Genesis 49:10 Commentary and Bible Study

From Judah would come a succession of kings. The sceptre is the symbol of kingly authority. It was the kings of the tribe of Judah that counted most in Israel, and during the captivity in Babylon they carried the flag for the nation. Here is the respect in which Judah’s brethren would praise him. Moses was the great lawgiver of Israel, but Judah’s descendants were also lawgivers. David, for example, gave many laws to the people of God, and we often we don't think of it, but much legislation and many rules for the people of God in olden times were given through David. One area of legislation is the rules of worship for the people of old. They were all given through David. He was told exactly how many instruments may be used in the temple, and in the worship of God and what they should be, and what instruments must never be used, and how worship must be conducted. Those rules were given not because they would apply to us in the church age, but because the principle behind those rules – that music among the people of God must be very carefully monitored and limited so as not to obstruct and take over the worship – would apply for all time. It will be David and his descendants who will be, not only judges to the nation but lawgivers, until Christ comes. The name Shiloh refers to Jesus Christ. Most believe that Shiloh should be understood as ‘giver of peace’ or ‘giver of rest’, ‘tranquillity’, from a root meaning ‘to be secure’. He will be the ‘Prince of peace’ (Isaiah 9:6) because he will reconcile his people to God by his atoning sacrifice. Jacob is led to say that Messiah will come at a particular time. Judah will be about to lose its king and its status as a lawgiver, and Judah was the tribe that kept its king right to the end. Judah about to lose her own lawgiver. When Shiloh comes, the right to her own lawgiver. Christ came in last years of Herod, and then came Archelaus and in a few years he died. Judah was then merged with Galilee into Syria Palestina by Rome, and lost it separate status. ‘And unto him’ – unto Shiloh – ‘shall the gathering of the people be.’ Now the Hebrew actually says ‘shall the gathering of the tribes be’, and this is interesting because many people therefore say, ‘Oh, this is just about the tribes of Israel.’ To this mysterious Shiloh will the gathering of the tribes of Israel, and the King James translators, and in fact all the older translators, all translate ‘tribes’ as ‘people’ because they knew their Bibles, and they knew that while tribes is the word, it refers not to the tribes of Israel but to the Gentiles, the gathering of the people, because there are so many other texts in the Scripture that refer to this gathering of the people in the context of the Gentiles coming in. When Shiloh, the Prince of rest and peace and reconciliation, comes, then the Gentiles will be brought also into the church, and it will be the international Jewish Gentile church of Jesus Christ.