uninterrupted succession, to the tribe of Judah. For our interpreters, to prove that the Jews are still kept bound by a foolish expectation of the Messiah, insist on this point, that the dominion of which Jacob had prophesied, ceased from the time of Herod; as if, indeed, they had not been tributaries five hundred years previously; as if, also, the dignity of the royal race had not been extinct as long as the tyranny of Antiochus prevailed; as if, lastly, the Asmonean race had not usurped to itself both the rank and power of princes, until the Jews became subject to the Romans. And that is not a sufficient solution which is proposed; namely, that either the regal dominion, or some lower kind of government, are disjunctively promised; and that from the time when the kingdom was destroyed, the scribes remained in authority. For I, in order to mark the distinction between a lawful government and tyranny, acknowledge that counselors were joined with the king, who should administer public affairs rightly and in order. Whereas some of the Jews explain, that the right of government was given to the tribe of Judah, because it was unlawful for it to be transferred elsewhere, but that it was not necessary that the glory of the crown once given should be perpetuated, I deem it right to subscribe in part to this opinion. I say, in part, because the Jews gain nothing by this cavil, who, in order to support their fiction of a Messiah yet to come, postpone that subversion of the regal dignity which, in fact, long ago occurred. (207) For we must keep in memory what I have said before, that while Jacob wished to sustain the minds of his descendants until the coming of the Messiah; lest they should faint through the weariness of long delay, he set before them an example in their temporal kingdom: as if he had said, that there was no reason why the Israelites, when the kingdom of David fell, should allow their hope to waver; seeing that no other change should follow, which could answer to the blessing promised by God, until the Redeemer should appear. That the nation was grievously harassed, and was under servile oppression some years before the coming of Christ happened, through the wonderful counsel of God, in order that they might be urged by continual chastisements to wish for redemption. Meanwhile, it was necessary that some collective body of the nation should remain, in which the promise might receive its fulfillment. But now, when, through nearly fifteen centuries, they have been scattered and banished from their country, having no polity, by what pretext can they fancy, from the prophecy of Jacob, that a Redeemer will come to them? Truly, as I would not willingly glory over their calamity; so, unless they, being subdued by it, open their eyes, I freely pronounce that they are worthy to perish a thousand times without remedy. It was also a most suitable method for retaining them in the faith, that the Lord would have the sons of Jacob turn their eyes upon one particular tribe, that they might not seek salvation elsewhere; and that no vague imagination might mislead them. For which end, also, the election of this family is celebrated, when it is frequently compared with, and preferred to Ephraim and the rest, in the Psalms. To us, also, it is not less useful, for the confirmation of our faith, to know that Christ had been not only promised, but that his origin had been pointed out, as with a finger, two thousand years before he appeared. (208)

And unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Here truly he declares that Christ should be a king, not over one people only, but that under his authority various nations shall be gathered, that they might coalesce together. I know, indeed, that the word rendered “gathering” is differently expounded by different commentators; but they who derive it from the root ( קהה,) to make it signify the weakening of the people, rashly and absurdly misapply what is said of the saving dominion of Christ, to the sanguinary pride with which they puffed up. If the word obedience is preferred, (as it is by others,) the sense will remain the same with that which I have followed. For this is the mode in which the gathering together will be effected; namely, that they who before were carried away to different objects of pursuit, will consent together in obedience to one common Head. Now, although Jacob had previously called the tribes about to spring from him by the name of peoples, for the sake of amplification, yet this gathering is of still wider extent. For, whereas he had included the whole body of the nation by their families, when he spoke of the ordinary dominion of Judah, he now extends the boundaries of a new king: as if he would say, “There shall be kings of the tribe of Judah, who shall be preeminent among their brethren, and to whom the sons of the same mother shall bow down: but at length He shall follow in succession, who shall subject other peoples unto himself.” But this, we know, is fulfilled in Christ; to whom was promised the inheritance of the world; under whose yoke the nations are brought; and at whose will they, who before were scattered, are gathered together. Moreover, a memorable testimony is here borne to the vocation of the Gentiles, because they were to be introduced into the joint participation of the covenant, in order that they might become one people with the natural descendants of Abraham, under one Head.

(205) Calvin seems to assent to this interpretation, which is by no means generally accepted. Gesenius renders שילה, tranquillity — “until tranquillity shall come;” but the more approved rendering is “the Peaceable One,” or “the Pacifier.” He who made peace for us, by the sacrifice of Himself. — Ed

(206) Scribam recessurum negat ex pedibus. But in the text, Calvin uses the word Legislator; the French version translates ir Legislateur; and the English translation is lawgiver. It is evident that Calvin had a reason for using the term Scribe; for the orignal מחקק, ( mechokaik,) rather means a scribe or lawyer, than a lawgiver; and rather describes one who aids in the administration of laws, than one who frames them. In this sense, he supposes, and probably with truth, that the term is here applied. The expression “from between his feet,” has been the subject of much criticism; but perhaps no view of it is so satisfactory as that maintained by Calvin. — Ed

(207) Quia nihil hoc cavilla proficiunt Judaei, ad figmentum venturi sui Messiae trahentes vetustum regni excidium. Literally translated, the sense of the passage would not be obvious to the English reader. It is hoped that the true meaning of the passage is given above. The original, however, is given, that the learned reader may form his own judgment. It is well known that modern Jews regard their present depression as a proof that the Messiah has not yet come, and therefore they draw out ( trahentes) or postpone the execution of God’s threatened judgments, which we regard as having taken place under Titus and the Romans, to a period still future. This seems to be Calvin’s meaning. — Ed.

(208) On this passage, which has given so much trouble to commentators, and which Calvin has considered as such length, it may be observed, that the term rendered scepter means also rod, and sometimes is translated tribe; perhaps because each of the twelve tribes had its rod laid up in the tabernacle and temple. Hence it may be inferred that the expression, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah,” means that Judah alone should continue in its integrity, as a tribe, till the coming of the Messiah. This renders it unnecessary to attempt any proof of the retention of regal power and authority in the tribe. See Ainsworth and Bush in loc. The reader may also refer to an elaborate investigation of the subject in Rivetus, Exercitations 178 and 179. — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(10) The sceptre shall not depart from Judah.Heb., a sceptre. The staff, adorned with carvings, and handed down from father to son, soon became the emblem of authority (see Note on Gen. 38:18). It probably indicates here tribal rather than royal rank, and means that Judah would continue, until the time indicated, to be a self-governed and legally-constituted tribe.

Nor a lawgiver from between his feet.Most modern critics translate rulers staff, but lawgiver has the support of all the ancient versions, the Targums paraphrasing it by scribe, and the Syriac in a similar way by expounderi.e., of the law. Rulers, staffs has the parallelism in its favour, but the ancient versions must not be lightly disregarded, and, besides, everywhere else the word means law-giver (see Deu. 33:21; Jdg. 5:14; Isa. 33:22). From between his feet means, from among his descendants. The Targum of Onkelos renders, from his childrens children.

Until Shiloh come.Many modern critics translate, until he come to Shiloh, but this is to be rejected, first, as being contrary to all the ancient versions; and, secondly, as turning sense into nonsense. The town of Shiloh was in the tribe of Ephraim, and we know of no way in which Judah ever went thither. The ark was for a time at Shiloh, but the place lost all importance and sank into utter obscurity after its destruction by the Philistines, long before Judah took the leading part in the commonwealth of Israel.

Shiloh.There are several interpretations of this word, depending upon different ways of spelling it. First, Jerome, in the Vulg., translates it, He who shall be sent. He read, therefore, Shaluch. which differs from the reading in the Hebrew text by omitting the yod, and putting the guttural for h (Heb., ) as the final letter. We have, secondly, Shiloh, the reading of the present Hebrew text. This would mean, Peaceful, or Peace-maker, and agrees with the title given to the Messiah by Isaiah (Gen. 9:6). But, thirdly, all the versions excepting the Vulg. read Sheloh. Thus, the LXX. has, He for whom it is laid up (or, according to other MSS., the things laid up for him.). With the former reading, Aquila and Symmachus agree; with the latter, Theodotion, Epiphanius, and others, showing that Sheloh was the reading in the centuries immediately after the Nativity of our Lord. The Samaritan transcript of the Hebrew text into Samaritan letters reads Sheloh, and the translation into Aramaic treats the word as a proper name, and renders, Until Sheloh come. Onkelos boldly paraphrases, Until Messiah come, whose is the kingdom; and, finally, the Syriac has, Until he come, whose it is. There is thus overwhelming evidence in favour of the reading Sheloh, and to this we must add that Sheloh is the reading even of several Hebrew MSS. We may, in fact, sum up the evidence by saying that the reading Shiloh, even in the Hebrew text, has only modern authority in its favour, and that all ancient authorities are in favour of Sheloh; for even Jerome omits the yod, though he changes the aspirate at the end into a guttural.

Sheloh literally means, Whose it is, and is an Aramaic form, such as that in Gen. 6:3, where we have observed that these Aramaisms are a proof either of extreme antiquity, or of a very late date. We find another in Jdg. 5:7, in the song of Deborah, confessedly a very ancient composition; and the form is quite in its place here in the elevated phraseology of this blessing, and in the mouth of Jacob, who had lived so long in a land where an Aramaic dialect was spoken.

Finally, Ezekiel, Eze. 21:27 (Heb., 32), quotes Jacobs words, using however the Hebrew idiom, Until he come, whose is the right. And St. Paul (Gal. 3:19) refers to it in the words, Until the seed come to whom it is promised, where the latter words seem to be a free rendering of the phrase in the LXX., for whom it is laid up.

The passage has always been regarded as Messianic, not merely by Christians, but by the Jews, all whose ancient writers, including the Talmud, explain the name Shiloh, or Sheloh, of the Messiah. But the Targum of Onkelos would of itself be a sufficient proof, as we have there not the opinions or knowledge of one man, but the traditional explanation of the Pentateuch, handed down orally from the time of Ezra, and committed to writing probably in the first century of the Christian era. The objection has, indeed, been made in modern times that the patriarchs had no Messianic expectations. With those who believe in prophecy such an objection can have no weight; but independently of this, the promise made to Abraham, and solemnly confirmed to Jacob, that in his seed all the kindreds of the earth should be blessed, was pre-eminently Messianic: as was also the name Jehovah; for that name was the embodiment of the promise made to Eve, and beginning with her cry of hope that she had gotten the Coming One, had become by the time of Enoch the symbol of the expectation of mankind that God would appear on earth in human nature to save them.

Unto him shall the gathering of the people be.The word used here is rare, and the translation gathering was a guess of Rashi. Really it means obedience, as is proved by the one other place where it occurs (Pro. 30:17). For people the Heb. has peoples. Not Israel only, the people, but all nations are to obey Him whose is the kingdom. This is the rendering of Onkelos, and him shall the peoples obey; and of the Samaritan Version, and at his hand shall the peoples be led. The LXX., Syriac, and Vulg. agree in rendering, and he shall be the expectation of the nations.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

10. Sceptre shall not depart from Judah “The symbol of tribal authority in Israel, not necessarily the badge of royalty . The token of tribal life and pre-eminence should not depart, but Judah should maintain its life, integrity, and supremacy as a tribe.” Newhall.

Ruler’s staff The word may denote either a ruler or his badge of office and power .

The latter best preserves the harmony of the parallelism. Some read, as the common version, lawgiver. The Septuagint and Vulgate have leader. Targum Onkelos, scribe; Targum Jerusalem, scholars of the law. Syriac, interpreter.

From between his feet Those who render ruler, or lawgiver, naturally explain this expression as a euphemism for posterity issue of his loins. But with the idea of ruler’s staff is associated the custom of Oriental kings, as depicted on the monuments, sitting on the throne with the royal sceptre between their feet.

Until he shall come Shiloh. By translating in this form we leave the grammatical construction as ambiguous as it appears in the Hebrew text. It is equally correct, so far as the mere question of syntax is concerned, to render until Shiloh comes, or until he comes to Shiloh. Three different readings appear in Hebrew MSS., namely, , , and . The Septuagint, Aquila, Symmachus, Syriac, and some of the Targums, seem to have read , as if compounded of , abbreviation of , and or . We have the cognate words and , meaning rest, or peace, and it is not impossible but one of these words was the original reading of our text . The Septuagint and other versions named above render, until that which is his shall come, or, till he come whose it is . The Vulgate reads, “until he comes who is to be sent . ” Others translate Shiloh as an appellative, meaning rest, “until he (Judah) comes to rest, or, “until rest comes . ” The English revisers (of 1885) place until Shiloh come in the text, and till he come to Shiloh in the margin . Many have adopted this last rendering, and understand Shiloh of the town where the tabernacle was set up after the conquest, (Jos 18:1😉 but against this is the decisive objection, that up to that time Judah had no notable pre-eminence . The honourable position assigned to this tribe in the desert march, (Num 2:3,) was by no means an adequate fulfilment of the terms of this oracle; for Moses, the Levite, was commander during all the march, and Joshua, the Ephraimite, succeeded him, and commanded the armies until after the conquest and partition of the land . It also is doubtful if Shiloh existed in Jacob’s time, and it is certain that it never appears in history as having any especial interest for the tribe of Judah, but was situated in the tribe-territory of Ephraim . Far more satisfactory is the ancient interpretation, represented in the Targums and maintained by most Christian expositors, which makes Shiloh a proper name, (meaning resting-place, or rest-giver,) and a designation of the Messiah, who was to spring from the tribe of Judah. Jacob’s prophetic vision opened for the moment into the distant future, and saw the regal position the tribe of Judah was destined to hold at the time when all the tribes should be organized into a kingdom. From the time when royalty was established in Israel by the conquests of David and his settlement upon the throne, the tribe of Judah held a regal pre-eminence, and maintained its distinct tribal character until the coming of Jesus Christ.

It is often alleged against this Messianic interpretation, that after the destruction of the kingdom of Judah by the Chaldeans the exercise of royal power was broken, and that no real Jewish king again reigned in the city of David. The Maccabean leaders were not of the tribe of Judah, and the Herods, who bore the title of kings, were of foreign birth. But, after granting all these allegations, the notable fact remains that the vast majority of those who returned from the Babylonian exile were of the tribe of Judah, and that their body of elders formed a council which virtually represented the sceptre and the ruler’s staff. Notwithstanding their many oppressions, and the occasional interruption of their worship, they were permitted during all those centuries to manage their own affairs, and to constitute a distinct and well-known body politic until finally broken up and scattered by the Romans. The sceptre of Judah was, indeed, during much of this time, of no great weight, but it was not taken away; it did not depart from Judah. The wars of the Maccabees and the government of Herod truly served to maintain and perpetuate (not Joseph, or Dan, or Naphtali but) the power of Judah. As long as the tribe retained its distinct existence and name, even though a foreigner held the sceptre, the spirit of this prophecy was fulfilled. So the Persian monarchy retained its name and power, even while a usurper occupied the throne. No one now questions, that when Christ appeared he sprang from the tribe of Judah.

It deserves special remark that the permanency of the kingdom of Judah and of the royal line of David is one of the marvels of history. While other and greater kingdoms fell, it remained. Revolutions swept over Egypt, and dynasty after dynasty passed away. Phoenicia and Syria, with their varied forms of power and pomp, flourished and decayed. The great Assyrian empire, after oppressing both Judah and Israel, and blotting out the latter, was overthrown, and yet the little kingdom of Judah, with a descendant of David on the throne, maintained its individuality, held its ancient sacred capital, and continued unbroken, resolute, hopeful. And even after its fall under Nebuchadnezzar, and seventy years of bitter exile, and after Babylon, in turn, had fallen and the Persian empire had risen into power, we find the children of Judah returning to their fatherland, rebuilding their temple and city, still led by a scion of the house of Judah. This irrepressible tribe, thus again established in their ancient regal seat, survived the fall of Persia, outlived the triumphs of Alexander and his successors, and maintained its national and political existence through unspeakable troubles and oppressions, until finally dispersed by the Romans in A.D. 70.

Obedience of peoples The Septuagint and Vulgate render, expectation of peoples; others, gathering, or congregation of peoples. But the word occurs elsewhere only at Pro 30:17, where obedience is the only suitable meaning . Here is the first intimation of such Messianic hopes as are more fully outlined in such passages as Isa 2:3; Isa 11:1-10.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Gen 49:10. The sceptre, &c. We shall not attempt to enter into the various expositions which have been given of this celebrated passage, but shall content ourselves with laying before the reader a few of those which appear to us the clearest and most unexceptionable.

I. The sceptre, i.e.. the power of government; law-giver, i.e.. a judge or a person who dispenses law; from between his feet, i.e.. of his posterity, Judah’s posterity, Judah being often taken for the whole race of the Jews: Until Shiloh, i.e.. the Peace-maker, come; and until the gatherings of the nations shall be to him, viz. at the destruction of the Jewish state by Titus, Christ being then come, and the Gentiles converted. See Mat 24:14. Shiloh is derived from Shalah, which word signifies, safety, salvation, peace, happy, fortunate, prosperous, triumphant.

II. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah The word shebet, which we translate, a sceptre, signifies, a rod, or staff of any kind; and particularly the rod or staff which belonged to each tribe as an ensign of their authority; and thence it is transferred to signify, a tribe, as being united under one rod or staff of government, or a ruler of a tribe; and in this sense it is used twice in this very chapter, Mat 24:16. Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes, or rulers, of Israel. It has the same signification in 2Sa 7:7. In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel, spake I a word with any of the tribes, or rulers, of Israel? In the parallel place of Chronicles, it is Judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, why build ye not me an house of cedar? The word does indeed sometimes signify a sceptre, but that is apt to convey an idea of kingly authority, which was not the thing intended here. The LXX translate it, , a ruler, which answers better to a law-giver in the following clause. It could not, with any sort of propriety, be said, that the sceptre should not depart from Judah, when Judah had no sceptre, nor was to have any for many generations afterwards: but Judah had a rod or staff of a tribe, for he was then constituted a tribe; as well as the rest of his brethren. The very same expression occurs in Zec 10:11 and the sceptre of AEgypt shall depart away, which implies that AEgypt had a sceptre, and that that sceptre should be taken away: but no grammar or language could justify the saying, that Judah’s sceptre should depart, or be taken away, before Judah was in possession of any sceptre. Would it not therefore be better to substitute the word staff, or ruler, instead of sceptre, unless we restrain the meaning of sceptre to a rod or staff of a tribe, which is all that is here intended? The staff, or ruler, shall not depart from Judah; such authority as Judah then had, was to remain with his posterity. It is not said or meant, that he should not cease from being a king, or having a kingdom, for he was then no king, and had no kingdom; but only that he should not cease from being a tribe, or body politic, having rulers and governors of his own, till a certain period here foretold.

Nor a law-giver from between his feet The sense of the word sceptre will help us to fix and determine the meaning of the other word mechokek, which we translate a law-giver. For, if they be not synonimous, they are not very different. Such as the government is, such must be the law-giver. The government was only of a single tribe, and the law-giver could be of no more. Nor had the tribe of Judah, at any time, a legislative authority over all the other tribes; no, not even in the reigns of David or Solomon. When David appointed the officers for the service of the temple, (1Ch 25:1; 1Ch 25:31. Ezr 8:20.) and when Solomon was anointed king, and Zadok priest, (1Ch 29:22.) these things were done with the consent and approbation of the princes and rulers of Israel. Indeed. the whole nation had but one law, and one lawgiver, in the strict sense of the word. The king himself was not properly a law-giver; he was only to have a copy of the law, to read therein, and not to turn aside from the commandment, to the right hand or to the left, Deu 17:18; Deu 17:20. Moses was truly, as he is styled, the law-giver, Num 21:18. Deu 33:21. And when the word is applied to any other person, or persons, it is used in a lower signification. For it signifies not only a law-giver, but a judge; not only one who maketh laws, but likewise one who exerciseth jurisdiction. In the Greek it is translated , a leader or president; in the Chaldee, a scribe; in the Syriac, an expositor; and in our English Bible it is elsewhere translated a governor, as in Jdg 5:14 out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer. The law-giver therefore is to be taken in a restrained sense, as well as the sceptre: and perhaps it cannot be translated better than judge; nor a judge from between his feet.* Whether we understand it, that a judge from between his feet, shall not depart from Judah, or a judge shall not depart from between his feet, I conceive the meaning to be much the same, that there should not be wanting a judge of the race or posterity of Judah, according to the Hebrew phrase of children’s coming from between the feet. They who expound it of sitting at the feet of Judah, seem not to have considered that this was the place of scholars, and not of judges, or doctors of the law. As Dan, Jdg 5:16 was to judge his people as one of the tribes or rulers of Israel; so was Judah, and with this particular prerogative, that the staff or ruler should not depart from Judah, nor a judge from between his feet, until Shiloh came.

* Some have supposed, that mechokek signifies primarily a staff or ensign of legislative or judicial authority; and that the phrase from between his feet, alludes to the ancient custom of a judge’s sitting with a staff of authority between his feet, leaning or resting his hand on the top of it, as sitting in judgment, or attending in a court of justice. See PARKHURST on the word.

Until Shiloh come That is, until the coming of the Messiah, as almost all interpreters, both ancient and modern, agree. For howsoever they may explain the word, and whencesoever they may derive it, the Messiah is the person plainly intended. The LXX translate it, until , the things reserved for him come; or, according to other copies , he for whom it is reserved, come: and what was the great treasure reserved for Judah, or who was the person for whom all things were reserved, but the Messiah, whom we hear declaring in the gospel, Mat 11:27 all things are delivered unto me of my Father; and again, ch. Gen 28:18. all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth? The Syriac translates it to the same purpose, he whose it is: I suppose, meaning the kingdom: and the Arabic, whose he is; I suppose, meaning Judah: and whose was Judah, or whose was the kingdom, so properly as the Messiah’s, who is so many times predicted under the character of the king of Israel? Junius and Tremellius, with others, translate it filius ejus, his son; as if it was derived from shil, profluvium sanguinis, or shilejah, secundina, that wherein the infant is wrapped, and thence, by a metonimy, the infant itself. And who could be this son of Judah, by way of eminence, but the Messiah, the Seed in which all the nations of the earth should be blessed? In the Samaritan text and version it is, the peace-maker; and this, perhaps, is the best explication of the word; and to whom can this, or any the like title, be so justly applied, as to the Messiah, who is emphatically styled by Isaiah, ch. Gen 9:6. the Prince of peace; and at whose birth was sung that heavenly anthem, Luk 2:14. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men?

We now proceed to draw the full and exact completion of this part of the prophecy. The twelve sons of Jacob are constituted twelve tribes, or heads of tribes, Luk 2:28. To Judah it was particularly promised, that the sceptre, or rod of the tribe, should not depart from him, nor a judge or law-giver from between his feet: his tribe should continue a distinct tribe, with rulers, and judges, and governors of its own, until the coming of the Messiah. The people of Israel, after this settlement of their government, were reckoned by their tribes, but never before; and the tribe of Judah made as considerable a figure as any of them. When it was promised to Judah particularly, that the sceptre should not depart from him, it was implied that it should depart from the other tribes; and accordingly the tribe of Benjamin became a sort of appendage to the kingdom of Judah; and the other ten tribes were, after a time, carried away captive into Assyria, whence they never returned. The Jews also were carried captive to Babylon, but returned after seventy years; and, during their captivity, they were far from being treated as slaves, as appears from the prophet’s advice to them, Jer 29:5; Jer 29:32. Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them, &c. Many of them were so well fixed and settled at Babylon, and lived there in such ease and affluence, that they refused to return to their native country. In their captivity they were still allowed to live as a distinct people, appointed feasts and fasts for themselves, and had rulers and governors of their own, as we may collect from several places in Ezra and Nehemiah. When Cyrus had issued his proclamation for the rebuilding of the temple, then rose up the chief of the fathers, saith Ezra, Ezr 1:5 so that they had chiefs and rulers among them. Cyrus ordered the vessels of the temple to be delivered to the prince of Judah, Ezr 1:8 so that they had then a prince of Judah; and these princes and rulers, who are often mentioned, managed their return and settlement afterwards. It is true, that, after the Babylonish captivity, they were not so free a people as before, living under the dominion of the Persians, Greeks, and Romans; but still they lived as a distinct people under their own laws. The authority of their rulers and elders subsisted under these foreign masters, as it had even while they were in AEgypt. It subsisted under the Asmonean princes, as it had under the government of the judges, and Samuel and Saul; for, in the book of Maccabees, there is frequent mention of the rulers and elders, and council of the Jews, and of public acts and memorials in their name. It subsisted even in our Saviour’s time; for, in the Gospels, we read often of the chief priests and the scribes, and the elders of the people. Their power indeed in capital causes, especially such as related to the state, was abridged in some measure; they might judge, but not execute, without the consent of the Roman governor, as I think we must infer from Joh 18:31. Then said Pilate unto them, take ye him, and judge him according to your law: the Jews therefore said unto him, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death. The sceptre was then departing, and in about forty years afterwards it totally departed; their city was taken, their temple was destroyed, and they themselves were either slain with the sword or sold for slaves; and, from that time to this, they have never formed one body or society, but have been dispersed among all nations; their tribes and genealogies have been all confounded, and they have lived without a ruler, without a law-giver, and without supreme authority and government in any part of the earth; and this a captivity not for seventy years, but for above seventeen hundred.

And unto him shall the gathering of the people be Or, the obedience of the people, as it is otherwise translated. These words are capable of three different constructions; and each so probable, that it is not easy to say which was certainly intended by the author; or rather, as the different senses perfectly coincide with each other, it is probable that the Holy Spirit intended to include the whole. 1st, The words may relate to Judah, who is the main subject of the prophecy, and of the discourse preceding and following; and by the people we may understand the people of Israel; and then the meaning will be, that the other tribes should be gathered to the tribe of Judah, which sense is approved by Le Clerc and some late commentators. Or, 2nd, They may relate to Shiloh, who is the person mentioned immediately before; and, by the people, we may understand the Gentiles; and then the meaning will be, that the Gentiles should be gathered, and become obedient to the Messiah; which sense is consonant to other texts of Scripture, and is confirmed by the authority of most ancient interpreters; only some of them render it, And he shall be the expectation of the nations. Or, 3rdly, They may still relate to Shiloh, and yet not be considered as a distinct clause, but be joined in construction with the preceding words, until Shiloh come, the word until being common to both parts; and then the sentence will run thus, Until Shiloh come, and to him the gathering, or obedience of the people; that is, until the Messiah come, and until the people or nations be gathered to his obedience; which sense is preferred by the most learned Mr. Mede and some others.

Each of these interpretations may very well be justified by the event; for, if we understand this of Judah, that the other tribes should be gathered to that tribe, it was in some measure fulfilled by the people’s going up so frequently as they did to Jerusalem, which was in the tribe of Judah, in order to obtain justice in difficult cases, and to worship God in his holy temple,

Whither the tribes go up, (saith the Psalmist, Psa 122:4-5.) the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of judgment; the thrones of the house of David. Upon the division of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the tribe of Benjamin, and the priests and Levites, and several out of all the other tribes, (see 2Ch 13:16.) went over to Judah, and were so blended and incorporated together, that they are more than once spoken of under the notion of one tribe, 1Ki 11:13; 1Ki 11:32; 1Ki 11:36. And it is expressly said, 1Ki 12:20 there was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only, the rest being swallowed up in that tribe, and considered as parts and members of it. In like manner, when the Israelites were carried away captive into Assyria, 2Ki 17:18 there was none left but the tribe of Judah only; and yet we know that the tribe of Benjamin, and many out of the other tribes, remained too; but they are reckoned as one and the same tribe with Judah. Nay, at this very time there was a remnant of Israel which escaped from the Assyrians, and went and adhered to Judah; for we find afterwards, that in the reign of Josiah there were some of Manasseh and Ephraim, and of the remnant of Israel, who contributed money to the repairing of the temple, as well as Judah and Benjamin, 2Ch 34:9 and at the solemn celebration of the passover, some of Israel were present, as well as of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. When the people returned from the Babylonish captivity, several of the tribes of Israel associated themselves, and returned with Judah and Benjamin; and in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim and Manasseh, 1Ch 9:3. At so many different times, and upon such different occasions, the other tribes were gathered to this tribe, insomuch that Judah became the general name of the whole nation; and, after the Babylonish captivity, they were no longer called the people of Israel, but the people of Judah, or Jews.

Again; If we understand this of Shiloh or the Messiah, that the people or Gentiles should be gathered to his obedience, it is no more than is foretold in many other prophecies of Scripture. It began to be fulfilled in Cornelius the Centurion, whose conversion, Acts 10. was, as I may say, the first fruits of the Gentiles; and the harvest afterwards was very plenteous. In a few years the Gospel was disseminated, and took root downward, and bore fruit upward in the most considerable parts of the world then known. We ourselves were of the Gentiles, but are now gathered unto Christ.

Lastly; If we join this in construction with the words preceding, until Shiloh come, two events are specified as forerunners of the sceptre’s departing from Judah, the coming of the Messiah, and the gathering of the Gentiles to him; and these together point out with great exactness the precise time of the sceptre’s departure. Now it is certain, that before the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dissolution of the Jewish commonwealth by the Romans, the Messiah was not only come, but great numbers likewise of the Gentiles were converted to him. The very same thing was predicted by our Saviour himself, Mat 24:14. This Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come, the destruction of Jerusalem, and end of the Jewish constitution. The Jews were not to be cut off till the Gentiles were grafted into the church; and in fact we find that the apostles and their companions preached the gospel in all parts of the world then known. Their sound, as St. Paul applies the saying, Rom 10:18 went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. And then the end came. Then an end was put to the Jewish polity in church and state. The government of the tribe of Judah had subsisted, in some form or other, from the death of Jacob to the last destruction of Jerusalem; but then it was utterly broken and ruined; then the sceptre departed, and hath been departed ever since. And now even the distinction of tribes is in a great measure lost among them: they are called Jews; but the tribe of Judah is so far from bearing rule, that they know not for certain which is the tribe of Judah; and all the world is witness, that they exercise dominion nowhere, but live in subjection everywhere. See Bishop Newton.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

DISCOURSE: 60
CHRIST THE TRUE SHILOH

Gen 49:10. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come: and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

THERE was a series of predictions relative to the Messiah from the very beginning of the world; and, as the time for the accomplishment of the prophecies drew near, the predictions concerning him were more particular and minute. About seventeen hundred years before his appearance, the time of his coming was fixed with great accuracy and precision. At the very first moment that the sons of Jacob were made heads of different tribes, it was foretold, that the continuance of Judahs power should extend beyond that of the other tribes, and that the Messiah should arrive before its expiration. In explaining this prophecy we shall of necessity be led to speak of,

I.

The time of his advent

This, according to the text, was to precede the departure of Judahs sceptre
[Judah is here represented as a lion gorged with his prey, and couching in his den with a sceptre between his feet; a sceptre, which none should ever wrest from him, until he should come, whose right it was. The sceptre does not import dominion over the other tribes, but only the same kind of separate and independent jurisdiction which was vested in Dan, and in all the other tribes [Note: 6.]. Nor does the term lawgiver mean a person who should enact laws; but rather, one who should execute and enforce them. Moses was the only lawgiver of the Jews; and even the kings were required to write a copy of his law, and to obey it in all things. Now it was here foretold, that this particular power should remain with Judah after that the other tribes should have been deprived of theirs; and that it should continue vested in persons belonging to that tribe till the Messiah should come. The precise import of the term Shiloh is not certainly known; but it is thought by most to mean, The Peacemaker. All however are agreed that it is a name for the Messiah, whose advent was to precede the dissolution of the Jewish polity.]

The event exactly corresponded with the prediction
[The ten tribes were spoiled of their power when they were carried captive to Assyria. But the tribe of Judah retained both their ecclesiastical and civil polity even in Babylon. If they did not exercise it to the same extent as before, they had by no means wholly lost it. As they had possessed it in Egypt, and retained it the whole time of their Egyptian bondage [Note: Exo 34:31-32.], so they still nominated their chiefs and elders, yea and appointed fasts and feasts, while they were oppressed with the Chaldean yoke [Note: Moses and Aaron were sent to the elders of the people, Exo 3:16; Exo 4:29; and these were heads of houses, Exo 6:14; and rulers of the congregation, Exo 16:22. Compare Num 1:3; Num 1:16. See Sherlocks third Dissertation, pp. 342, 346, 6th edition.]. Their bondage in Babylon was indeed, on the whole, exceeding heavy; but many of them were suffered to build houses and plant gardens, and to live rather as a colony than as slaves [Note: Jer 29:5; Jer 29:7.]. On their return from Babylon, their own chiefs and elders were appointed to superintend the execution of Cyrus decree [Note: Ezr 1:5; Ezr 1:8.] ; and, after that period, they continued to enjoy their privileges till the time of our Lords advent. Soon after that, they were reduced to the state of a Roman province; but still exercised the same powers, only in a more limited manner [Note: Compare Joh 18:3; Joh 18:31.]. But, forty years after the death of Christ, when his Gospel had been fully preached, and people of all nations had been gathered to him, their city and temple were utterly destroyed; and they themselves were dispersed into all lands. From that time their sceptre has utterly departed from them; nor can the smallest vestige of their former power be traced. They are therefore living proofs throughout the whole world that their Messiah is indeed come.]

The time of Christs advent being thus clearly ascertained, let us consider,

II.

The consequences of it

The last clause of the text is by some applied to Judah, to whom the tribe of Benjamin was attached, and the few of the other ten tribes, who returned after their dispersion by the Assyrians, were gathered [Note: 1Ch 9:3.]. But the sense of that clause is both more clear, and infinitely more important, as applied to Shiloh. And, if it be understood, as it may well be, as a further limitation of the time beyond which Judah should not retain this power, it will mark, with most astonishing accuracy, the precise period at which his sceptre was to depart.

But, taking it according to its general acceptation, it declares the calling of the Gentiles to the knowledge of Christ
[The Scriptures speak much upon this glorious subject. Without noticing the innumerable passages that declare Gods intention to convert the Gentiles, we will confine our attention to two or three that speak of it almost in the very same terms as those in the test. Isaiah, representing Christ as standing for an ensign to the people, says, To him shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious [Note: Isa 11:10.]. There was a remarkable prophecy to the same effect unwittingly uttered by Caiaphas the high-priest. While he designed nothing more than to instigate the Jews to destroy Jesus, God overruled his mind to declare that Jesus should die for the whole world, and should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad [Note: Joh 11:52.]. Our Lord himself also, foretelling the same glorious event, said, I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me [Note: Joh 12:32.]. Nor is only the mere circumstance of their conversion declared in the test; the manner also of their coming to him is strongly intimated. They shall be a willing people in the day of Gods power, and as the prophet describes at large, shall fly to him as a cloud, or as doves to their windows [Note: Isa 60:3-8.].]

This part of the prediction also has received, and is daily receiving, its accomplishment
[No sooner had our Lord given up the Ghost, than the centurion, the first fruits of the Gentiles, was led to acknowledge him as the Son of God. Presently, not Judea only, but the whole Roman empire, was filled with those who were gathered unto him. And, at this moment, all who are taught of God come unto him as the one foundation of all their hopes, and the only fountain of all their blessings. There is a period still future, when this prophecy shall be fulfilled in its utmost extent; when all kings shall bow down before him, and all nations shall serve him. Blessed period! may God hasten it in its time! may his Gospel run and be glorified, and his glory fill the whole earth!]

Let us now ADDRESS a few words,
1.

To those who are yet dispersed, and at a distance from the Lord

[We need not here turn our eyes to Jews, but reflect how many are there even in this Christian land, who have no more fellowship with Jesus than if he had never come into the world! But what account will they give to him when they shall stand at his tribunal in the last day? Are not the words of our text a direction, as well as a prophecy? Are they not equivalent to an express command? Has not Christ himself enforced this command by repeated invitations and promises, Look unto me, and be ye saved; Come unto me, and ye shall find rest unto your souls? Has he not even sworn that all shall come to him, or perish for their neglect [Note: Isa 45:22-25.] ? Why then should we not all gather ourselves around him as in the days of his flesh? Why should not the blind, the lame, the leprous, the possessed, come to him for deliverance? Why should not the poor trembling sinner press through the crowd, and touch the hem of his garment? Surely none should find it in vain to come unto him; Virtue should go forth from him to heal them all. O let the prophecy then receive a fresh accomplishment this day; and may God so draw us by his Spirit that we may run after him, and abide with him for ever!]

2.

Those who, through grace, have been gathered to him

[The sceptre is now passed into the hands of Jesus. He is the true lion of the tribe of Judah [Note: Rev 5:5.], to whom all power in heaven and in earth has been committed. What then have ye to fear, who are under his protection? Who shall ever pluck you from his hands [Note: Joh 10:28.] ? When, or to whom shall his sceptre ever be transferred? His mediatorial kingdom will indeed be put down, when there shall be no more occasion for it [Note: 1Co 15:24. This relates to the peculiar mode of administering the affairs of his kingdom as our Mediator.]. But though he will cease to mediate between God and man, his sovereign dominion shall exist to all eternity; Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; of thy kingdom there shall he no end [Note: Isa 9:7; Dan 2:44; Heb 1:8.]. Rejoice then, believers, in your Lord; let the children of Zion be joyful in their king. Cherish his attractive influences: gather yourselves around him yet daily and hourly: spread before him your every want: commune with him on every occasion: consult him; listen to him; obey him: cleave to him with full purpose of heart: so will he keep you steadfast unto the end, and admit you to the richer fruition of his presence in his kingdom above.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

Gen 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him [shall] the gathering of the people [be].

Ver. 10. Until Shiloh come. ] Shiloh is by some expounded, the son of his secundines. a The Hebrew word implies His son, and, Her son; that is, the son of the Virgin, that came of the line Judah. Secundines are proper to women. He therefore, whom Secundines alone brought forth, without help of man, is Christ alone, the promised seed. Others render Shiloh, Tranquillator, Salvator, the Safe maker, the Peace maker, the Prosperer. b This Prince of Peace was born in a time of peace, c not long after that Pompey had subdued Judea to the Roman government, and reduced it into a province. Then was the sceptre newly departed from Judah; and Herod, an Edomite, made king of the country.

And unto him shall the gathering of the people be. ] As unto the standard bearer, Son 5:10 , marg. the carcass, Mat 24:28 the desire of all nations (Hag 2:7 , with Heb 12:25 ). Totus ipse desideria, saith the Church. Son 5:16 And, “When I am lifted up,” saith he, “I will draw all men after me.” Joh 12:32 They follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth; as the hop and the heliotrope do the sun.

a Usque dum venturae erunt secundinae eius, id est, Iudae, ut masculinum genus in Heb. ostendit.

b A themate Shalah, unde Shaluah, tranquillitas; unde Lat. Salvere, Salvus, salvare. – Amama.

c Sub Augusto cuncta atque continua totius generis humani aut pax fuit, aut pactio. – Flor., Hist., lib. iv.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

sceptre. First occ Put by Metonymy (of Adjunct) for Him Who holds it. Septuagint and Targ read “ruler”. See Num 24:17. Psa 45:6. Zec 10:11.

lawgiver. First occurance. Compare Num 21:18. Deu 33:21. Psa 60:7; Psa 108:8. Isa 33:22.

from between his feet = from his posterity. Put by Fig, Euphemy (App-6). Septuagint and Targum of Onkelos read “from his thighs”, i.e. “his seed”. Compare Deu 28:57.

until Shiloh come = until He, Shiloh, comes. So Aq., Sym., Syriac. Note the six Pentateuch titles: “Seed” (Gen 3:15), “Shiloh” (Gen 49:10), “Sceptre” (Gen 49:10), “Shepherd” and “Stone” (Gen 49:24), “Star” (Num 24:17).

gathering. Hebrew. yikhah = obedience, submission (not kabaz, as in Jer 31:10). Note the Structure of this verse (Alternation).

a | The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, a | Until He, Shiloh, come [Whose right it is, Ez. Gen 21:27]

b | Nor a Lawgiver from his seed, b | And [until] to Him, [the Lawgiver, shall be] the obedience of the peoples.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Shiloh

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,

Nor the rulers staff from between his feet,

Until Shiloh come (R.V.m. till he come whose it is);

And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.Gen 49:10.

The passage is obscure and its meaning is still uncertain. But Jews and Christians alike have from very early times regarded it as Messianic. In order to bring out the special Messianic thought which it contains, let us (after glancing at the context) consider the position held in the line of prophecy by the tribe of Judah, let us next examine the meaning and application of the word Shiloh, and then let us see how the thought finds its fulfilment in Christ.

The text occurs in that important and difficult section of Genesis (Gen 49:1-27) which is called the Blessing of Jacob. It is one of the oldest pieces of Hebrew poetry that we possess, and consists of a series of oracles describing the characters and fortunes of the twelve tribes of Israel, as unfolded during the ages of the Judges and under the early monarchy. That it was composed from the first in the name of Jacob appears clearly from internal indications; but that it was actually uttered by the patriarch on his death-bed to his assembled sons is a hypothesis which several considerations combine to render incredible. In the first place, the outlook of the poem is bounded by a particular historical situation, removed by many centuries from the supposed time of utterance. No reason can be imagined why the vista of the future disclosed to Jacob should open during the settlement of the tribes in Canaan, and suddenly close at the reign of David or Solomon; why trivial incidents like the maritime location of Zebulun, or the royal dainties produced by Asher, or even the loss of tribal independence by Issachar, etc., should be dwelt upon to the exclusion of events of far greater national and religious importance, such as the Exodus, the mission of Moses, the leadership of Joshua, or the spiritual prerogatives of the tribe of Levi.

It is obvious that the document as a whole has historic significance only when regarded as a production of the age to which it refers. (1) The analogy of O.T. prophecy, which has been appealed to, furnishes no instance of detailed prevision of a remote future, unrelated to the moral issues of the speakers present. (2) In the next place, the poem is animated by a strong national sentiment such as could not have existed in the lifetime of Jacob, while there is a complete absence of the family feeling which would naturally find expression in the circumstances to which it is assigned, and which, in fact, is very conspicuous in the prose accounts of Jacobs last days. (3) The subjects of the oracles are not Jacobs sons as individuals, but the tribes called by their names. (4) Nor is there any allusion to incidents in the personal history of Jacob and his sons except in the sections on Reuben and on Simeon and Levi, and even there a tribal Interpretation is more natural. (5) Finally, the speaker is not Jacob the individual patriarch, but Jacob as representing the ideal unity of Israel.1 [Note: J. Skinner.]

I

Judah

1. The place allotted to Judah by promise.Let us consider the prophecy on Judah as a whole, and first, irrespectively of the disputed clause (in which the word Shiloh occurs). It forms one of a series of promises which are based upon an evident plan; and if it is to be properly estimated due regard must be given to its place in the series. The promise of an august future is first given to Abraham (Gen 12:2-3): then it is limited to Isaac alone among his sons (Gen 22:17, Gen 26:4): then it is further limited to Jacob (Gen 27:29). In chap. 49, while abundant blessings for both land and people are showered upon Ephraim, Judah is plainly singled out among the tribes as the heir of the supremacy and power promised before to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (compare especially Gen 49:8 and Gen 27:29); his fathers sons bow down to him, and the symbols of authority are retained by him till the period of contest is over, and peace (as described in Gen 49:11) is secured. More than this, he is the leader of the tribes: but if this supremacy be attached to him, then he is the tribe on which the maintenance and future history of the theocracy depend. Thus the prophecy falls into its place in the series: and when, at a later stage of the history, there is promised first (2Sa 7:10-17) the permanence of a particular dynasty, and afterwards (Isa 7:9) a particular ruler of the same dynasty, both belong to the same tribe of Judah here singled out from among the whole group. However we interpret Gen 49:10, then, the prophecy holds its rightful place, and is Messianic in that it promises an ideal future to Judah.1 [Note: S. R. Driver.]

Judea has been not merely a personal but a national force in the arena of the worlds destinies. All nations have taken their part in the grand sum-total of history, but it is Judea that has led the way, both in the understanding and in the shaping of the destinies of the world. Disraeli has boasted that the most popular poet in England is the sweet singer of Israel, and that the Divine image of the most illustrious of the Hebrews has been again raised amid the homage of kneeling millions in the most civilized of the kingdoms of Europe.2 [Note: J. Kelman, Ephemera Eternitatis, 237.]

2. Judah the Royal Tribe.The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the rulers staff from between his feet. Is Judah here represented as possessing, not supremacy or hegemony only, but royalty? In answering this question we must not, of course, read the history into the prophecy; for to what it refers historically is just the matter in dispute. The question is, What image does the passage suggest? Is it the staff of a military leader or the sceptre of a king? It seems to be the latter. (1) It is true that shebet sopher, in Jdg 5:14, may signify a marshals staff, but shebet without any qualification would surely suggest a sceptre. (2) The staff between his feet presents the posture of a king seated on his throne rather than of a commander engaged upon active service. (3) This interpretation is supported by the phrase in Gen 49:8, where, when Josephs brethren hear of the sheaves bowing down to him, they immediately ask, Wilt thou be king over us, or rule over us? It is difficult not to feel that the prophecy anticipates for Judah not hegemony only, but royalty.

3. Judah the Tribe of Jesus Christ.It is evident that our Lord hath sprung out of Judah (Heb 7:14). The whole interest which gathers round this picture of royalty centres, for us, in Christ. Whatever interpretation we put on the word Shiloh, its position and meaning in the text, and how far the original thought of the writer must be connected with the ultimate fulfilment of the prophecy, we shall not go wrong in connecting the Sceptre of Judah with the reign of the Messiah Jesus. We know that the historic Christ of the Gospels, fore-shadowed in the Old Testament, has sprung from the royal historic tribe of Judah. The lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath overcome (Rev 5:5). And he shall reign for ever and ever (Rev 11:15).

II

Shiloh

What is the meaning of the words translated until Shiloh come?

1. The main difficulty of the passage centres round this clause. If Shiloh be a personal name, it must be significant; but it cannot mean peaceful or peace-bringer, which have been sometimes suggested; nor is there any allusion to Shiloh as a title of the Messiah in any other part of the Bible; nor is the word so taken here in any ancient version. The name as a title of the Messiah is first found in a fanciful passage of the Talmud (Sanh. 98b), where the present passage is quoted.

The rendering Until Shiloh come is found in no version earlier than those of the sixteenth century (Seb. Mnster, 1534, and, following him, the Great Bible, 153941, and other English versions).1 [Note: S. R. Driver.]

2. The first margin of the Revised Version till he come to Shiloh is grammatically unexceptionable. It was proposed first in modern times by W. G. Teller in 1766, was adopted by Herder and Ewald, and also by Delitzsch, Dillmann (provisionally; for he thinks that a really satisfactory explanation is not to be found), and Strack, in their Commentaries. In favour of this view Delitzsch urges the great philological difficulty alluded to above, as attaching to the popular explanation of the name Shiloh, and observes that elsewhere in the Old Testament the word denotes regularly the place of that name in the tribe of Ephraim: then, looking at the history, he supposes the reference to be to the assembling of Israel at Shiloh described in Joshua 18, when, the period of wandering and conflict being now over, Judah, it may be supposed, lost the pre-eminence, or tribe-leadership held by it before: the obedience of the peoples was realized primarily in the victories of David, while at the same time it would include that ideal relation of Israel to the heathen, of which the prophets speak more distinctly. Upon this view, as no royalty attached to Judah at this early time, shebet in Gen 49:10 will, of course, denote not a sceptre, but a staff, the symbol of military power, and must be rendered accordingly.

This view is set forth in a specially attractive form by Herder. We see Judah, the honoured of his brethren, victorious after battle, marching in triumphal progress to the national sanctuary (1 Samuel 1-4), and there laying down the emblem of authority in order to enjoy the fruits of peace, while the nations round bow submissive to his sway. It is, however, very doubtful whether it can be sustained; and in spite of the names that can be quoted for it, it has not been viewed with favour by recent scholars. Thus it is historically doubtful whether Judah really enjoyed that early pre-eminence in a united Israel, which this interpretation postulates for it: Judah had no particular connexion with Shiloh (which was in the tribe of Ephraim); and it seems natural to think of shebet in Gen 49:10 as suggesting sovereignty, rather than merely tribal or military pre-eminence.1 [Note: S. R. Driver.]

3. The rendering until that which is his shall come, proposed as the second alternative in the margin of the Revised Version, is grammatically quite legitimate. It is more legitimate, on the whole, than the third alternative, till he come whose it is. But this last rendering seems to give the best sense. The it would refer to the kingdom, and the meaning would be that the government shall not depart from Judah till He comes to whom of right belongs all authority and power. Ezekiel almost certainly is thinking of this early prophecy when in a Messianic passage he says, And thou, O deadly wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel whose day is come thus saith the Lord, Remove the mitre and take off the crown: this shall be no more the same: exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it: this also shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it to him (Eze 21:25-27).

We obtain a prophecy, in flowing, parallelistic rhythm, of that ideal, Messianic king, whom Isaiah saw in prophetic vision, and of whom he said that His rule should be ample (Gen 9:7), and that unto him should the nations seek (Gen 11:10).

Render therefore

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,

Nor the staff (of authority) from between his feet,

Until he come for whom it (i.e. the dominion) is appointed,

And to him be the obedience of peoples,

the meaning of which will be, The dominion granted to Judah shall give place only to a far wider monarchy, viz. that of the Messiah.1 [Note: T. K. Cheyne.]

III

Christ

i. The Coming

1. Now turn from questions of exegesis, with their necessary limitations and Jewish colouring, to the thought of Messianic prophecy and its fulfilment from a purely Christian standpoint. St. Paul says, When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son (Gal 4:4). This is the light in which the New Testament writers view all Old Testament prophecy. It is certain that Gods revelation of His plan was gradual, but how gradual, and when men were first permitted to participate in the unfolding of His plan, it is impossible for us to know. The advent of the Messiah has been compared to the growth of a plant; we cannot discern its beginning, but we can watch it through successive stages until it comes to the perfect bloom. So with the approach to the fulness of the time of which St. Paul speaks. One Anointed One after another succeeded to the throne of Judah, but the long-expected Messiah tarried. And yet through all these darker ages may be traced the growth and development in the unfolding of Gods plan until it reached the full fruition in the Messiah Jesus. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. But He came unto His own and His own received Him not.

For as warm love falls wholly unperceived

Into our hearts

Amid the careless riot of our days,

So came He then.

And at the sweetness of His infant smile

The hallowd earth

Thro all her being thrilled with pulse of spring.

Each little bulb

Hid in the dark recesses of her heart,

And evry seed

And root, felt it and trembled, and they said,

Now is He come

That knows and loves us all. And on fields,

And on the hills

Around, there shone the glory of the Lord;

And no one knew.1 [Note: Ruth R. Chadwick.]

2. Do we say that there is a great leap between the teaching of the Old Testament and that of the New? Perhaps this is true, but the leap is not unprepared for. No one can read the Book of Wisdom without being struck with the many points of similarity between its teaching and the theology of the Apostle Paul. There can be little doubt that it was one of the most important sources from which he drew the materials out of which he constructed his philosophy of the Christian religion. In this book there is a wonderful passage about the Divine Word which, though figurative in language, and set in the midst of Jewish thought, seems to transport us into Christian Theology and the language of St. John. It bridges the gulf between the Old Testament and the New: For while peaceful silence enwrapped all things, and night in her own swiftness was in mid course, thine all-powerful Word leaped down from heaven out of the royal throne (Wis 18:14-15).

The sun sets on the 24th of December on the low roofs of Bethlehem, and gleams with wan gold on the steep of its stony ridge. The stars come out one by one. Time itself, as if sentient, seems to get eager, as though the hand of its angel shook as it draws on towards midnight. Bethlehem is at that moment the veritable centre of Gods creation. How silently the stars drift down the steep of the midnight sky! Yet a few moments, and the Eternal Word will come.1 [Note: F. W. Faber.]

Like silver lamps in a distant shrine,

The stars are sparkling bright;

The bells of the city of God ring out,

For the Son of Mary was born to-night;

The gloom is past, and the morn at last

Is coming with orient light.

Never fell melodies half so sweet

As those which are filling the skies;

And never a palace shone half so fair

As the manger bed where our Saviour lies;

No night in the year is half so dear

As this which has ended our sighs.

ii. The Purpose of the Coming

The ultimate purpose of His coming is expressed by St. Paul in two sentences, one of which is found in the Epistle to the Ephesians, the other in the companion Epistle to the Colossians.

1. It is Gods purpose, says the Apostle, to gather together in one all things in Christ (Eph 1:10). This corresponds with the Authorized translation of our text: Unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Christ is the centre. God will exalt Him. The world may despise Him. In Psalms 62 we read, They only consult to cast him down; and in Psalms 2, The kings of the earth and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Anointed. But Jehovah has said, My purpose shall stand, and I will fulfil all my pleasure. Though earth and hell conspire to prevent it, Unto himthe Christ of Godshall the gathering of the people be.

This is a gathering together of scattered things, sundered things, things which ought to be living in fruitful harmony, but which are rioting in alienation and revolt. It is the gathering together of distracted and wasteful members round about the governance of a common head. It implies the ending of a riotous independence, and of sluggish and selfish apathy, and a welding together of many members into a blessed and prosperous unity. How is the gathering together effected? Let me illustrate. You take a handful of steel filings and scatter them over the surface of a sheet of paper. There they lie, severed and apart, each one by itself, having no communion with the others. Now take a strong magnet and draw it beneath the under surface of the paper. What happens? Each of the steel filings stands erect, and the whole company moves across the page in orderly and co-operative movement. Each item was first of all pervaded by the common power of the magnet, and then in the strength of the common pervasion all the items moved in fellowship.1 [Note: J. H. Jowett.]

It is most essential to heaven, that the material universe should be brought into perfect harmony with it; and it is just as essential to the peace and glory of the material universe that it should become harmonious with heaven. Neither can be complete without the other. As it is in heaven, so on earth. Is not this sweet equilibrium between the material and the spiritual, and between both and God, precisely the mystery of His will which from everlasting he purposed in himself?2 [Note: J. Pulsford.]

2. The second sentence is found in Col 1:18, That in all things he might have the pre-eminence. This corresponds with the translation of our text which has been adopted in the foregoing exposition: Until he shall come whose it (the kingdom or dominion) is. Our lives are failures if we give not Christ the first place. He is the beginning and the ending. If we fail to exalt Him and give Him the pre-eminence, work must be barren, souls must be famished, all must come to naught; if we are not one with God in this great purpose, we must be defeated. But oh, how blessed when, by the gracious leading of the Holy Ghost, we are in communion, in sympathy with the Father, and we let Him whom He will exalt take the first place.

Christ is King and Lawgiver. To Him all government rightly belongs. He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet. He came once in humility and weakness; He will come again with power and great glory. He is gone away, like the king in His own parable, to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. The blessing of God rests on the nation or family in which Jesus Christ reigns supreme. If His empire is established in a family, then nothing else matters; no trials or bereavements or losses are of any real importance if we can truly say, Jesus Christ is the real Master in this house. And what is true of the family is true of the individual soul. If Christ is reigning in the soul, nothing else matters; so the practical question for each of us is just this, Does Jesus Christ reign in my heart? If Christ were to come again this month, this week, or this very day, whom would He find occupying the throne of my heart? Would He find every thought brought under His obedience? If we cannot say as much as this, can we truly say that we are aiming at this ideal, that we are struggling towards it, that we are beating back pride and worldliness and lust, and striving to keep our imagination and thoughts in check, owning as His loyal subjects the empire of Jesus Christ in the soul?1 [Note: B. W. Randolph.]

Brownings conception of Christs supremacy does not rest on any morality He may have possessed or taught, though

Morality to the uttermost,

Supreme in Christ we all confess,

but upon His own person, as He Himself claimed.

Does the precept run, Believe in good,

In justice, truth, now understood

For the first time?or, Believe in me

Who lived and died, yet essentially

Am Lord of Life?

And this carries with it the faith that the Gospel brings to man, not merely

A motive and injunction

For practising what we know already,

but

A new truth; no conviction gains

Of an old one only, made intense,

By a fresh appeal to his faded sense.

iii. The Consummation of the Kingdom

1. Though Christ reigns a King for ever, we have still to look forward to the time when all shall own His universal sway. Weep not, said one of the Elders to St. John, behold the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah hath overcome. In Genesis we read, Judah is a lions whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up. And how does this describe the Saviourthat Lion of the tribe of Judahthat strong and mighty Lion who entered into conflict with the lion of the pit and overcame him? From the prey He has gone up again, up into His glory, gone up beyond the stars, up to the Right Hand of the Infinite Majesty, there to sit in perpetual peaceful triumph. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, as an old lion. The lion may have been an emblem that befitted the son of Jesse. The lion couchant might have been fitly chosen for his heraldic device, when the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and of Saul. Yet with how much more propriety may this emblem be emblazoned on the arms of Prince Emmanuel! Did He not stoop down? Was ever such a stoop as His? Let Him be crowned with majesty who bowed His head to death. It is for this that He deserves to conquer, because He was willing to submit to shame and death itself for the sake of His people. How glorious it is to think that He has gone up, seeing that He once came down!

2. What are the ideas associated with this title, Lion of the tribe of Judah? Chiefly these two(1) Personal strength and courage, and (2) Deliverance.

(1) Take, first, the idea of personal strength and courage. You may search the annals of bravery through, and you will find no bravery comparable to that of Jesus Christ. Our Lords gentleness was not weakness, and His love was not effeminacy. Beneath the gentleness and the lovenay, in it, there was a courage the like of which the world has never seen. And our Lords courage displays itself most gloriously in the fact that He faced the Cross.

(2) And the other idea associated with the name Lion of the tribe of Judah is that of deliverance. That is perhaps the principal idea suggested by the title. The Lion of the tribe of Judah was to be a great Liberator, a great Emancipator. And though perhaps the Jews of our Lords day did not realize it, all the prophets predictions as to the liberating and emancipating side of Messiahs work were fulfilled in the Lamb slain. The Lamb slain was the Lion who delivered. Only it was a better and fuller deliverance than the Jews had expected. For the deliverance the Jew expected was merely a national and political deliverance. The emancipation he looked for was emancipation from the foreign yoke. But, as a matter of fact, the Jew suffered from a far more awful bondage than the bondage of Rome. He was in bondage to sin. Yes, and not he only, but all the wide world, lay groaning beneath this terrible burden of sin. And it was from this far more grievous burden and from this far more galling bondage that Jesus came to deliver men. You remember that it was as a Deliverer that He was announced. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, said the angel to Joseph, for it is he that shall save his people from their sins.

The Lion and the Lamb. This illustrates more than the contrast between the Christ of Jewish expectation and the Christ of history; it illustrates the contrast between Jewish expectation and the Divine purpose. The Jews looked to see power and force, whereby all their foes should be destroyed, and instead of that they saw gentleness and tenderness and sacrificial love. Their method of realizing the kingdom was, shall I say, the mailed fist; Gods method of realizing the kingdom was by the sacrifice of the Cross. While the whole nation was on the alert, waiting for some voice to announce the advent of the Deliverer and to say, Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the voice of John the Baptist fell upon their ears with quite a different announcement. Behold, he said, the Lamb of Godthe Lamb of Gods own providing. It was not Gods purpose to subdue the world by force; it was His purpose to win it by love.1 [Note: J. D. Jones.]

Both guns and swords are strong, no doubt,

And so are tongue and pen,

And so are sheaves of good bank-notes

To sway the souls of men.

But guns and swords, and gold and thought.

Though mighty in their sphere,

Are sometimes feebler than a smile,

And poorer than a tear.

Literature

Blackwood (A.), Conference Memories, 51.

Harrison (B.), Patiently Waiting, 79.

Plumptre (E. H.), Biblical Studies, 36.

Randolph (B. W.), Christ in the Old Testament, 29.

Robertson (F. W.), Notes on Genesis, 175.

Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xx. No. 1157.

Stanford (C.), Symbols of Christ, 35.

Tait (A. J.). Christ and the Nations, 30.

Thorne (H.), Bible Readings on the Book of Genesis, ii. 269.

Great Sermons of the Great Preachers, 385 (Erskine).

Journal of Philology, xiv. No. 27 (Driver).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

sceptre: Num 24:17, Psa 60:7, Jer 30:21, Hos 11:12, Eze 19:11, Eze 19:14, Zec 10:11

lawgiver: Num 21:18, Psa 60:7, Psa 108:8, Isa 33:22

between: Deu 28:57

until: Isa 9:6, Isa 11:1-5, Isa 62:11, Jer 23:5, Jer 23:6, Eze 21:27, Dan 9:25, Mat 1:21, Mat 17:5, Mat 21:9, Luk 1:32, Luk 1:33, Joh 9:7, Joh 18:31, Joh 19:12, Joh 19:15

the gathering: Psa 72:8-11, Isa 2:2, Isa 11:10, Isa 11:12, Isa 11:13, Isa 42:1, Isa 42:3, Isa 42:4, Isa 49:6, Isa 49:7, Isa 49:22, Isa 49:23, Isa 55:4, Isa 55:5, Isa 60:1, Isa 60:3-5, Eze 21:27, Hag 2:7, Zec 2:11, Zec 8:20-23, Mat 25:32, Luk 1:32, Luk 1:33, Luk 2:30-32, Joh 12:32, Rom 15:12, 2Co 5:10, Heb 7:14, Rev 11:15

Reciprocal: Num 7:12 – General Num 17:2 – twelve rods Num 24:19 – Of Jacob Jos 19:51 – in Shiloh 2Sa 7:16 – General 2Sa 19:40 – all the people 1Ch 1:43 – the kings 1Ch 5:2 – the chief ruler 2Ch 9:18 – two lions Job 27:19 – gathered Psa 47:9 – The princes Psa 102:22 – General Son 6:13 – Shulamite Isa 28:16 – Behold Isa 45:24 – even Isa 46:10 – the end Isa 54:3 – thou shalt Isa 56:8 – Yet Jer 33:14 – General Jer 33:26 – will I Eze 17:23 – under Eze 37:22 – and one Dan 2:44 – set up Hos 3:4 – without a king Hos 10:3 – We have Mic 4:1 – and people Mic 5:2 – that is Zec 14:9 – the Lord Mat 2:1 – Herod Mat 2:6 – a Governor Mat 8:11 – That Mat 11:3 – Art Mat 12:30 – gathereth Mat 13:2 – great Mat 18:20 – two Mat 21:5 – thy King Mar 13:27 – shall gather Luk 1:70 – which Luk 2:11 – which Luk 3:1 – Pontius Pilate Luk 7:19 – Art Luk 24:27 – beginning Luk 24:44 – in the law Joh 1:45 – of whom Joh 4:22 – for Joh 4:41 – many Joh 5:46 – for Joh 6:14 – This Joh 10:16 – other Joh 11:52 – gather Joh 15:1 – vine Act 1:6 – restore Act 4:4 – the number Act 10:11 – and a Act 11:1 – the Gentiles Act 13:32 – how Act 13:44 – came Act 15:17 – the residue Act 26:6 – the promise Rom 4:13 – For the Rom 9:5 – of whom Rom 9:24 – not of the Jews 2Co 1:20 – all Gal 3:8 – In Gal 3:16 – to Gal 4:4 – the fulness Eph 1:10 – he 2Th 2:1 – and by Heb 9:11 – Christ Heb 11:13 – but 1Pe 1:10 – which 1Pe 1:11 – the glory Rev 5:5 – the Lion Rev 7:9 – a great

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Gen 49:10. The sceptre The dominion or government, which is expressed by this word, because it was an ensign of government. It is true, the word , shebet, here used, also signifies a rod, or staff of any kind, and particularly the rod or staff which belonged to each tribe, as an ensign of its authority, whence it is transferred to signify tribe, as being united under one rod or staff of government. It seems evident, however, from what has been observed on Gen 49:8, that dominion, or authority, is also and especially here intended. But it is asked, How could it be said with propriety, the dominion, or authority, shall not depart from Judah, when Judah had none? To this it must be answered, that Jacob had just foretold that his fathers children should bow down to Judah, and that he, therefore, should have this authority or dominion. After which, it is predicted that it should not depart till Shiloh came. Nor a lawgiver from between his feet The word , mechokek, here rendered lawgiver, means also ruler, or judge, and the prophecy certainly implies, not only that, while the other tribes should be captivated, dispersed, and confounded with each other, the tribe of Judah should be kept entire until Christ came; but that rulers and magistrates, descended from Judah, or called by his name, should succeed each other at least for a time, and that both the civil and ecclesiastical power should continue till Shiloh should come, and then should be taken away, or rather should devolve on him. Now, as it will readily be acknowledged that the authority remained with Judah till the captivity, so it must be observed, that even in Babylon, the Jews appear to have been under a kind of internal government, exercised by the family of David. And after their return from Babylon, Zerubbabel, of Davids race, was their leader; and the tribe of Judah, and those who were incorporated with them, had regular magistrates and rulers from among themselves, under the kings of Persia and Syria, and afterward under the Romans. The great council of the Jews, termed the Sanhedrim, constituted chiefly of the tribe of Judah, and the other courts dependant on it, possessed great authority till the coming of Christ, according to the concurrent testimony of ancient writers. The tribe of Judah was likewise preserved distinct, and could trace back its genealogies without difficulty. So that, in all respects, the sceptre, though gradually enfeebled, did not depart: nor was the regular exercise of legislative and judicial authority, though interrupted, finally suspended till after that event. Scott. Till Shiloh come It is not perfectly agreed among the learned what is the precise meaning of the word. But it is pretty certain, according to its derivation, it either signifies he that is sent, or, the seed, or, the peaceable and prosperous one. And that the Messiah is intended, Jews as well as Christians generally acknowledge; the word being expounded of him by all the three Chaldee paraphrasts, the Jewish Talmud, and many of the latter Jews also. Till he came Judah or Judea possessed considerable authority and power, but at or about the time of his birth, it became a province of the Roman empire, and was enrolled and taxed as such, Luk 2:1; and at the time of his death the Jews themselves expressly owned, We have no king but Cesar.

Hence it is undeniably inferred against the Jews, that our Lord Jesus is He that should come, and that we are to look for no other; for he came exactly at the time appointed. Unto him shall the gathering of the people be After he came, and the sceptre was departed from Judah, the gathering both of Jews and Gentiles was to him, as to their King and Saviour. The pale of the church was enlarged, the partition between the Jews and Gentiles broken down, and the converted Gentiles, along with the converted Jews, became his subjects and worshippers. He became the desire of different nations, Hag 2:7, and being lifted up from the earth, drew myriads unto him, Joh 12:32, and the children of God that were scattered abroad met in him as their centre of unity. This was the case, in a great degree, for many centuries, and we are taught to believe that it shall be the case more and more till the earth shall be filled with his glory; for of the increase of his government, as well as peace, shall be no end. The fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, and then ungodliness shall be turned away from Jacob, and all Israel shall be saved. And when he shall come in his glory, all nations shall be gathered unto him, and at last the innumerable multitudes of the redeemed shall be gathered into his everlasting kingdom.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until {i} Shiloh come; and unto him [shall] the gathering of the people [be].

(i) Which is Christ the Messiah, the giver of prosperity who will call the Gentiles to salvation.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes