A sermon preached at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith, Arkansas on March 31, 2024.
“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.
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?
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.
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 49:8–12).[1]
Of the Old Testament patriarchs, Jacob is remembered not only for his ancestry but his posterity too. He was the son of Isaac, the promised son of Abraham, and the father of the children of his divinely-given name, Israel. Looking back on his life, at 130 years old, he considered the days of his years as “few and evil,” not attaining to the longevity of his fathers (Gen. 47:9). But he had lived a full life that concluded surrounded by his reconciled sons, where he pronounced a blessing upon each, not only as the family patriarch but a prophet too.
In his death-bed blessing, Jacob prophesied what was, and is, and is to come, in varying degrees, for each son. But the word blessing, used in this sense, does not mean favor. For example, in the case of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, each blessing reads more like a curse. But Judah’s blessing stands apart, as not only as a blessing of favor but promise too.
But if you know Judah’s story you may wonder why. It wasn’t because of his mother, as Judah was not the son of favored Rachel but Leah. He was not favored for his brotherly love, but once contemplated murdering Joseph, eventually devising a plan to sell him into slavery. He was not favored for his loyalty but distanced himself from his father’s faith and family, moving to a foreign land and marrying a pagan woman. He was not favored for his parenting either, as two of his three children were so wicked that the Lord put them to death prematurely. He was not favored for keeping his word, breaking an oath to his daughter-in-law. He was not favored for his self-restraint, impregnating that same daughter-in-law who impersonated a prostitute, resulting in twin boys; Judah’s would-be grandsons were his sons. To say that Judah’s life was complicated is an understatement. A role model of morality he was not. But the pages of Scripture are not washed free of human depravity but include fallen humanity in all its complexity, including the life of Judah, which tells less about Judah and far more of the amazing grace and steadfast love of our Lord.
Judah’s Favor
When Judah was born, his mother said, “This time I will praise the LORD,” and so named him Judah, which sounds like the Hebrew word for praise (Gen. 29:35). From that day on, Judah’s name would be heard, and the homonym would serve as a reminder: The Lord had been praised.
But in blessing Judah, Jacob directs the praise to Judah:
“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” (8).
Characteristic of Old Testament prophecy, Jacob’s blessing upon each son is poetic. In Hebrew poetry, rather than rhyme and meter, the emphasis is put on similar sounding pronouncement, drawing emphasis to the word. In Hebrew, Judah sounds like “praise,” but when the verb is conjugated, “praise” sounds like “hand.” The alliteration draws the listening ear to not only the words but their metaphorical meaning: In this case, Judah’s name would reach its significance, as he would triumph over his enemies and be praised for it.
Emphasizing his power to triumph, Jacob uses the imagery of a lion that has seized and secured his prey. His powerful protection deters all threats. Who dares darken the door of his den? Who risks rousing the lion of Judah?
It’s a metaphor we also find used by God to describe his omnipotence. As the Lord said to Isaiah, “As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey … so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion …” (Isa. 31:4). Or describing his judgment upon Israel, the Lord said to Hosea, “I am to them like a lion … I will tear open their breast … [and] will devour them like a lion …” (Hos. 13:7-8). The inclusion of the lion in Judah’s blessing led eventually to the tribe of Judah adopting the lion as their symbol, which also carries with it not only a symbol of power but royalty too; the lion is “the king of the beasts.”
Judah’s Reign
Jacob’s blessing is rich with regal metaphors:
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 (10).
The “scepter” symbolizes the kingship and royal authority of Judah’s inheritance. The lawgiver’s mace or “ruler’s staff” symbolizes the legal, authoritative reign of Judah’s descendants. Kings would come to rule and reign over Israel from “between his feet,” meaning his progeny.
Of course, to hear the name Judah, and references to a king, we immediately think of King David. David, of the tribe of Judah, was anointed king, after Saul’s death, and acknowledged by the children of Israel to be the prophetic fulfillment of Judah’s blessing, and God’s chosen king.
The nation paid tribute to David, and the Lord blessed him, promising to establish in him a dynasty of kings, forever. The Lord promised David that his son, Solomon, would build the temple and that his kingdom would be established. The Lord promised that his steadfast love would not depart from his descendants. It was an extraordinary promise of hope for David, in fulfillment of Judah’s blessing. Except, because David’s descendants were disobedient, the Lord disciplined them, ultimately resulting in the Babylonian captivity, and the seeming end of David’s dynasty.
To read the historical account of the Babylonian captivity in light of Judah’s blessing and the Davidic covenant, one might think that “forever” concluded, that Judah’s blessing had come to an end. But Judah’s blessing tells not only of a king to come but one in whom “shall be the obedience of the peoples.” David was indeed a great king, but he could not achieve his own obedience nor the obedience of others. As the Heidelberg Catechism explains, “God will not punish any other creature for what a human is guilty of. Furthermore, no mere creature can bear the weight of God’s eternal wrath against sin and deliver others from it.”[2] David could not be the obedience of anyone, but David’s greater son could and is.
There is only one descendant of Judah to whom the title is ascribed, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” who is also “the Root of David” (Rev. 5:5). But it is neither his roar nor his wrath that serves as “the obedience of the peoples,” but his life, death, and resurrection. In his sinless life, Jesus Christ fulfilled our obedience (Matt. 3:15). “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). In his sacrificial death, Christ atoned for our disobedience (1 Pet. 2:24). “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Pet. 2:24). And in his victorious resurrection, Christ conquered both sin and death that sinners like Jacob, and Judah, and David, and you and me, may be justified as righteous before God, only for the sake of Christ’s righteousness, received by faith alone. Jesus became obedience, suffered for disobedience, and secured eternal obedience for peoples, from every tribe, tongue, and nation: “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:13).
Judah’s Blessing
He who has defeated our enemies of sin and death in his life, death, and resurrection, is the only descendent of Judah worthy of praise and shall be praised. In fulfillment of Judah’s blessing, “at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11 NET). In fulfillment of Judah’s blessing, he is the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the King of kings and Lord of lords. Like a lion, he has conquered “death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10). Like a king, he subdues us to himself, rules and defends us, and restrains and conquers all his and our enemies. And in fulfillment of Judah’s blessing, resurrected and ascended, he has gone to prepare a place for us and will come again that we may be with him forever (John 14:3). And then, the conclusion of Judah’s blessing will be fulfilled:
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 (11-12)
To understand the imagery Jacob uses, think back with me to Jesus’ first miracle, recorded in the Gospel of John, when Jesus turned water into wine at the marriage of Cana in Galilee (John 2:1-11). You may recall that it was a miracle of extravagance. From water our Creator created wine so fine the master of the feast rated the vintage superb. Wine in the Bible is typically associated with God’s blessing, even celebration, and in this case, it wasn’t only marriage that was celebrated but the ministry of the one who had come for “the obedience of the peoples.”
Now consider the conclusion of Judah’s blessing, where we see celebratory language that transcends the celebration of Cana. Jacob describes a day of other-worldly abundance, a place where grape vines are as strong as fence posts. And out of those hearty vines shall come a rich harvest yielding not only “the blood of grapes” but their fermented perfection, what Robert Farrar Capon calls “water in excelsis.”[3] So great will be its abundance that clothes may be washed in vintages that once only kings could afford. Such opulence will leave us, as one commentator puts it, with teeth glistening “whiter than milk” against “red-stained lips.”[4]
If such a description sounds unbelievable, it’s because it is unbelievable from our fallen human perspective. We only know life after Adam’s Fall into sin. We see only through the lens of how life is, but life will not always be this way. The heir of Judah’s blessing, the son of David’s promise, the Lion of the tribe of Judah shall return in glory, destroying sin’s curse forever, ushering in heaven under new heavens and eternal life on a new earth. And on that day, there shall be a marriage feast, not of Cana, but of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9), and we shall imbibe in the extravagant grace of God.
That such a day awaits us is certain, and so we gather in worship today, and every Lord’s Day, anticipating the final fulfillment of Judah’s blessing. And then, we shall join Adam and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Judah and David, and the host of heaven, crying out, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! … “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Rev. 5:12-13). Amen.
[1] Unless referenced otherwise, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton: Crossway Bibles, 2001).
[2] Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 14, Chad Van Dixhoorn, Ed., Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms: A Reader’s Edition (Wheaton: Crossway, 2022), 294-295.
[3] Robert Farrar Capon, The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection (New York: Modern Library, 2002), 84.
[4] Kenneth A. Mathews, The New American Commentary: Genesis 11:27-50:26, Vol. 1B (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2005), 897.
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