793. GEN 49:10. THE PROMISED SHILOH

Gen_49:10. The Promised Shiloh

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."’97Gen_49:10.

Our text is one of the predictions of the dying Jacob. It is evidently a prophecy concerning the promised Messiah. It is a prophecy which has greatly perplexed the Jews; and in some cases has led them to believe that Christ was he who should come; and in embracing him they have not looked for another. Perhaps there is no part of the Old Testament scriptures which they find so difficult to reconcile with their unbelief in Jesus as this. As a very graphic and explicit prophecy of the Redeemer, it stands forth to the Christian as one of those solid proofs of the authority and divinity of our holy religion; 1700 years before the Saviour’s incarnation was that event so fully and yet minutely declared. Thus did holy men. inspired by the Holy Ghost, testify of Jesus, of the work he should accomplish, and the glory which should follow. Let us consider the title, the appearing, and the work of the Messiah, as exhibited in the text.

I. The title of the Saviour.

He is here predicted of as the Shiloh. The term appears to have a threefold signification. It is interpreted to mean,

1. A messenger, or one who is sent. Now Jesus was the sent of the Father’97 the messenger of God’s love and mercy to our lost world. "For this we know, and testify, that the Father sent the Son," &c. Christ also particularly refers to his own character as the sent of the Father, in the following scriptures: "This is the will of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent," Joh_6:29; "For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me," Joh_6:38. See also Joh_6:57, ch. Joh_7:16; Joh_28:9-33. Now, as the messenger, or sent of God, he covenanted with the Father for the redemption of the world. In the fulness of time God sent him forth, &c. Then he was anointed to the great work by the descent of the Holy Ghost. Afterwards he entered on his public ministry by saying, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me," &c., Luk_4:18. Shiloh signifies,

2. Peace-maker.

This strikingly agrees with the prophecy of Isaiah, "Prince of peace." And with the song of angels, "Peace on earth," &c. Earth had rebelled against heaven; man against his God. Sin exposed our guilty race to the wrath of Deity. Jesus came to set up an honorable system of mediation. He undertook to render perfect satisfaction to the insulted justice and holiness of God; "to magnify the law," &c., Eph_2:13; Col_1:20. Through him all believers have peace with God. The gospel of peace is freely procured, and a spiritual empire of peace and holiness set up in our world. Shiloh also signifies,

3. Prosperous Saviour.

He was the sent of God to be the Saviour. He became a Saviour through making peace for us. But as a Saviour he is to be prosperous. As such, he possesses every qualification for saving souls. "He is mighty to save." "He can save to the uttermost," &c. As a Saviour, the covenant, too, ran thus:’97"He shall see his seed, he shall prolong his clays, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands." His kingdom is to be an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion forever and ever. His reign of mercy is to be universal,’97to encompass evcry nation, people, and tongue. "Until the kingdoms of this world," &c. His arm of subjugating grace he will make bare in the sight of all nations; and the people shall praise him forever and ever. Does not every pious heart exclaim,

"O Jesus, ride on till all are subdued,

Thy kingdom make known, and sprinkle thy blood,

Display thy salvation, and teach the new song,

To every nation, and people, and tongue."

II. To the appearing of the Messiah.

"Until Shiloh come." This "Sent of God,"’97this blessed peace-maker, and prosperous Saviour, was to come. Our world was to be the scene of his wondrous works and glorious achievements.

In the coming of the Shiloh two things are especially to be observed.

1. He was to be of the tribe of Judah. Hence this is specified in the genealogy of Christ, as given by both Matthew and Lake. But,

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

Now, observe, authority and power are especially predicted in reference to this tribe, Col_1:8. As the priestly office pertained to the tribe of Levi, so the royal line was that of Judah. Now, it is very remarkable that legislative power and authority pertained to the Jews until the appearing of the Saviour. In the time of Augustus, the Roman emperor, they became a conquered nation, and afterwards a Roman province. The Jewish senate were struggling for their departing power at the time of Christ’s birth; and in the twelfth year of the life of Christ, a Roman procurator was appointed, and the power of life and death was taken out of their hands. We see that the Jewish sanhedrim had not power to put Christ to death. Forty years after the death of God’s Son the city was seized, the temple razed, and the people scattered; and never since have the Jews possessed legislative power and authority in any nation under heaven. How manifest, then, that either the prophecy of Jacob was false, or that the Shiloh must have truly appeared. Now, notice,

III. The work of the Messiah.

"Unto him shall the gathering of the people be." There is a very striking passage in the Epistle to the Ephesians, ch. Col_1:10. Now, by the people we are probably to understand the Gentile nations, as they are often thus designated. Messiah’s administrations were to extend to the people who sat in darkness, and in the region of the shadow of death. Or, perhaps, by the people, mankind in general, without distinction as to Jew or Gentile, were to be collected by the promulgation of the gospel of Christ. Now this was strikingly ratified in the setting up of the administration of Christ’s spiritual kingdom. His death was to be the great moral attractor. "If I be lifted up," &c. Thus Peter lifted him up on the day of Pentecost, and drew 3,000 Jews to his standard. Afterwards the apostles went forth everywhere through the then known world, and gathered out of all nations a people to the Redeemer’s praise. So in every age, wherever the gospel has been preached, souls have been gathered to Christ. So it is now’97the heralds of mercy have gone forth into all the accessible lands of our world, expressly to gather men to Christ. 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; and,

(5.) To his glorious kingdom as the trophies of his grace, to shine forth in the lustre of purity and blessedness forever and ever.

Conclusion

Learn,

1. The true character of the Lord Jesus. He is the promised Shiloh. His name, and work, and glory, are peculiarly his own. He claims the homage, and the praise, and the love of our redeemed race.

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

Salvation is being gathered to him, as wandering sheep brought to his fold,’97as outcasts, &c., brought nigh. O sinner, let his arms of love embrace thee.

"Fly, sinner, fly into those arms

Of everlasting love."

3. The full accomplishment of the text is yet to come.

His scattered people are to be collected. He is to set up his kingdom from the rivers, &c. "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel," &c.

Autor: JABEZ BURNS