[Read Genesis 49:8-12]
I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the exile lately. Mostly because my devotions have been going through the Psalms right now and a bunch of the Psalms I’ve read lately have been Israel’s response to the exile. One famous Psalm during the exile reads, “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!” (Psalm 137:1–5, ESV). There’s this darkness that hangs over them, isn’t there? A longing to return to Jerusalem, to their homeland, but to be clearer they wanted to return to the presence of God. They felt like God was far away and distant. They wondered if God had forgotten them. They wondered if God had actively turned his back on them. They wondered if God would be angry with them forever. They said they couldn’t even sing a song because they were so trapped in darkness.
The season of Advent is designed to be a season of longing. Just this week, I was talking with a group of people and they were talking about how they are sick and tired of it being dark by 4pm and were longing for this week when the days will slowly begin to get longer—when light will slowly begin to break into our darkness. It’s a natural season of longing.
Yet, we’re also in our own version of exile. People are constantly looking around at the chaos and struggles of the world and asking, “Has God forgotten us?” It’s a mess out there—it feels like the world is in deep darkness at times—and there are moments when we want to sit and weep because we don’t know what to do. Much like the Psalm I read at the beginning, I’ve heard people say, “How in the world can I sing some of these Christmas songs right now? How can I sing Joy to the World? Do you want me to pretend like everything is hunky-dory or fine?” We’re all longing for something. The question is: How do we find hope in the midst of our longing? Where do we find light in the midst of our darkness?
Here’s the quick answer to those questions: The Promises of God. That’s where we find hope and light in the midst of darkness and longing. We look to and grab hold of The Promises of God. In this morning’s passage, we’re going to look at some of those promises of God—promises that helped give God’s people hope in the midst of deep, deep darkness.
It’s important to know that these blessings from Jacob over his sons are not limited to his sons. They have a much wider application. It was understood that Jacob was saying a blessing over each of his sons AND their children and their children’s children and so on, which means that these blessings are over each tribe in Israel.
When he gets to Judah, things get really interesting. We read, “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you.” (Genesis 49:8, ESV). As we’ve seen throughout the story of Judah’s life, this is significant. Judah’s life has been painted as being very wicked and foolish for very long portions of time. Yet, as we talked about last week, he had a turning point with Tamar when confronted with his own sin and wickedness. He repented and it changed the course of his life. We watched Judah slowly step into the leadership role and take responsibility for the family. We watched how that leadership and responsibility brought him to the position of offering to lay his life down for his father and his brother. Now, we see him being given the preeminent leadership role in the family. We’re told that “all his father’s sons” will bow before him—every tribe of Israel will bow before Judah.
That’s an interesting turn of events since it was Joseph’s dream that caused some problems in the family. Remember, Joseph had dreamt that his brothers would bow before him. That ticked his brothers off, leading to Judah’s plan to sell Joseph into slavery. Eventually, the brother did bow before Joseph in Egypt. However, from this point on, the brothers would bow to Judah as the leader.
Now, it’s important to know that things weren’t so cut and dry in this situation. Judah is set as the leader of the family, HOWEVER, he is not given the inheritance of the firstborn, that goes to Joseph. A summary of this is given in 1 Chronicles: “The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel, so that he could not be enrolled as the oldest son; though Judah became strong among his brothers and a chief came from him, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph),” (1 Chronicles 5:1–2, ESV). So, Joseph receives the inheritance of the firstborn, but Judah receives the leadership and becomes chief among the brothers.
Not only will Judah be the leader of his brothers, but kings will come from the line of Judah: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” (Genesis 49:10, ESV). The image of the scepter is one of royalty and power and authority and strength. And we’re told that the ruler’s staff will not depart from between his feet—which is a euphemism for his loins. Another way of saying this is that the line of Judah—the children and grandchildren for generations that come from Judah—will produce kings and that kingliness will not depart from them until all people recognize their kingship and are brought into obedience to their kingdom. So, not only will all of his brothers bow down to him and praise him, but so will the rest of the people on the earth.
Judah’s kingdom will be great. We’re told: “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.” (Genesis 49:11–12, ESV). Every part of this passage is meant to show us royalty and abundant prosperity. The donkey was the typical mount of royalty at the time. Yet, nobody ever tied their donkey to their best vines in the vineyard because the donkey would either destroy the vines or eat them. So, the only reason someone would ever tie a donkey to their best vines was because they had so many of them that it didn’t matter. The same thing applies to the part about washing garments and robes in wine. It’s a picture that the wine of that kingdom is so abundant that they use it to wash their clothes. And he will be beautiful—that’s what the dark eyes and white teeth are getting at. So, the kingdom of Judah will be filled with beautiful people and power and authority and abundance. One commentator says, “Throughout the OT, the golden age of future blessing is associated with bumper harvests, including grapes. It seems likely that this passage was the source of these pictures of the messianic age.” (Wenham, 479).
One of the most well-known images given in this blessing is that Judah would be a lion: “Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?” (Genesis 49:9, ESV). Notice that he’s actually described as a lion’s cub, then a lion, then a lioness. Some have tried to use this to describe the different ages of Judah’s tribe: the infant season, the mature season, then the old lioness season. I think it’s a stretch. I just think that the image is about the totality of being a lion. He will not just represent the lion cub, nor the lion, nor the lioness, but all of them together. As you go through Scripture, looking at the way lions are described, you get a clear picture of what is meant here. Anyone who is compared to a lion is someone who is strong and courageous and brave—unafraid. People and voices are said to roar like a lion in ways that cause fear and trembling in people. Repeatedly, lions are referenced as being fierce and violent, tearing people apart. This is all used to describe the tribe of Judah. John Calvin says, “Judah would be formidable to his enemies.” (Calvin, 451). That fits with what was said about Judah earlier that, “Judah…your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies…” (Genesis 49:8, ESV).
This entire image is of a tribe that will be a conquering king and kingdom. They will defeat their enemies. They will be like a lion after it has killed its prey, drags it back to its lair, then eats it, daring anyone to mess with them—almost saying, if you mess with me, you will become like this thing I’m eating. They will overcome and conquer and dare the nations to attack them. Many will see David’s militaristic victories as the fulfillment of this prophecy.
These are beautiful, powerful promises of God to this tribe and nation. Yet, where were these promises when they sat in exile in Babylon? Where was the conquering lion now? Where was the rejoicing over his enemies now? Where was the strong and mighty tribe now? Where were God’s promises now? One commentator creatively says, “In all these passages, Ezekiel is predicting the reversal of Jacob's blessing on Judah: because of sin, the lion of Judah will be captured and put in a Babylonian zoo, the Judean vineyard will be uprooted, and instead of ruling the nations, will be subject to them.” (Wenham, 478). That’s a powerful image, isn’t it? Judah the lion, stripped of his power and locked in a Babylonian zoo to be mocked and jeered at. It sounds very much like that moment in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe where Aslan is shaved and tied to the Stone Table, while the white witch mocks him, “So Aslan, you have come at last. And in such poor guise! No sword, no claws, no teeth even. Only that foolish air of yours…And what a wretched king you must have been, Aslan, to inspire such loyalty! A handful of children, a talking badger, and a faun—is that all that remains of your once-mighty kingdom?” Have God’s great and glorious promises failed? Have God’s people messed the promises up—messed up God’s plan?
In answer to this, John Calvin has a great line saying, “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.” (Calvin, 456). This kingdom would go through seasons. There would be seasons of greatness and glory on this earth, but there would be seasons where it seemed like it was dead and buried. Yet, God’s people never quit. They never gave up. They never lost hope. The question is, “Why” or “How?”
The answer is: God’s promises. They knew God’s promises to them. They remembered these promises that God spoke over Judah and the rest of Jacob’s family and they trusted God. They knew that God would do what he said he would do. They maybe didn’t see it at the time. They maybe didn’t understand it at the time. They didn’t have to. They knew God was trustworthy—which is why they put their trust in him. Since God was trustworthy, they trusted him to fulfill his promises—even if those promises looked like they had completely disappeared. They grabbed hold of and held firm to the promises of God and that gave them hope in the midst of the darkness. That’s why so many of the Psalms begin and end like Psalm 13: “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?…But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.” (Psalm 13:1,5; ESV).
To be honest, we have even greater reason for hope and trust in our God than they did when the Psalms were written. They were able to trust in God by holding onto his promises, but we have the promises AND something better. Especially this time of year, we’re reminded that God sent his son to be born into the world, born of Mary, born from the line of Judah. He entered this world as an exile. His life was a life of suffering. He was rejected by his people. He was mocked and abused—beaten and spit on. Eventually he hung on a cross and died, then was buried. In that moment, it seemed like God’s promises had died with him. It seemed like there was no reason for hope. Yet, it was through that suffering, death, and burial that God would raise Jesus Christ from the dead in victory—fulfilling every single promise he spoke to Judah. Now we see a king from the line of Judah, that is completely worthy of all our praise, to whom we bow down. Now we see a king whose kingdom will never end, and a kingdom where every knee will bow and tongue confess that he is king of king and lord of lords. Now, we see a kingdom that has brought about abundant prosperity in its own way and we see a kingdom that is going out throughout the earth conquering and to conquer in its own way. We can see this kingdom right now. It’s in our hearts and it’s spreading throughout the earth. We have more than just the promises of God. We have his promises AND the fulfillment of those promises in Jesus Christ.
This is why Jesus said to his disciples: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, ESV). We can have peace and hope in the midst of the deepest darkness—the most difficult tribulations—because we know that God has fulfilled his promises in Jesus Christ and will ultimately bring about the fullness of those promises when Jesus Christ returns to judge the living and the dead and establishes his kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.