Genesis 49:1-2
‘And Jacob called to his sons and said: “Gather yourselves together, so that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days!…. Hear, you sons of Jacob, and hearken to Israel your father!”…. ‘Judah — you are he whom your brethren shall praise!…. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah…, until Shiloh comes. And to Him, the gathering of the peoples shall be!”’ Genesis 49:1-10.
Calvin commented: “In the former chapter (Genesis 48:1-2), the blessing on Ephraim and Manasseh was related…. Now, as if carried above the Heavens, he (the dying Jacob) announces…as from the mouth of God what shall be the condition of them all….
“Jacob begins with inviting their attention…, and claims for himself the authority of a Prophet…. In this prophecy, is comprised the whole period from the departure out of Egypt, to the reign of Christ…. Jacob…arranges a settled order and course, until Christ should appear….
“‘Judah — you are he whom your brethren shall praise!’ …. It is certain that the Messiah, Who was to spring from the tribe of Judah, is here promised…. A King would come, under Whom…promised happiness would be complete The Messiah is the sole Author of full and solid happiness and glory….
“‘(The sceptre shall not depart from Judah…,) until Shiloh comes.’ (Until then,) he (Jacob) says, the sceptre or the dominion ‘shall remain in Judah’…. Correctly and consistently…, interpreters take this expression (Shiloh) to mean ‘his son’ (– the son of Judah). For among the Hebrews, a son is called shiyl).” Gesenius renders Shiloh, Tranquillity. Still more approved renderings, are the Peaceable One or the Pacifier.
“The origin of the kingdom is David, is not here promised — but its absolute perfection in the Messiah…. The word ‘depart’ — means nothing else than to cease.” So the hegemony of Judah over the other sons or tribes of Jacob, would not depart or cease — till the Messiah comes. Until then, “although the royal majesty did not shine brightly from David until Christ — yet some pre-eminence remained in the tribe of Judah…. The sceptre was to be preserved (in Judah) by the Lord, until it would come into the hands of Christ….
“(True,) the majesty of the kingdom was to be almost trodden under foot — till the manifestation of Christ…. The dominion of which Jacob had prophesied, ceased from the time of Herod…. The nation was grievously harassed and…under servile oppression, some years before….
“Know that Christ had been not only promised, but that His Origin had been pointed out…two thousand years before He appeared!… ‘To Him, the gathering of the peoples would be!’…. Christ would be a King not only over one people — but under His authority, various nations shall be gathered so that they might coalesce…. At length, He shall…subject other ‘peoples’ to Himself…. In Christ…was promised the inheritance of the world — under Whose yoke the nations are brought, and at Whose will they…are gathered together!” These were among the dying Jacob’s last words.
