Mark continued his series on Joseph this morning, looking again at the blessings Jacob gave to his sons before his death. Gen 49:8-12 looks at Jacob’s prophecy to Judah, and unlike the chastening words he pronounced to Reuben, Simeon and Levi, the words he spoke to Judah are positive and encouraging. The name itself means ‘praise’ and Judah was reminded that all his brothers would praise him. Clearly, he was an able communicator (his words had saved Joseph’s life many years before when some brothers wanted to kill him: see Gen 37:26-27) and had influence with his brothers; he had even spoken out to his father, reminding him of the fate that would befall them if they returned to Pharaoh without Benjamin (see Gen 43:1-5) The prophecy Jacob gave spoke of increase and blessing, and certainly, by the time of the second census in Israel, Judah was the largest of all the tribes. When Israel conquered Canaan, Judah’s portion was a third of the whole territory claimed, giving us further indication as to their growth and size.
Judah was clearly chosen by God (see Judges 1:1-4) and in the comments about being a ‘lion’s cub’ or ‘whelp’, we see something of Judah’s strength of character, determination and fighting skill. This association with a lion was reflected on the tribe’s flag in later years and, of course, in the lineage of Jesus, described as ‘the Lion of the Tribe of Judah‘ in Rev 5:5:
God saw Judah’s potential and developed that potential, giving him strength and vision. God can make us into whatever He wants, giving us strength and ability beyond ourselves. Even though Judah’s history was not always favourable (the conception of Perez and Zerah, told in Genesis 38, does not reflect well on Judah), God was still able to use him and from that lineage chose to bring Jesus the Messiah. We can be reassured that even though we make mistakes and mess up so often, God is able to use every circumstance for good; we can’t derail God’s plans!
Gen 49:11-12 speaks in poetic terms of the prosperity Jacob prophesied over Judah. God has plans to prosper us too (see Jer 29:11) and we can move forward, assured of our part in God’s plans (which span generations!) and of the blessing God has for us.