The Tribe of Judah
26: 19-22
The tribe of Judah DIG: What does the Second Census tell us about Judah’s historical roots? Why did the tribe of increase decline from the First Census? Why would the wilderness generation want to know they had common historical roots from their parents, but a completely separate identity from them?
REFLECT: What meaningful group (tribe) are you a member of? How does being a part of that group help to support you and make you grow spiritually? How does being a part of it enable you to help others? What can you do to make sure that the positive parts of your past are accentuated in your relationship with God?
The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.
1. The First Census in the past found the tribe of Judah being numbered at 74,600 (to see link click Ak – Numbering the Tribes). Jacob had little good to say about his first three sons, but his fourth son Judah was the first to receive a true blessing. Jacob prophesied with a play on words when he said: Judah, your brothers will praise you, literally, it means praise you will your brothers praise (Genesis 49:8a), because Judah means praise. He will be a praise himself, but more importantly, he will be a praise to ADONAI because this is the tribe that the Messiah will come from. Because of this, Judah will be praised by all his other brothers. Then Ya’akov said: Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, pointing to superiority and triumph in war. Judah is a lion’s cub; my son, you stand over the prey, who dares to provoke him. Jacob predicted a fierce lion-like dominance of Judah, saying: Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, pointing to superiority and triumph in war. It is obvious from the rest of the Bible that he became the leading tribe. Judah was to be praised indeed.
2. The Second Census in the present: The descendants of Judah by their clans were: First ‘Er and Onan were sons of Judah, but they died in the land of Canaan (see the commentary on Genesis Jd – Judah said to Tamar: Live as a Widow Until My Son Grows Up). Like Dathan and Abiram (see Cq – The Rebellion of Dathan and Abiram), ‘Er and Onan would serve as reminders of God’s judgment upon disobedience in the Exodus generation, providing a meaningful link of the Second Census to the sins of their forefathers. The purpose of the historical allusions was to challenge the wilderness generation to renounce the past and to pay attention to the Word of ADONAI by faith as they advanced into the Promised Land. The descendants of Judah by their three clans were: through Shelah, the Shelanite clan; through Perez, the Perezite clan; and through Zerah, the Zerahite clan (see the commentary on Genesis Jf – Tamar Gave Birth to Twin Boys, She Named them Perez and Zerah). Through Perez would come the greatest heirs of the line of Judah, and indeed all of Isra’el. Their descendants would be chosen as kings of Isra’el, starting with David and culminating with the greater Son of David, Yeshua Messiah (see the commentary on Ruth Bd – Coda: The Genealogy of David). The two subclans of Perez were: through Hezron, the Hezronite clan; and through Hamul, the Hamulite clan. These were the clans of Judah, those numbered were 76,500 (26:19-22), an increase of 1,900 from the First Census (see Ai – The First Census: The Old Generation of Rebellion), or nearly three percent. Judah, then, was the largest tribe of the twelve.
In the near historical future, Jacob prophesied about the coming of Yeshua, when he said: The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet (Genesis 49:10a). The scepter was the symbol of royalty, and emphasized Judah’s right to rule. So God declares that the only tribe that would have the scepter, or the right to rule, would be Judah. All the kosher kings would come from Judah; any king that ADONAI has designated to rule the Jews must come from the tribe of Judah.
This passage points to the Second Coming when Yeshua Ha’Meshiach comes to set up His Kingdom for a thousand years. At that time, He will have the right to rule, and the obedience of the Gentile nations will be His (see the commentary on Genesis Lg – The Scepter Will Not Depart from Judah Until He Comes to Whom It Belongs). The one who has the right to the throne would be King Messiah – the Kosher King from Judah to whom the throne rightfully belongs. There were other godly kings from Judah, like David, Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Uzziah, Hezekiah and Josiah. But the sad prophecy of Ezeki’el 21 says remove the crown, it’s done. The kosher kings ended in 586 BC with the destruction of the Temple (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Mt – The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple Remembered on Tisha B’Av in 70 AD). There will be no more kings of Judah until He comes to whom it rightfully belongs, and to this very day not one king of Judah has been crowned. The Maccabees were Levites. In fact, the Hasmonean Empire ran into trouble precisely because they were priests who tried to become kings later on. What about King Herod? His family was converted to Judaism. He was really a Roman king. In 1948 David Ben-Gurion didn’t call himself a king. As a result, for about 2,500 years – there has been no king of Judah. This is why Rashi, and many other rabbis believe, that the last King of Judah has to be King Messiah.
Historically, this prophecy has already been fulfilled. Once the tribe of Judah, under King David, attained leadership over the nation, the scepter (or the symbol of the king) never departed from Judah until after Messiah was born.581 About that time the Romans, who had the right to rule, took away the right of capital punishment from the Jews. This changed the death penalty from stoning, to the Roman method of the cross for the Israelites (John 18:31-32). The sages recount that when this happened, the high priest went throughout the city of Yerushalayim wearing sackcloth and ashes saying, “Woe to us for the scepter has been taken from Judah and He to whom it belongs has not come.” They thought the Word of the LORD had been broken, but they didn’t know that up in a Nazareth carpenter’s shop, a young Yeshua, the One to whom the scepter belonged, the One to whom obedience belonged, had come . . . and Genesis 49:10 was fulfilled.
The promise of a personal Messiah began in the garden of Eden. And ADONAI said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel (Genesis 3:15). Through all the ages, men have looked for the coming Savior, and this was certainly true of Jacob. The old patriarch would surely be expected to express that hope in his prophecy. This promise to Judah must indeed be Jacob’s specific reference to that hope. Centuries later, Isaiah seemed to have these prophecies in mind when he first spoke of the coming child of the virgin (Isaiah 7:20), and then went on to say that His name would be the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7). The obedience of the Gentile nations, which Ya’akov prophesied, corresponds clearly to God’s messianic promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that through their coming Seed, all the peoples on earth will be blessed (12:3b).582
3. The Messianic Kingdom in the future: The lists of names and numbers are the material and tangible signs of God’s blessing, God’s faithfulness to past promises, and the surety of God’s future promise keeping (see Ae – Stars of Heaven, Grains of Sand, and the Promises of God). In the far eschatological future, Jacob’s prophecy about Yeshua’s scepter not departing from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet (49:10a), will become a reality. This passage points to the Second Coming (see the commentary on Isaiah Kg – The Second Coming of Jesus Christ to Bozrah) when Yeshua Ha’Meshiach comes to set up His Kingdom for a thousand years. At that time, He will have the right to rule, and the obedience of the Gentile nations will be His (see Revelation Ce – The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David Has Triumphed).
And when Messiah returns, we will return with Him. The armies of heaven were following Him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. During His thousand-year reign, He will rule the nations with an iron scepter (Psalm 2:8-9). He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of ADONAI, God of heaven’s armies (Revelation 19:14-15 CJB). At that time Messiah will be the Kosher King who will hold the iron scepter. He will swiftly judge all sin and instantly put down any rebellion. Using the same imagery of ruling with an iron scepter, Yeshua promised that believers would rule under Him in the same way: To him who overcomes and does My will to the end, I will give authority over the Gentile nations. He shall rule them with an iron scepter and he will dash them to pieces like pottery, just as I have received authority from My Father (Revelation 2:26-27). Therefore, because we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation belonging to God (First Peter 2:9), we will be the priests of God and of the Messiah, and we will reign with Him for a thousand years (Revelation 20:6). Believers now serve as priests by worshiping ADONAI and leading others to the knowledge of Him, and we will also serve in that same way during the Messianic Kingdom.583 We are blessed to be royalty, and we will rule under Messiah with an iron scepter, because we are children of the King.
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You for Your Almighty power and the total security of knowing that You will for sure reign over the whole earth for one thousand years. You will have bound Satan and thrown him into the bottomless pit. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the abyss and a great chain. He seized the dragon – the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan – and bound him for a thousand years. He also threw him into the abyss and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed (Revelation 20:1-3b).
The martyred believers who remain faithful to You during the Tribulation, will then be raised to reign with You. What a difference that will be, to go from being persecuted for their faith in You to reigning with You! And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Yeshua and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image, nor had they received his mark on their forehead or on their hand. And they came to life and reigned with the Messiah for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4b-c). Please help us to remember that the trials and problems of this life will soon be over and You are for sure coming back as conquering King of Kings (Revelation 19:11-21). For I consider the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18). In Your holy Name and power of His resurrection. Amen
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