"I made haste, and did not delay to keep Your commandments." - PSALM 119:60
Live for God!
The Lion, King of the Beasts
Just before he breathed his last, Jacob by inspiration gave blessings to his sons. To his fourth son, Judah, he says, "Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's children shall bow down before you”, Genesis 49:8. Judah was chosen to be the father of the tribe from which kings would come, a place of honour, the right to rule, because of his godly behaviour in comparison to that of his three older brothers.
Jacob continued, “Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him?” As a lion’s whelp matures to the point where he can hunt for himself, this tribe would eventually grow up to produce the kingly line of David, the one who would prey on the enemies of God’s chosen nation Israel to the point that he and the nation would peacefully be able to rest without disturbance.
Then Jacob gives the most amazing blessing of all: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.”
The Hebrew meaning of the word Shiloh is uncertain, but seems to mean “restgiver” or, as the Septuagint translates it: “him to whom it (the sceptre) belongs.” A sceptre is a long ornamental staff held by a ruler to symbolize his authority. This physical rulership by the lion tribe of Judah would last until the Sceptre (executive power) and “lawgiver” (legal or judicial power) was taken away from “between his feet” and given to Shiloh, the One to whom it belongs. From other similar prophecies, Shiloh can be identified as the Messiah of OT prophecy, the Seed promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Gen. 22:18; 26:4, 28:14. He will have more authority than the earthly kings of Judah, exercising authority over ALL nations in an everlasting kingdom, Dan.2:44-45.
Persian King Darius with his Sceptre
Although David’s descendants lost their throne at the time of the Babylonian captivity, (Ezek.21:26), they were allowed to return under the leadership of his descendant Zerubbabel, and exercise a good deal of self-rule. When in 37 BC, Rome gave Herod the Great, a man with no Jewish blood, the right to rule over the Jews, the Sanhedrin still maintained judicial authority to execute those found worthy of death. But this too, came to an end in AD 6. When the Sanhedrin received this news, they covered their heads with ashes and their bodies with sackcloth, crying, “Woe unto us, for the sceptre has departed from Judah and the Messiah has not come!” (Talmud Bab., Sanh. Chp.4, fd.37, recto.)
But the Messiah, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, HAD come! (Rev.5:5) Jesus came teaching and working miracles to convince the Jews that he was the promised King, “the one whose right it is,” (Ezek.21:27), “the Son of the Highest,” (Lk.1:32-33), the “One like the Son of Man” to whom would be given “dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him,” Dan.7:13-14.
Every now and then there is a news item in South Africa about someone who fails to respect the king of the beasts, climbs out of his car in the game reserve to get a better picture, and becomes the lion’s prey. Do you respect the Lion of the tribe of Judah? When He made death His prey and ascended to appear before His Father in heaven, His father gave Him all authority in heaven and on earth, symbolized as a “scroll.” This prompted the four living creatures and 24 elders to fall down before Him crying, “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,”