Beyond The Basics by Dan Snyder

April 01, 2024 Genesis 49: Jacob Blesses His Sons

Transcript:

Due to the nature of the content of this episode, if you are listening around small children, please use discretion before listening.

Welcome to the Beyond the Basics Bible Study Podcast. My name is Dan Snyder and I am your host. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Beyond the Basics, where we are exploring the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, one chapter at a time.

Do you ever wish you could know the future? I mean, at least some of it, right? Just so you can be prepared for what might happen. I mean, what would you do with that knowledge? If you knew the future, would you prepare? Would you try to get rich off of it? What would you do? We all have those thoughts from time to time, I’m sure, right? If I only knew this was coming, if I only knew ahead of time that this was gonna happen, I would have done things differently.

Well, here in Genesis 49, we’re going to find out a little bit about the future. Jacob, through the Holy Spirit, is going to tell his sons what’s going to happen in the future. And the purpose is, of course, to both rebuke his sons and encourage them, as well as give insight into the eventual fulfillment of Abraham’s covenant. And so the question is, how are they going to respond? And how are their descendants going to respond? And by extension, how will we respond as we read what’s going to take place in the future? And I’ll explain as we get into the chapter why I believe that this chapter is mostly about the future. Not everyone is going to agree with me on that, and that’s okay, but I’ll explain why I believe that.

So getting into the chapter, verse one, then Jacob called his sons. So this was after Jacob had finished blessing Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, in the previous chapter. So now he calls all the rest of his sons to him and says, “Gather yourselves together that I may tell you what shall happen in days to come.”

Now I believe, could be wrong about this, but I believe this is the first time that anybody has intentionally given a prophecy in the Bible. There have been those who have unintentionally given prophecies, and of course God has given information to some of the characters that we’ve met about the future, but this is the first time that anyone has sat down and said, “I’m going to tell you what’s to come.”

And that phrase here, in days to come, could also be interpreted, “in the last days.” And many of your translations that you might be reading may say that, in the last days. So Jacob here is speaking of God’s plan for the future of Israel. And many of these blessings are not going to come to pass until future times. So they might seem unclear to us now, even as we read it now. Think about ancient Judaism, Second Temple Judaism, as they spent time pouring over these scriptures trying to figure out what these messianic prophecies meant. They seemed so unclear to them and so there was so much speculation until it actually comes to pass. And that’s what we’re gonna notice here.

But according to Nachmanides, who was a 13th century Jewish commentator and rabbi, the phrase, “in days to come” or “in the last days,” refers to the time of the Messiah. This is a specific phrase that is apocalyptic in nature. It refers to the time when the Messiah will come and destroy the nations who oppose Him and eradicate wickedness on the earth. And he says that this is the consensus, essentially, among Jewish scholars, that this phrase refers to the time of the Messiah when He will come to judge the earth.

So, we need to read this blessing with this in mind. This is the context of this blessing that Jacob is going to give his sons. Now I don’t know if it’s true that every Jewish scholar believes that this phrase, the last days, refers to the time of the Messiah. This is according to Nachmanides. And of course, there’s been 700 years of Jewish scholarship since then. So that may have changed. But what he’s going to be referring to is even older Jewish scholars, older Jewish writings, and this is, he’s not just coming up with this on his own.

So, this is, in my opinion, a very important concept that we often miss in our modern Western world as we’re reading the Bible. And I see this taught in theory a lot of times. I see it presented by modern Western scholars, biblical scholars in theory many times that we need to consider the Jewish context and the Jewish understanding of the Scriptures as they were understood when they were written. Who were they written to? What did they believe was the meaning of the scriptures at the time they were written? And that’s all well and good until you start to get to scriptures that speak about the second coming of Jesus. And then those scriptures many times start to get spiritualized.

We’re going to talk a lot in this chapter about Jesus as a warrior king. And that often gets spiritualized as Jesus making war on sin. Now that’s true, but that’s not how the Jewish writers of the Bible or the Jewish readers of the Bible at the time would have understood it. And we need to consider that as we’re reading and as we’re interpreting. We have to remember that the ancient Jews believed the Messiah is someone who would come and restore Israel to preeminence among the nations that would make them a light unto the nations and fulfill the blessing and covenant that God made with Abraham to bless the nations. That is what the Messiah would be coming to do. He would liberate them from their oppressors and their enemies. He would establish them in the land and He would rule over Israel and the earth and be a blessing to the nations and to all the peoples. That’s what the Jewish understanding of the Messiah would have been as they were writing and reading the scriptures. So we can’t just dismiss that. The only thing they got wrong was the timing. They didn’t understand that there would be two comings.

Now, to be honest, the Bible, the Old Testament, is not clear at all on that point until after Jesus died and rose from the grave and ascended. It wasn’t until then that anybody understood that’s what the scriptures were talking about. But the New Testament writers, even then, still pointed towards a time when he would return and fulfill the expectation that is found all through the Old Testament. It is very, very clear. So we need to keep that in mind. I believe this is the context of this chapter. I believe Nachmanides is correct. I believe that phrase, the last days, is correct. I believe this is mostly referring to a time still yet to come. And we’re going to see that as we go through this chapter. So let’s get into the blessing.

Jacob says, “Gather yourselves together that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come or in the last days. Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father.”

Now in verse 3, he’s going to start giving individual blessings to each of his sons. So he starts off with Reuben. In verse 3, he says, “Reuben, you are my firstborn.”

So Jacob first describes what Reuben should have been as his firstborn. He says, “My might.”

So he should have been a mighty and powerful man. He says, “The first fruits of my strength.”

This is all in verse three here. So he should have been the first one to show the strength of his father’s family. Jacob says he was preeminent in dignity, as in the most dignified one of the family. And he’s preeminent in power, as in the most powerful one in the family. These are all things that Reuben should have been.

But in verse four, he says, “You’re unstable as water.”

What strength Reuben had is now turbulent and destructive.

So Jacob goes on in verse 4 and says, “Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence.”

Because as I mentioned, Ruben had preeminence in the family as the firstborn, but this would no longer be the case. Everything that he should have had, all the power and privilege he should have had as a firstborn, it’s not gonna be his. Why? In verse 4, “Because you went up to your father’s bed, then you defiled it. He went up to my couch!”

He slept with his father’s wife in order to take control of the family in Genesis 35. That’s exactly why Jacob is refusing to give Reuben what he had been in line to receive.

So moving on to verse 5, now we’re going to get to Simeon and Levi. So he says, “Simeon and Levi are brothers.”

And we’re going to find out that they’re brothers not only in blood but indeed they do the same things. What do they do? Weapons of violence are their swords. So they were responsible for destroying the town of Shechem.

Verse 6, Jacob says, “Let my soul come not into their counsel.”

And then he says, “I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.”

Now this is true. This is what ended up happening. Levi would end up being divided as a tribe among the rest of the 12 tribes as priests. They wouldn’t have an inheritance of land, but they would be scattered and divided. They would be redeemed when they stood with Moses during the incident of the golden calf in Exodus 32:25-28. This was the story of redemption. Levi could have been lost permanently, but was not. Instead they were, because they stood with Moses, for the Lord, they were given the role of priesthood.

Simeon was also scattered. In Joshua 19:9 we’re told the inheritance of the people of Simeon formed part of the territory of the people of Judah. Because the portion of the people of Judah was too large for them, the people of Simeon obtained an inheritance in the midst of their inheritance. Basically, Judah occupied a large territory in the south of the nation of Israel, and Simeon had a small territory within that territory of Judah. And they ended up ultimately just kind of assimilating into the nation. They mostly disappeared after the conquest of the land of Canaan. The tribe is mentioned very, very little after that.

So now in verse 8, we’re going to get to Judah. Now Jacob, for the first three sons, all he talked about was the egregious sin that they had committed. And Judah was not exempt from that. And I’m sure he’s sitting there thinking, “It’s my turn now. And what is dad going to say about me?”

Well, Jacob didn’t say anything about Judah’s sin, even though it was significant. I mean, he had sold Joseph into slavery. He withheld intentionally a husband and children from his daughter-in-law, Tamar, and then ultimately committed incest with her. But I think that Jacob recognized that Judah was repentant of his sin. He had shown multiple times at this point that he had repented and that he had grown into a man of significant character. I think Jacob saw that.

So he says, “Judah, your brother shall praise you.”

Now, this is going to start a string of some play on words. Many of these blessings are going to play off of the meaning of each of the brother’s names, which Judah means praise or is similar to the word praise. So in other words, Jacob here is saying, “Judah, it’s you whom your brothers will praise. Not Reuben, not Simeon, not Levi, but it’s gonna be you that they will praise because your older brothers were unfit for leadership.”

And he says, “Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.”

So he’s gonna be victorious in battle. And then he will return to praise from his brothers. And he says, “Your father’s son shall bow down before you.”

What’s happening here and what we’re gonna see is that Judah is gonna be chosen to be the royal tribe. Now that doesn’t mean that he’s receiving the birthright. In 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 it says: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, for he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel, so that he could not be enrolled as the oldest son. Though Judah became strong among his brothers and a chief came from him, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph.

So the author of the Chronicles is saying, even though Judah became the royal line, the birthright still was given to Joseph, not Judah and not Reuben. But Psalm 78 confirms that Judah was chosen as the tribe from which the coming king would be from. It says in verses 67 through 68, he rejected the tent of Joseph. He did not choose the tribe of Ephraim. So Joseph received the birthright. Ephraim was given the status of firstborn but he rejected Joseph and he rejected Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves. Judah was chosen to be the royal tribe.

Then in verse nine, Judah is a lion’s cub, which is the king of all the animals, a lion. Jacob moves on, he says, “‘From the prey, my son, you have gone up.”

He stooped down, just like a lion crouches to go to sleep. He’s stooping down after catching his prey. “He crouched as a lion and as a lioness. Who dares rouse him?”

So Judah is portrayed here as a lion cub who just finished a successful hunt and now he’s laying down to rest. And anybody who would try to wake him up would be in serious danger. It says, who dares rouse him? Who dares rouse a sleeping lion? Don’t do that. Nobody would do that. Don’t do that to Judah. That’s what Judah is like. So this is expressing how dangerous of a warrior Judah will be.

Verse 10, he says, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet.”

So this is confirmation right here that the kings of Israel and Judah would come from Judah’s line, and they would not depart from his line. And it’s true. Nobody outside of the tribe of Judah ruled over the kingdom of Judah. Now of course Israel, the northern kingdom split away, and many kings from many tribes ruled over that nation for several generations. But in Judah, even through the time of the kings, the governors, after the exile and after they returned, hundreds and hundreds of years, Judah maintained someone on the throne.

And Jacob goes on and says, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him,” or, “Until he comes to whom it belongs,” is another way of saying that.

What Jacob is saying is the scepter shall not depart from Judah until the rightful ruler would come to claim the throne. And that ruler would never give up the throne. He would rule forever. Literally, in Hebrew, this phrase is, “Until Shiloh comes,” which the word Shiloh means “One to whom it belongs.” So that’s where that interpretation comes from, that the scepter would remain in Judah until someone came to whom the scepter belonged.

Now if you’re reading in the ESV, and I’m not sure how many other translations say this, it says until tribute comes to him. And that word tribute comes from a revocalization of the word, shiloh. Don’t ask me how that works. I’m just reading the footnotes in my Bible. You should all have that. Some translators treat that as a noun rather than referring to a person. So that’s where the difference in the translations come from and I don’t know which is correct. Although the phrase “Until shiloh comes” or “Until the one to whom it belongs comes” seems to be the predominant translation. I have not seen this word tribute until I started using the ESV. So take that for what it’s worth.

Moving on in verse 10, he says, “And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples,” or the obedience of the nations.

So what Jacob is saying here is that the coming king that would be from the line of Judah would be obeyed by more than just Israel, he’d be obeyed by the nations. So we’re starting to get a picture here of somebody that may come in the future and rule the nations. And this is supposed to start reminding us of what God had promised Abraham, that through him all nations would be blessed.

Then in verse 11, Jacob says, “Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine.”

What we’re going to see here is this imagery, it’s going to bring to mind a time of prosperity and abundance. This is in context to a king that’s going to come and rule over the nations. What Jacob is saying here is that the reign of this coming king is going to be marked by prosperity and abundance. This image of the vine, he says, “binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine.” He’s saying he’s going to tether his animal to a vine. You would never do that. You wouldn’t tether your animal to a vine. That would be ridiculous. It would destroy the vine. But what it’s saying is that the vine would be so plentiful. The vine for grapes for making wine would be so plentiful that they would be used for common tasks like tethering animals. Because who cares if this vine gets destroyed? We’ve got so many more vines to get grapes from. We’ve got more than we need.

Then he goes on in verse 11, “He has washed his garments in wine and his vesture and the blood of grapes.”

Again, wine will be as common as water used for washing. Just like the vine will be so common that they’ll use it for tethering animals, wine is going to be as common as water. It’s basically saying that wine is going to be so common you might as well just wash your clothes in it and then get new clothes because they’re going to be stained red from all the wine.

Continuing on with the image of excess wine, he says in verse 12, “His eyes are darker than wine.”

All right, so we’re through the first four brothers. Now we have several other brothers that are going to get smaller blessings, shorter blessings until we get to Joseph. And if you want to hear those blessings, if you’re listening to the free show, if you want to hear more about those blessings, go ahead and subscribe to Patreon and you can hear more details about those blessings. If I were to go through them on the free show, it’d just be way too long. Only $4 a month on the Patreon. Highly recommend going and subscribing there. You can get this full episode with all the brothers where I go into detail on all the brothers and their blessings. So if you’re listening to the free show, we’re going to skip to Joseph. If you’re listening to Patreon, we will get to the rest of the brothers.

So now we’re going to get into Joseph and we welcome back the free show listeners. We’ll get into Joseph.

So in verse 22, it says, Joseph is a fruitful bow, which references Joseph’s son Ephraim in chapter 41 verse 52. Remember the name of the second, his second son, he called Ephraim for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. So once again, this image of fruitfulness.

So moving down to verse 23, it says the archers bitterly attacked him, which is true. Joseph was hated by his brothers, he was sold into slavery, he was falsely accused of infidelity, he was thrown into prison, he was forgotten by the cupbearer for two years. He was attacked over and over, shot at him, harassed him severely.

But in verse 24, yet his bow remained unmoved. He didn’t need to retaliate against those who attacked him because he had the Holy Spirit. Genesis 41:38, remember what Pharaoh said about him? He said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this in whom is the Spirit of God?”

That’s why Joseph didn’t need to retaliate. He had the Holy Spirit. People are going to come against us. Many of you have experienced this. We don’t need to retaliate. We don’t need to get back at them. We don’t need to fire arrows back, get our shots in. We have the Holy Spirit.

So Jacob says, “His arms were made agile by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob.”

So Joseph was protected by the same God who protected Jacob. And God protected Jacob to protect his covenant with Abraham. Joseph was protected by God for the same reason, to protect the covenant with Abraham.

And then Jacob goes on and says, “From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.”

So Jacob was the first one to compare God to a good shepherd. If you remember the last chapter, Joseph said in verse 15, “The God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day.”

And he calls God the stone of Israel, which is a common name for God in the Old Testament. But from what I can tell, the first time we’ve come across it so far in Genesis. Another example is going to be 1 Samuel 2:2 says: there is none holy like the Lord for there is none besides you. There is no rock like our God.

Jacob is reminding Joseph, “The one who protected you, the one who saved you, the mighty one of Jacob. He’s also your shepherd. He’s the one who’s going to guide you and lead you. He’s the stone of Israel. He is the one that this family and this nation is founded on. It is him.”

Just like Israel, our foundation needs to be on God and God alone. He alone can lead us. He alone can sustain us. I think it’s pretty common for people to understand God as our Shepherd. I mean, Psalm 23 is one of the most beloved Psalms of the entire Bible, right? That’s pretty easy for people to understand.

The rock or the stone is not an image that’s used quite as much in reference to God. That’s something that we can meditate on, that we can learn, that we can seek to understand that God is our rock. He is our foundation. Our entire lives are built on him and him alone. Without him, our lives crumble and fall and become dust. I work in construction, of course, and when you work in construction, you definitely understand the importance of a strong foundation. Of course, having no foundation at all is going to cause a house to just sink or fall down. It’s not gonna last long. At even a weak foundation, you’re gonna get cracking, you’re gonna get settling. The house is not going to last but a strong foundation that house will last. You can build a house that will last for as long as you want.

So then, in verse 25, Jacob goes on and says, “By the God of your father who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you.”

Now, Jacob is going to give Joseph three blessings here in verse 25. Going to give him the blessings of heaven above, which is rain, sunshine, et cetera. And the second one is of the deep that crouches beneath. So, provision for agriculture, going to include water, springs, rivers.

Now, both, of course, call to mind the creation story. Genesis 1:2 says: The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

There we see that deep. In Genesis 1:2 and later on verses 6 through 8, God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse heaven, and there was the evening and there was the morning, the second day.

So we see the deep and then we see heaven. What these blessings are saying as Jacob is giving him the blessings of all creation from the waters below to the waters above. May God bless you with the blessings of all creation.

Then he says the blessings of the breast and of the womb, which refers to fertility and offspring. So may you be blessed with the blessings of all creation and multitude of offspring that will be blessed with the same thing. Continuing on with that theme of prosperity, abundance, fertility is added to that here.

Verse 26, he says, “The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.”

So in verse 28, we’re done with the blessing. It says: All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each other with a blessing suitable to him. You notice that word blessed is repeated three times in the verse, showing that God’s purposes are completed in this blessing. These blessings are how God is going to bring about his purposes for the nation and for the world and for the covenant that he made with Abraham. The word blessing ties this chapter to the very beginning.

Genesis 1:28 says, God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish, the sea and over the birds of the heaven and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

That entire verse, all those images, all those concepts, fruitful multiplication, filling the earth, subduing it, they’re all present here in this chapter. So this blessing is tied to the Genesis 1 blessing, but also looking to the future.

What is the future of this nation. These blessings are important because they would have encouraged the nation while they’re in Egypt and slavery and wandering in the wilderness, many other times throughout their history. This is the future of the nation. This is the future of the world.

So then Jacob goes on and starts talking about his burial and says, “I am to be gathered to my people.”

And verse 29, “bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite.”

In verse 31, he says, “There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebecca, his wife, and there I buried Leah.”

So, all the major figures in the Genesis narrative are buried in this cave. Remember, we’ve talked about it a couple different times. This burial has been an expression of faith in the resurrection because they are dying and being buried in the land that God had given them with an eye looking toward the day when they be resurrected and receive that land permanent at the resurrection.

So Jacob here is expressing the same faith. Why did he care if he didn’t care about the resurrection? Why would he care about being buried in that same cave? He was all the way down in Egypt. They had better burial methods anyway. Because it wasn’t about that. It wasn’t about taking care of his body now. It was about putting him in the right place for the day when he would be resurrected and be able to claim the land that God had promised him.

He also says, “There, I buried Leah.”

So Leah will finally get her wish to be with her husband without any competition from her sister.

And I like the way this ends. Verse 33, when Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

This is how I imagine Jacob being resurrected. Walking out of that cave, staff in one hand, Leah in the other, limping but joyful, knowing he made it.

How does this chapter point to Jesus? We’ve been through a lot in this chapter, especially if you’re listening on Patreon, and we’re not done yet. I’ve got a lot more in this segment. There is, let’s be honest, there’s so much in this chapter, I had to leave a lot out. There’s just too much to get to in a reasonable timeframe for this podcast. I’m going to give you as much as I can within a reasonable timeframe.

So first, I’ve talked about that phrase “in days to come” or “in the last days.”

Here, that phrase “in the last days” precedes a prophecy about a king. That phrase is repeated before two other blessings in the Torah, which is Genesis through Deuteronomy. Numbers 24:12-14, Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, ‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord and do either good or bad of my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak’? And now, behold, I am going to my people. Come, I will let you know what this people will do to your people in the latter days.”

That’s that same phrase, the latter days, the last days. And then the second time is Deuteronomy 31:25-29. Moses commanded the Levites who carried the Ark of the Covenant to the Lord, “Take this book of the law and put it by the side of the Ark of the Covenant to the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death! Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come, evil will befall you because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”

There is that phrase again, in the days to come, that’s that same phrase. So two times here, one by Balaam, one by Moses and the Torah. So we have two instances of this phrase preceding two blessings. And both of those blessings contain similar prophecies of a coming king.

Numbers 24:17-19, Balaam says, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star shall come out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth. Edom shall be dispossessed; Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed. Israel is doing valiantly. And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion and destroy the survivors of cities!”

And then in Deuteronomy 33:5 Moses says, “Thus the Lord became king in Jeshurun,” which is another name for Israel, “When the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together.”

There is again another prophecy of the coming king or a king coming. So just like the prophecy in verse 10, these prophecies speak of a conquering king where all nations are going to worship and obey him. This is not speaking of just a man on a cross. This is speaking of a king who has overcome all his enemies.

Let me ask you this, are there still enemies of Jesus on the earth? If there are, then these prophecies haven’t come to pass yet. A king is not a king without a territory. Jesus is coming and he is coming as a king and he is coming to claim his territory and his inheritance on the earth and he will conquer and overcome any who would oppose him. This will happen one day.

And so that leads us to our second point. Jesus will return as a warrior king. Just like the imagery portrayed in the blessing for Judah of a fierce warrior, Jesus is going to return as a warrior king. I have several scripture references for you here. Again, on the study guide that you can download for free on the website, you can get it directly from the blog post page where the podcast is posted on beyondthebasics.blog. You can also get it on the free download section. And if you’re a Patreon listener, I put it on Patreon as well for you. There’s several scripture references here describing the Messiah as a warrior king. And there’s some Old Testament ones there.

I’ll read the one from Revelation 19:11-16. It says: Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty on his robe and on his thigh. He has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

He is coming as a warrior king. Now, Balaam, in fact, in Numbers 24:9, would be the one to tie the warrior king of the tribe of Judah to Abraham’s blessing. He says, “He crouched, he lay down like a lion and like a lioness; who will rouse him up? Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you.”

So, Balaam is taking the blessing given to Judah to be a crouching lion who dares rouse this crouching lion and the blessing given to Abraham, “Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you,” and turns it into one single prophecy. The lion of the tribe of Judah who when he is roused is fierce and violent and will succeed in what he sets out to do.

But the purpose is not just to be violent for violence sake. The purpose is not to just make war for war’s sake. The purpose is to fulfill Abraham’s blessing. “Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you.” It is the warrior king who would be the one to bless the nations. Genesis 12:3 is that original blessing. “I will bless those who bless you and to him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

This is the purpose of the warrior king. This is Jesus’ purpose when he comes back. Sounds contradictory. How can he bless the nations when he’s coming to destroy them? Doesn’t make any sense. Well, that’s only half the blessing. The other half is him who dishonors you I will curse. The nations are gonna dishonor Abraham. If the nations are gonna dishonor Israel, they’re gonna be cursed and they’re gonna be destroyed.

This is why it’s so important not to dishonor Israel. That doesn’t mean right now that we have to agree with every single thing that they do politically or militarily. That’s not what I’m saying. But we don’t want to dishonor them. We don’t want to curse Israel. That’s just asking for trouble.

Next point, Jesus would come riding on a donkey. There were several images of donkeys. We had a donkey being tied to a vine, Issachar being a humble yet strong donkey, bearing up a king.

Matthew 21:1-9 says: Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied in a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.'”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Jesus came riding on a donkey. He’s a king. Kings rode on donkeys. And that picture of Issachar being a donkey supporting kings means that one day Jesus is gonna come back He will be supported by Israel. There will be a remnant in Israel that will hold up Jesus as their Messiah as their king of the tribe of Judah.

Next point. Jesus will be worshipped and obeyed by all nations. There are several references here. Especially verse 10: “To him shall be the obedience of the peoples,” or the nations. The coming king will be worshipped and obeyed by all the nations. Jesus is going to be worshipped and obeyed by all nations. Psalm 2:8 says, “Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.”

Daniel 7:13-14 says: Behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and a glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

When Jesus one day is going to return, all nations are going to bow. All nations are going to worship. All nations are going to come to him and learn from him and worship. They will all obey. He will command the obedience of all nations. This will happen one day. He will reign from Jerusalem. He will be King. People need to obey the King. That’s the case in every single kingdom across every single nation across the entire history of the world. You obey the King. Jesus returns, we will obey the King.

Next, Jesus will restore the earth to the conditions in the Garden of Eden. And this is foreshadowed, this is pictured in all these blessings that refer to abundance and prosperity. This is what I talked about earlier, that this is not a prosperity gospel message. This is not saying that we experience this prosperity now, although some of us might, but in general, most of us are going to experience hardship and suffering and difficulty. And then in the age to come, when Jesus returns, the earth is going to be restored to Garden of Eden conditions, when we will experience prosperity and abundance in those days.

Revelation 22:1-5. There’s so much, and so I encourage you to go through and study this concept more throughout the Bible of the Garden of Eden being restored in the age to come. But in Revelation 22:1-5 it says: And then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp nor sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

This image is Eden on steroids. This is everything Eden could have been had Adam obeyed the Lord. We should look forward to this day. It’s the entire point of this chapter. We should look forward to the day when Jesus will return and establish his kingdom and restore the earth to what the garden was supposed to be. Communion with God, fruitfulness, abundance, healing, dominion over the earth. This will happen one day and we need to look forward to it. Don’t be afraid of the last days.

So before we get to our question for reflection, I just want to let you know a little bit of what’s coming up. Next week we will finish the book of Genesis. Next week I’ll release Genesis 50. That will be the end of the book of Genesis. We made it through and after we finish Genesis, we’re going to take some time off. I need to take some time off from publishing new episodes in order to write episodes for the next book of the Bible. We’re not going to go to Exodus. We’re actually going to go to the book of John next. I need some time to be able to write those episodes. I’m planning on taking probably two to three months, maybe four. I’m not sure yet. It just kind of depends on how long it takes to write those episodes. But just consider this season one. John will be season two of Beyond the Basics. A lot of podcasts release in seasons. Just consider that to be what’s happening here.

We’re not going anywhere. I’ve been pushing hard to finish Genesis, and I wanna take some time to write and record and get ahead of the next book. Beyond the Basics will be back after we finish Genesis. Don’t be nervous that it’s ending. It’s not ending, we’re not going anywhere. I’m not going anywhere. Just gonna take some time off to write. That’s why I’m gonna take some time off.

Patreon listeners, during that time off, I am going to be scheduling some live chats with you where we will go through and discuss questions, study questions or other questions on the study guides that I’ve written out that maybe you’re having trouble with or any other question that you might have about the book of Genesis. We’ll go through all those questions. I think right now what I’m planning on doing is bi-weekly question and answer sessions on a live video chat platform. That’s what I’m thinking.

So if you’re not a Patreon user, the only way to access those chats are going to be to sign up for Patreon and subscribe. It’s only $4 a month. You’re going to get access to those chats, those question and answer chats. I know I have some free Patreon subscribers out there. If you’re a free Patreon subscriber, you’re not going to get access to this. You need to become a paid Patreon subscriber.

So even though I’m taking some time off from publishing new episodes, now is actually a really great time to subscribe on Patreon because you’re going to get access to those chats. And if it seems like people like them, if it seems like it’s working out well, we’ll continue doing them. Even after I start publishing more episodes on John, if it seems like it’s worth it for you guys, we’ll keep doing them on Patreon. So Keep that in mind. Go subscribe. Only $4 a month on Patreon. You can find a link on the website. Just go to beyondthebasics.blog. It’s right there at the top on the homepage. Just click that link over to Patreon. You can also go to patreon.com/beyondthebasics683 and subscribe there.

So let’s get to the question for reflection for this week. So this week, I’m going back to the questions that I asked at the very beginning. How would you respond if you knew the future? Well, we talked about all sorts of ways in this chapter, how it reveals the future. And so the question I have for you is, how does this reality of the coming King change the way you live right now? Similarly, how will you respond to what God has revealed about the future in the scriptures? How does this knowledge of the future of the coming King affect your life today?

I think many times we don’t spend a whole lot of time studying Jesus’ return in the Bible, because we can’t imagine how it really affects our day-to-day lives. And let’s be honest, we’re so consumed with what we have going on day-to-day, we don’t always have capacity in our brains and in our emotions for what’s coming in the future. All we can deal with many times is just what’s right in front of us. And even that we can’t deal with. How are we supposed to think about the future?

But God gave us this information for a purpose, I believe. What are we going to do with it? What are you going to do with this information? What are you going to do with what God has revealed in the Bible about what’s coming? So meditate on that. Think about that today or this week.

Let’s pray. Lord, thank you so much for everything that you have revealed to us in your Word. Thank you for revealing the future, the knowledge and the information that you have trusted us with. Thank you that you desire to make your purposes known. I ask that you would work in each one of our hearts a desire and an understanding to know your purposes and to live according to what you have determined for the earth. I pray that we would live lives marked by justice and love, honor and mercy, dignity and humility. That our lives as we look towards the day when you will return, Jesus, that our actions would point to that day, that we would be blessing to others, that we would restore wayward and sinful hearts back to you, that we would be that ministry of reconciliation, that when you come to reconcile the earth you would find those that have already begun that work. Would you keep us, guide us, be our shepherd, be our stone, our rock, be our protector, be the one that fights for us. In Jesus’ name, amen

This was a long, intense, heavy episode. I appreciate you sticking with me. Go ahead and leave me a comment. I want to know what you think about the episode. Leave me a comment on the website or on social media. Don’t forget to leave a five star rating. Go ahead and leave a review on Apple or on Spotify. We’d love to get a great review from you guys, help expose the show to more people so that hopefully more people can be blessed till next week. Thanks for listening. Talk to you then.

And don’t forget, if you enjoy the show and would like to help keep it on the air, go to http://www.beyondthebasics.blog and click the donate button to make a tax deductible donation. Make sure you designate the donation for Beyond the Basics. You can also click the subscribe button, which will take you to my Patreon page, where for only $4 per month you can receive access to an additional 10 to 30 minutes of audio content per episode, as well as access to all previous episodes I’ve released.

Sources:

Guzik, D. (2018). Genesis 49 – The Blessing of the Sons of Jacob. Enduring Word. Retrieved March 23, 2024, from https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/genesis-49/

Wiersbe, W. W. (2010). Be Authentic: Exhibiting Real Faith in the Real World: OT Commentary, Genesis 25-50. David C. Cook.

Armstrong, S. (2013, July 14). Genesis 2011 – Lesson 49. Verse By Verse Ministries. Retrieved March 24, 2024, from https://versebyverseministry.org/lessons/genesis_2011_lesson_49

Sailhamer, J. H. (2008). The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (T. Longman & D. E. Garland, Eds.; Revised Edition). Zondervan.

Mark, J. J. (2009, September 2). Sidon. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 23, 2024, from https://www.worldhistory.org/sidon/#:~:text=Definition&text=Sidon%20is%20the%20Greek%20name,25%20miles%20south%20of%20Beirut).

Lucey, C. (2022, May 12). What Does it Mean to Be ‘Wise as Serpents and Innocent as Doves’? Christianity.com. Retrieved March 23, 2024, from https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/what-does-it-mean-to-be-wise-as-serpents-and-innocent-as-doves.html

Music:

“The Extreme Sport” by Diamond Tunes

“This Is Happy” by Paul Yudin

“Mellow Future Bass (Bounce On It)” by Alex Grohl

“Energy Rock” by Paul Yudin

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