Until Shiloh Comes
The patriarch Jacob “called his sons and said, ‘Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days’” (Genesis 49;1). As Jacob addressed his sons, he said to Judah, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49:10, NKJV). This is a Messianic prophecy indicating the first coming of Christ.
The word scepter was “a rod held in the hands of kings as a token of authority” (Graybill 758). A biblical example involving the scepter is seen when the Persian king, Ahasuerus, “held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther went near and touched the top of the scepter” (Esther 5:1-2). Esther’s touching the top of the golden scepter was an act of respect and an indication of her desire to speak to the king.
Shiloh in Genesis 49:10 is a title for Christ, the coming Messiah; thereby, making the text Messianic. Jacob promised Judah would not lose his power to govern before the coming of Christ. Interestingly, the Northern Kingdom (the ten tribes) was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BC, but Judah remained in the land until the coming of Christ. Judah was the tribe of “whom your brothers shall praise. . . . Your father’s children shall bow down before you” (49:8). A Jewish paraphrase of the Old Testament, known as the Targum Onkelos, gave a similar understanding of Genesis 49:10: “The transmission of dominion shall not cease from the house of Judah, nor the scribe from his children’s children, forever, until the Messiah comes” (Levy 2).
From the reign of King Solomon until the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, Judah (the nation of Israel) retained the right under her conquerors of self-rule. Israel served 70 years in the Babylonian captivity. From all historical information at our disposal they retained the ability, by God’s providence, to control their religious laws. This was true under the Persian, Greek, and the early years of Rome’s rule. Now the caveat and a reference back to Genesis 49:10—one of the elements of governing is capital punishment. The internal government of the Jews in Judea, during the New Testament times and while under Roman control, was under the Sanhedrin (council). However, Josephus confirms that during the lifetime of Jesus, the Sanhedrin lost its power to rule in capital cases or to administer the death penalty (287). Consequently, the Jews were unable to sentence Jesus to death when He was arrested and tried. The exchange between them and Pilate was as follows: “Then Pilate said unto them, ‘You take Him and judge Him according to your law.’ Therefore, the Jews said unto him, ‘It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death’” (John 18:31). This indeed is evidence of fulfillment of Jacob’s divine prophecy.
The clause “And to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49:10d) references the work of Christ and Christianity in “the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ” (Ephesians 1:10). Christ redeems disciples from “every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).
Works Cited
Graybill, John B. “Scepter.” The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1963.
Josephus, Flavius. Works. Baltimore: Plaskitt, 1835.
Levy, Samson H. The Messiah: The Messianic Exegesis of the Targum. Cincinnati: Jewish Inst. of Religion, 1974.