2025年5月25日 / グレース・トロント日本語教会
創世記 49章
8 ユダよ、兄弟たちはおまえをたたえる。おまえの手は敵の首の上にあり、おまえの父の子らはおまえを伏し拝む。
9 ユダは獅子の子。わが子よ、おまえは獲物によって成長する。雄獅子のように、雌獅子のように、うずくまり、身を伏せる。だれがこれを起こせるだろうか。
10 王権はユダを離れず、王笏はその足の間を離れない。ついには彼がシロに来て、諸国の民は彼に従う。
11 彼は自分のろばをぶどうの木に、雌ろばの子を良いぶどうの木につなぐ。彼は自分の衣をぶどう酒で、衣服をぶどうの汁で洗う。
12 目はぶどう酒よりも色濃く、歯は乳よりも白い。
Please note that the Japanese translation below is done by Google Translate.
May 25, 2025 / Grace Toronto Japanese Church
Genesis 49
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 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?
10 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.
11 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.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth whiter than milk.
OPENING
In the first century, when Jesus came, many believed and followed him. However, many Pharisees, religious leaders, and Jews rejected him. Why did they refuse to accept Jesus? Why did they deny that Jesus was the Messiah? Well, we will think about these questions. But let’s first go to our text.
CONTEXT
We will cover both Genesis 48 and 49 today.
Jacob was 130 years old when he arrived in Egypt. He is now 147 and is about to die (48:1). Before dying, Jacob wanted to bless his sons. So, Joseph brought in his two sons, Manasseh, and Ephraim. Before blessing them, Jacob recounted God’s blessing for him in Bethel (48:3–4; Gen 28).
Do you remember God’s promise of blessings to Jacob in Bethel? (Gen 28) Jacob had stolen his brother Esau’s blessings, and he had to flee from his anger. He was heading to Paddan Aram, to hi uncle’s house. God appeared to Jacob in his dream in Bethel. God’s blessings were: (1) I will give this land to you and to your offspring; (2) your offspring will be numerous; (3) all the families of the earth shall be blessed by your offspring; (4) I am and will be with you; (5) I will keep you; (6) I will bring you back to this land.
When he was recalling the story, Jacob called God “God Almighty” (48:3): “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.” Its Hebrew is El-Shaddai. The Japanese is 全能の神. It first occurred in Gen 17:1—there, God introduced himself to Abraham as El-Shaddai. 1b2b. So, what does “God Almighty” (El-Shaddai) mean? (1) It means God is not just mighty but all mighty. Put simply, it means his power is infinite. So, all the power contained in the entire universe is finite and is only “a small representation of the unlimited power of God” (B. Bright). Therefore, (2) God can accomplish his holy will without being restrained by any of his created beings. Do you remember what God said to Abraham when Sarah laughed at the idea that God was going to give them a son? God said, “Is there anything too hard for the LORD?” (Gen 18:14). There is nothing too difficult for God. He is God Almighty, El-Shaddai, 全能の神.
So, Jacob meant that. When he called God “God Almighty,” to Jacob, God was an all-powerful God who was able to do anything that pleased himself. It’s an incredible confession from a man who was dying. Even though Jacob had to go through many trials and sufferings, at his death bed, he became even more certain that his God was, more than anything else, God Almighty!
Putting his trust in this God Almighty, Jacob wanted to bless his sons.
- Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh (48:5–20)
- Jacob then blessed his 12 sons (Gen 49). Having blessed all his sons, Jacob died at the end of ch. 49 (vv. 30–33).
TEXT
Today, we’ll only see Jacob’s blessing for Judah (49:8–12) because there is something so special about the blessing upon Judah—today’s text is Jacob’s prophecy about the coming Messiah. God spoke through Jacob that he would send the Messiah through the lineage of the tribe of Judah. So, what did God say about 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” (v. 8)
Judah was son #4, not the eldest. But what does Jacob say? He says that all his brothers will not only praise him but also bow down before him and worship him.
Judah is “a lion’s cub” (v. 9).
This is a metaphor for power and majesty. So, Jacob is prophesying that the Messiah will come like a powerful lion.
If you have read The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, you will know who Aslan is. Aslan is a central character and is a majestic and powerful lion and serves as the creator and true king of the world of Narnia. And everybody knows C. S. Lewis created Aslan as a representation of Jesus Christ.
“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” (v. 10).
This prophecy says that the tribe of Judah will be a royal family. Kings will come from this lineage. His prophecy came true when David became king of Israel.
There is an interesting phrase in v. 10: “until tribute comes to him” (ESV).
This phrase can be translated differently: e.g. (1) KJV, NASB: until Shiloh comes to him; (2) CEV: until nations obey you; (3) GNT: nations will bring tribute; (4) NIV: until he comes to whom it belongs; (5) Japanese: ついには彼がシロにきて (finally he came to Shiloh). The NASB/KJV translation seems to be good (until Shiloh comes to him).
What does Shiloh mean? It means “he to whom it belongs” (or “he who brings peace”). It is not an easy word to translate. Shiloh points to the Messiah.
Jesus brings peace and rest to those who follow him. Jesus is the prophesied Shiloh.
So, “until tribute comes to him” (until Shiloh comes to him): this means that, when Shiloh comes to Judah,
There will be “the obedience of the peoples”: it means that, when Shiloh (the Messiah) comes—not just Israel—but all nations will come and worship him. Every knee will kneel down before him.
And the final two verses show us the abundance and prosperity that the Messiah will bring: “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” (vv. 11–12).
This is a crazy picture. Imagine someone who is so rich and has so much wine that he could even wash his garments in wine. This is a picture of a time of prosperity, peace, and blessing under the reign of the Messiah.
APPLICATIONS
Jacob called God El-Shaddai: it means “God Almighty” (全能の神). (1) It means God’s power is infinite—there is no limit in his power and might; (2) God can accomplish his holy will without being hindered. There is nothing too difficult for God.
What’s mind-blowing about El-Shaddai is that his all-powerful God cares for us. And how did this all-powerful God care for us? By sending the Messiah. That was God’s salvation plan all along—even from the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:15). Through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God told many times that he would send the Messiah through the line of Abraham—God is now saying through Jacob that it would be through the lineage of the tribe of Judah that he would send his Son as the Messiah.
At the beginning of the sermon, I asked: Why did many Pharisees, religious leaders, and Jews reject Jesus as the Messiah? Why did they refuse to accept Jesus?
Here is the answer: one of the main reasons they rejected Jesus as the Messiah was because they didn’t believe that the messianic prophecy of Gen 49:8–10 came true in Jesus. These are their reasons:
- Jesus was not the lion of Judah—he was neither strong nor dominant.
- Jesus was not a king—he didn’t recover the glory of the kingdom of David; he didn’t do anything to overthrow the Roman empire.
- Jesus didn’t bring any material abundance—Jesus was poor himself.
- Jesus was not exalted—he was killed on the cross.
- There was no obedience of the peoples—Jesus was despised, arrested, and executed.
But they misunderstood the messianic prophecy. Their idea of the Messiah was a powerful and dominant political leader who could challenge the Roman Empire and recover the glory of Israel. What they were looking for was, yes, the Lion of Judah, just like in the prophecy of Jacob in today’s text.
But God’s idea of the Lion of Judah was quite different from theirs.
(1) Of course, Jesus was exalted to the righthand of God. But Jesus was humbled first.
“Christ humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). However, after that, “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Phil 2:9–10).
(2) Of course, Jesus is the Lion of Judah. But his kingdom is not earthly but spiritual.
“Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered” (Rev 5:5). Jesus didn’t come to conquer the Roman Empire. Jesus didn’t come to recover Israel as a nation. Jesus the Lion of Judah came to conquer the power of sin and death and set us free. Of course, in Jesus’ kingdom we have abundant blessings—but the most important blessing is that, in Christ, we have forgiveness of sins, so we are reconciled to God, and thus we have peace with God.
This is a far greater victory than any other conquest. No matter how wealthy and powerful you are, no matter how prestigious your citizenship may be, if you don’t have peace with God, it is of no use.
(3) After Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus’ kingdom is a universal kingdom that transcends ethnic and national boundaries.
Again, “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Phil 2:9–10). The gospel of Christ is still being proclaimed. We are here because of that.
CLOSING
The Jews rejected Christ because, in their own understanding, the work of Jesus didn’t realize Jacob’s messianic prophecy in Gen 49.
But the teaching of the Bible is that Jesus’ kingdom is not simply about political or earthly power but about something far greater:
御父は、私たちを暗闇の力から救い出して、愛する御子のご支配の中に移してくださいました。この御子にあって、私たちは、贖い、すなわち罪の赦しを得ているのです。(コロサイ人への手紙 1章13~14節)
Col 1:13–14: He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Because of the finished work of the Lion of Judah, we have peace with God, and we have eternal life in Christ.