I know the Old Testament can be a confusing book. It is actually 39 books, with so many stories a person can get lost. It is helpful to know that there is a theme running throughout the Old Testament. And what is this theme around which the Old Testament is centered? On the surface, the Old Testament is the story of Israel and her great king, David. But, since the Old Testament continues after the reign of David, there’s something else going on, and David is just a part of it - that greater theme is Messiah, the Promised Savior. And we find this theme running through Genesis
3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
As soon as they were discovered in sin, God promised a Savior, who would destroy the adversary and restore the presence of the Lord. This is the first promise of Messiah and it tells us the Promised Savior will be a human.
“And just as through a disobedient virgin man was stricken down and fell into death, so through the Virgin who was obedient to the Word of God man was reanimated and received life” ~Irenaeus, The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching
12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
This is a signal event in the Bible, this is when salvation history kicks into gear. God calls Abram and promises him a land and to make of him a nation - that’s Israel and the “promised land”. Then He says, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. From the beginning, the plan and the promise was “all families of the earth.”
The Promised Savior would come from the family of Abraham. But Abraham had many sons, the two most prominent being Ishmael and Isaac. And God made it clear that his choice was Isaac: And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. (17:19; see also 17:15-21, 22:18)
The promise is then renewed with Isaac:
26:24 And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham's sake.
Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau was the firstborn and the one expected to receive the promise, but God chose Jacob instead.
In 28:10-15 God renewed the promise to Jacob
28:14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
The Promised Savior will be from Jacob, who was later named Israel - Messiah will be from Israel.
But Jacob had 12 sons! As he was dying, Jacob gathered his sons around him and prophesied over them, and in so doing he revealed which tribe the Promised Savior would be from:
49:8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.
9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Amen! The Promised Savior will be from the tribe of Judah.
Shiloh is the promised Savior, the Messiah, but what is Shiloh? As Adam Clarke explains:
“The duration of the power of this famous tribe is next determined: 'the scepter' or it’s civil government, was not to cease or depart from Judah until the birth or coming of Shiloh, signifying the Apostle, as Christ is styled, Hebrews 3:1 (the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus); nor was the native lawgiver, or expounder of the law, teacher, or scribe, intimating their ecclesiastical polity, to cease, until Shiloh should have a congregation of peoples, or religious followers, attached to him. And how accurately was this fulfilled in both these respects!
Here then we find the true meaning and derivation of the much disputed term Shiloh in this prophecy of Jacob, which is fortunately preserved by the Vulgate, "The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations," and also by a rabbinical comment on Deu 22:7: 'If you keep this precept, you hasten the coming of the Messiah, who is called Sent.' " (commentary on Genesis)
This theme of the promised seed runs throughout Genesis. This book is not simply interesting stories about ancient people, or even the story of the beginning of Israel. Genesis is the story of the creation of man, the fall of man into sin and death, and the promise of God to send a Savior who will restore man to the presence of the Lord. The Promised Savior will be a human, of the family of Abraham, from the nation Israel, from the tribe of Judah.
And the New Testament makes it clear that Jesus of Nazareth was born of a woman, a son of Abraham, from the tribe of Judah.
Jesus is the promised seed, the Messiah.
Amen.
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