Messianic Perspectives

Chris Rodriguez: Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinctive first-century Jewish point of view. Today, our Bible teacher, Stephen Ger, continues his five-part series on Messianic prophecy in the Pentateuch. And now with today’s teaching, here’s Stephen Ger.

Stephen Ger: Shalom, this is Stephen Ger, and we are going to continue our study of Messianic prophecy: views, expectation, anticipation, interpretation. Specifically, we're going to focus in today on Genesis 49. This is a very important prophecy and often overlooked because it's nestled within a passage which uses poetic language and which many people find a little bit confusing.

So what I want to do is simply focus in on the key terms, the key verses found in Genesis 49:8-10, but to do so I'm going to have to establish the context. Now in this passage, what we're going to see is that the Messiah is going to be king from the tribe of Judah. You'll remember the Abrahamic covenant. Within the Abrahamic covenant, we know that the covenantal seed from Abraham will bless the world. All families of the earth will be blessed through some descendant or, we later learn, a specific descendant from Abraham.

But how can we narrow down which tribe of the Jewish people will the Messiah come from? It is Genesis 49 that does our work for us. Now before we get to verse 8, we must read the first verse. This is Jacob, remember Abraham's grandson (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—the three Hebrew patriarchs). Jacob is on his deathbed. Jacob summons his sons and said, "Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come. Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel, your father."

So on his deathbed, Jacob delivers his final blessing to his 12 sons. Jacob had received a blessing from his father, Isaac, the same way. Both of them take the form of what looks like poetry but is actually a prophetic oracle. It's a particular form, and Jacob's words were fraught with prophetic significance. As a matter of fact, if you read the passage, it's very clear that Jacob the patriarch himself emphasizes the prophetic content of his remarks by identifying them as revealing what the future holds for his family in the days to come.

Bacharït hayamïm, the end of days. He goes through his sons—Reuben, and Simeon, and Levi. By the time he gets to the fourth son, Judah, it is Judah to whom the mantle of tribal leadership is passed. It will not go to the three oldest or to one of the three oldest sons. It will go to the fourth son. Let's read the passage: "Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up?"

And it's verse 10 that contains the key clause: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh or Shilo comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples." So Judah is recognized as being worthy to receive the privileges of the firstborn. Within Jacob's prophetic blessings of his 12 sons is the promise that Judah's tribe will rightfully rule. That's what it means when he says "possess the scepter," the symbol of royalty, over the rest of their children. And this will be the case until a particular moment in history that is expressed with the mysterious phrase "the coming of Shiloh."

This mysterious term, Shilo, how do we understand that? How can we translate this? Some of our biblical translations don't even try to translate it. They just use it as a proper noun and leave it untranslated. But Shilo can be and maybe should be translated as "to whom it belongs," "to whom it belongs." It is translated rightfully that way in Ezekiel 21:27 concerning the royal crown of Israel's prince.

Now some people would read Shilo to be referencing the location, but that is a particularly nonsensical interpretation, not to mention a cop-out. How can we understand that "until Shilo come"? Places don't come; people do. And the one to whom it belongs (i.e., the scepter of rule) will come, and it will be transferred to him because it belongs to him.

Let me show you what I mean regarding the Ezekiel 21 passage, which reads as follows: "A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it. This also will be no more until he comes whose right it is, and I will give it to him." "He comes whose right it is" or "to whom it belongs," and I will give it to him. Same word used in the same way. We should understand Shilo as the one to whom tribute is due or the one to whom the scepter is due.

Now, how did the Jewish people understand this passage? How has it traditionally been understood by the rabbis? Well, as a Messianic title, as a pseudonym for Messiah, of course. And in fact, when we consult the Targums, by which I mean the first-century Aramaic paraphrases of the Hebrew Bible, the Targums consistently treat Genesis 49:10 as a Messianic prophecy.

For example, Targum Onkelos, which again goes back to the first century (the time of the Gospel, the time of Jesus), reads as follows: "He who exercises dominion shall not pass away from the house of Judah, nor the scribe from his children's children forever, until Messiah shall come, whose is the kingdom and to whom the people shall obey." You say, "I don't remember all of that in Genesis 49:10." Well, remember, this is an interpretive paraphrase; it's not a straight translation. So this guy is giving you his teaching opinion as to how to understand this passage, how to read this passage and to understand it.

He wants to make sure that people get the point of the passage. And for the author of Targum Onkelos, absolutely, Shilo is a pseudonym for the Messiah, and the scepter will not pass from Judah until Messiah shall come, whose is the kingdom and to whom the people shall obey. But we have another Targum. Let's see how they understand it. This is called the Palestinian Targum, but it just references its location. "Kings shall not cease from the house of Judah, nor scribes teaching the law from his children's children until"—and here's the salient point—"the time that the King Messiah shall come, whose is the kingdom and to whom all the kingdoms of the earth shall be obedient."

So so far, two for two, Targums, Aramaic paraphrases from the first century, that view this passage as absolutely, without question, Messianic. Let's see if we can go three for three. This is the Targum Yerushalmi, also first century, which reads: "Kings shall not cease from the house of Judah until the time that the King Messiah shall come. How beauteous is the King Messiah (Melech Mashiach), in other words, who is to arise from the house of Judah."

Well, maybe you don't like Aramaic. Maybe you want to look for a different language. How about a Syriac translation that dates from the first century called the Peshitta? Let's see how they translate this particular verse. "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a declarer of the law from between his feet until he comes whose it is." You don't have to be a theologian to understand they're talking about a Messianic figure, the Messianic figure.

Let's take a moment and look at the Midrash Rabbah. That is the sermonic material from the Middle Ages that records the sermons of the rabbis on these passages. And in the Midrash Rabbah, we have this statement: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah. This alludes to the Messiah, Son of David, who will chastise the state with a staff." It goes on to say the rulership abideth with the tribe of Judah until the arrival of Shilo, the Messiah. There are many other passages in the Midrash that we can take, but for time's sake, we're going to have to move on.

What about the famous Talmud, the oral law? In the Talmud, we read in Sanhedrin 98a: "What is the name of Messiah? They of the school of Rav Shila said his name is Shilo (Shilo, in other words)." The genealogy of the Messiah is very important, as we can see, through the emphasis given this concept in the genealogies that are recorded within the Gospels. Why do you think there are two genealogies of the Messiah recorded in the Gospels? One through his adopted father in Matthew, one through his mother in Luke. But both of them point out, unmistakably, Jesus belongs to the tribe of Judah.

Very interestingly, I think, if Jesus had not come prior to the destruction of the Temple and the accompanying loss of all its stored genealogical records that would occur a mere 75 years after he came, well, any claims that he had to tribal descent from Judah would have been hopelessly unverifiable. In my opinion, God's timing for the appearance of Shilo (Shilo), the one to whom it belongs, was impeccable.

In our closing moment, we really can't conclude the Book of Genesis, the Messianic prophecies, without at least a passing mention of the typology—again, the picture present within the biographical account of Joseph. That's a lot of text, and we simply cannot go through that entire text, but Joseph's story is familiar enough that I can point out to you that there are indisputable correspondences between the key events of the life of Joseph and the career of our Messiah. And we're on extremely firm ground when we assert this. What's the firm ground, you may ask? I'll tell you.

Because this correspondence between Joseph and the Messiah is recognized and elaborated upon by the first martyr of the church. Who's that? Stephen, in his defense before the Sanhedrin found in Acts 7. And there's a large section in Acts 7 devoted to the typological correspondence between Joseph and Jesus. For example, Joseph, although he was the God-ordained deliverer of his people, he was initially rejected by his brothers. He was treated despicably, and he was unceremoniously disposed of. And it is only upon the second encounter with their brother that Joseph's family recognizes and acknowledges him as their savior.

Well, this is exactly the same thing that happens with Jesus. He's initially rejected by his family, by his brothers. He's treated despicably by his clan, his tribe, his people, and he is unceremoniously disposed of. And for the majority of the Jewish people, it will be only upon their second encounter, his return, that Jesus' own people will recognize him and acknowledge him as their savior, as their Mashiach. Until next time, Stephen Ger saying shalom.

Chris Rodriguez: Thank you, Steve. If you missed part of this series or would like to share it with a friend, you'll be glad to know that it's available on one convenient compact disc for the suggested gift of just $6. Just point your web browser to our online store at messianicspecialties.com and search for "Messianic Prophecy in the Pentateuch" and place your order with our secure server.

If you'd prefer ordering by phone, just call our toll-free order line at 1-800-926-5397, and our operator will be glad to assist you. Of course, you can still order by mail; just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, P.O. Box 345, San Antonio, Texas, 78215. And as always, when you're in touch with us, whether it's through the mail or by phone, or even on the internet, if you would please, mention the call letters of the station. This is Chris Rodriguez. Join us tomorrow for another edition of "Messianic Prophecy in the Pentateuch" right here on Messianic Perspectives. Messianic Perspectives is sponsored by CJF Ministries in San Antonio, Texas, and is made possible on this station by the freewill contribution of our listeners in this area.