From: Genesis 49:2, 8-10
Jacob’s Blessings on His Twelve Sons
[8] 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.
[9] Judah is a lion’s whelp;
from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He stooped down, he couched as a lion,
and as a lioness; who dares rouse him up?
[10] The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs;
and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”
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Commentary:
49:1-28. Although this passage is traditionally described as the “Blessings of
Jacob” in the light of what it says in v. 28, it is in fact more like a series of pro-
phetic oracles (cf. v. 1) which encapsulate and evaluate the history of each of
the tribes by making predictions about the future. If we compare this with other
passages which provide historical-prophetical summaries about the tribes (such
as the “Blessings of Moses” in Deuteronomy 33 and the “canticle of Deborah”
in Judges 5), we can see that what is described here reflects the situation of the
tribes of Israel after the conquest of Canaan. The “Blessings of Jacob” show the
tribe of Judah’s pride of place, refer to its connection with the Messiah and high-
light the importance of the tribes descended Joseph.
49:8-12. The disqualification of the first three tribes has opened the way to the
advancement of the tribe of Judah. Although Judah was not the first-born, he is
going to be given primacy, because his three older brothers have lost it on ac-
count of their sins. The oracle about Judah not only acclaims Judah’s strength
as like that of a lion, but announces that the royal scepter will be held by this
tribe until one comes whom the peoples will obey and who will bring peace and
prosperity. This may contain an immediate reference to David and his succes-
sors, but the text itself points to a descendant of Judah who will be universal
king.
The Hebrew term used to describe this descendant (”siloh”) has been interpre-
ted by Jewish and Christian tradition in a messianic sense, linking it to other
oracles about the dynasty of David (cf. 2 Sam 7:14; Is 9:5ff; Mic 5:1-3; Zech 9:
9). In the light of the New Testament we can see what the oracle means: with
David royalty in Israel will emerge from the tribe of Judah and will extend until
the coming of the “Son of David”, Jesus Christ in whom all the prophecies find
fulfillment (cf. Mt 21:9).
In the words of v. 11,”he washes garments in wine and his vesture in the blood
of grapes,” some Fathers saw allusion to the passion of Christ. Ambrose, for
example, interprets wine as being the blood of Christ and the “garments” as his
sacred humanity: “garments are the flesh of Christ, who covers up the sins of all,
who bears the crimes of all, who takes on the faults of all. The garments clothe
everyone in an outfit of joy. He washed these garments in wine when, on being
baptized in the Jordan, the Holy Spirit came down on him in shape of a dove and
stayed over him [...] For Jesus washed his garments to clean away any filth of
his own (for he had none) but to clean away our filth. And in the blood of grapes
he washed his tunic, that is, he cleansed men with blood in the passion of his
body. [...] And it is right to speak of grapes because he was hung like a bunch
of them on the wood (of the cross). He is the vine and he is the grape: the vine
because he is fixed to the wood; the grape because when his side was pierced
by the lance, blood and water flowed out. Water as purification, blood as the
ransom price. Through the water he washed us clean; through the blood he
redeemed us” (”De Benedictionem Patriarcharum”, 4, 24).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.