In Genesis 49 Jacob blesses his twelve sons and, although some of his blessing appear more like curses, our focus for this puzzle will be on Judah’s blessing; a prophetic blessing.
Judah’s Blessing in Genesis 49:8-12.
Judah, your brothers will praise you;
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
your father's sons will bow down before you.
Judah is a lion's cub.
You have gone up from the prey, my son,
He stooped down, crouched as a lion,
as a lioness, who dares rouse him?
The sceptre will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
until Shiloh comes,
to him belongs the obedience of the people.
Binding his foal to the vine
and his donkey's colt to the choice vine,
he has washed his garments in wine
and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth whiter than milk.
Why Judah and not Joseph, the prime minister of Egypt and the brother who saved Jacob and his entire family from the famine? Why not Reuben, the eldest son? Why Judah?
Why did Judah get the Sceptre?
Clue 1. The crucial difference between Reuben and Judah.
Jacob had sent his sons to buy grain in Egypt and, in a ruse, has held Simeon as a hostage until they bring Benjamin to Egypt. When Jacob instructs his sons to go back to Egypt a second time, they are reluctant to leave without Benjamin.
Read Reuben’s response in Genesis 42:36-38.
And Jacob said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me.”
Then Reuben said to his father, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”
But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down with you. His brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey, you would bring my gray hairs to the grave with sorrow."
Now read Judah’s response in Genesis 43:7-10
They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”
Then Judah said, “Send the boy with me, and we will go, so that we may live and not die. I will stand surety for his safety; if I do not bring him back to you I will bear the blame forever. If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.”
Jacob agrees and allows Benjamin to return to Egypt with his brothers (Genesis 43:11-14).
Clue 2. Joseph demands to hold Benjamin as his servant.
In chapter 44 Joseph sets another trap for his brothers and demands to hold Benjamin as his slave while the other brothers go free.
In Genesis 44:30-34, Judah steps up and pleads to take Benjamin’s place.
My father’s life is bound up in the boy's life. As soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will have caused his grey head to go to the grave in grief.
Your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my life.’ Therefore, please allow your servant to remain in place of the boy, and let him go back with his brothers.
How can I go back to my father without the boy? I fear to see the anguish it would cause my father.”
Who is Shiloh?
The sceptre will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
until Shiloh comes,
to him belongs the obedience of the people.
Judah has been entrusted with the sceptre until the one to whom it belongs comes to claim it and, with it, the obedience of all people on earth.
Solve the clues and you will work out who Shiloh is.
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