Genesis 49:1-12 - Believers Chapel

The opening clause, "the scepter shall not depart from Judah," and the
following parallel one, "nor the ruler's staff from between his feet," has
been fulfilled in history. The dominion has remained with Judah, and
now it is resting in the sure possession of the tribe's "Lion," the Lord
Jesus Christ, who has prevailed by His sacrifice, winning the right to
rule over all men. The sovereignty of Judah in history is accented by
the fact that Judah became so dominant that the Hebrew people are
now called "Jews" almost universally, a term derived from the tribe of
Judah. The cross is His throne and the future will see the issues that
derive from it.
The identification of the term "Shiloh" has been called "perhaps the
most famous crux interpretum in the entire Old Testament." 7 It is
unsafe to dogmatize over the meaning of the term in the light of the
difficulty of pinning down its precise meaning, and particularly in a
sermon. Many have been the suggestions of the commentators. Some
have suggested that it refers to a place, the Shiloh mentioned, for
example, in 1 Samuel 4:12. It is impossible, however, to see how the
supremacy of Judah was affected by the setting up of the tabernacle at
Shiloh. Others have seen in the word the meaning his son, or progeny,
deriving it from a root with only analogies in other Semitic tongues.
The root itself is an imaginary one, but the existence of similar ones in
Aramaic and Arabic has suggested its possibility here. This view has
little to commend it.
Others have related the word to the Hebrew verb shalah, meaning to
be safe or at rest. 8 From this the sense of Restgiver is derived. Of
course, the Lord Jesus is the Son, and He is the true and only
Restgiver, but the meaning is not established here at all. Still others
have related it to the Hebrew word meaning to send, shalach. Again,
He is certainly the Sent One. In fact, that is one of the words that the
Lord Jesus constantly uses of His saving mission from the Father. He
was sent.
7