Wednesday, June 22
Read Genesis 49:1-28. What is the spiritual significance of Jacob’s blessing on his sons?
Beyond the prophecies concerning the immediate history of the tribes of Israel, Jacob sees the Messiah and the ultimate hope of salvation. This hope is already indicated in Jacob’s opening words that use the expression “in the last days” (Genesis 49:1), a technical expression that refers to the coming of the Messianic king (Isa. 2:2, Daniel 10:14).
The text then goes through the future line of each of these men. These are not predestinated fates, as if God willed that each of these would face what they faced; rather, they are expressions of what their characters and the character of their children would bring about. God’s knowing, for instance, that someone will kill an innocent man is a radically different thing from God’s having willed that the killer do it.
Read Genesis 49:8-12. What prophecy is given here, and why is it important?
Over and above human free will, God does know the future, and He had arranged that it would be through Judah that the Messiah would come. Judah (Genesis 49:8-12), who is represented by a lion (Genesis 49:9), refers to royalty and praise. Judah will produce King David, but also the Shiloh, that is, the one who will bring shalom, “peace” (Isaiah 9:6, 7) to Him “unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Genesis 49:10).
The Jews have long seen this as a Messianic prophecy pointing to the coming Messiah, and Christians, too, have seen this text as pointing to Jesus. “Unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Genesis 49:10), which is, perhaps, a precursor to the New Testament promise “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow” (Philippians 2:10).
As the Spirit of Prophecy says:: “The lion, king of the forest, is a fitting symbol of this tribe, from which came David, and the Son of David, Shiloh, the true ‘Lion of the tribe of Judah,’ to whom all powers shall finally bow and all nations render homage.” Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 236.
Why should we be rendering homage to Jesus now, even before all nations will do it?
Thursday, June 23
Read Genesis 49:29-50:21. What great themes of hope are found in the conclusion of the book of Genesis?
The conclusion of Genesis is made of three events that are filled with hope.
First, it is the hope that Israel will return to the Promised Land. Moses, the author of Genesis, describes Jacob’s and Joseph’s deaths and burial as events pointing to the Promised Land. Immediately after his blessing and prophecy on the “twelve tribes of Israel” (Genesis 49:28) Jacob thinks of his death and charges his sons to bury him in Canaan, at the cave of Machpelah, where Sarah was buried (Genesis 49:29-31). The narrative describing the funeral procession toward Canaan becomes a precursor to, several centuries later, the Exodus from Egypt.
Second, it is the hope that God will turn evil into good. After Jacob’s death and burial, Joseph’s brothers are worried about their future. They are afraid that Joseph will now take his revenge. They come to Joseph and prostrate themselves before him, ready to become his servants (Genesis 50:18), a scenario that is reminiscent of Joseph’s prophetic dreams. Joseph reassures them and tells them to “fear not” (Genesis 50:19), a phrase that refers to the future (Genesis 15:1); because what was “thought evil against” him, “God meant it unto good” (Genesis 50:20), and turned the course of events toward salvation (Genesis 50:19-21; compare with Genesis 45:5, 7-9). That is, even despite so many human failures, God’s providence will overrule.
Third, it is the hope that God will save fallen humankind. The story of Joseph’s death in this last verse of Genesis is broader than just about Joseph’s death. Strangely, Joseph does not command to have his bones buried. Instead he points to the time “God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence” (Genesis 50:25), which they did, years later, in direct obedience to those words (see Exodus 13:19). Ultimately, the hope of the Promised Land, Canaan, is a symbol, a precursor, to the ultimate hope of salvation, of restoration, of a new Jerusalem in a new heaven and a new earth — the ultimate hope of all of us, a hope made certain by the death of Shiloh.
Read Revelation 21:1-4. How do these verses represent the grandest hope that we have? Without this promise, what hope do we have other than death alone as the end of all our problems?
