Shadowland: Beginnings: Week 56

Genesis 49

Judges of Israel

Joshua  Ephraim
Caleb, Othniel	Judah 
Ehud	Benjamin
Shamgar	Hittite ruler
Deborah Ephraim
Barak	Naphtali
Gideon	Manasseh 
Abimelech Manasseh (evil ruler)
Tolah	Issachar
Jair	Judah + Manasseh (through his wife Abijah)
Jephthah Manasseh (illegitimate)
Ibzan	Zebulun (Bethlehem by the Sea) or Judah (Bethlehem of Judah)
Elon	Zebulun
Abdon	Ephraim
Sampson	Dan

The Death of Jacob

• 49:1 "what shall befall you in the last days" - prophecy follows. See Deuteronomy 33
• 49:2 "sons of Jacob", "Israel your Father" - again with the two names. Israel was walking in the Spirit, his sons in the flesh.
• 49:4 "thou shalt not excel" - no prophets, no kings, no judges. Reubens numbers decrease between the two numberings in Numbers. Reuben doesn't even take an inheritance in the land. "unstable as water" - unreliable, like streams that spring up in the desert and then disappear. "father's bed" - Reuben tried to take his fathers place prematurely. Who does that remind you of?
• 49:7 "divide in Jacob" - Joshua 19, "scatter in Israel" Joshua 18:7, Joshua 21
• 49:8 Judah the Lion - "praise", "thy father's children shall bow" - Joseph received the birthright, but Judah receives the eternal kingship with David much later. 1 Chronicles 5:2
• 49:10 "the sceptre shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come". "Shiloh" means "the one who is worthy". (Revelation 5) The sceptre is the power of capital punishment. (See Esther 4:11)

  Herod Archelaeus causes too much bloodshed in his heavy handed rule (Wars of the Jews 2:8), so Rome banishes him to Gaul and makes Judeah a Roman province, appointing Caponius Procurator (around 7 A.D.):

  “But in the tenth year of Archelaus’ government, both his brethren, and the principal men of Judea and Samaria, not being able to bear his barbarous and tyrannical usage of them, accused him … Caesar, upon hearing what certain accusers had to say… both banished him, and appointed Vienna, a city of Gaul, to be the place of his habitation, and took his money away from him…Caponius also, a man of the equestrian order, was sent…to have the supreme power over the Jews” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book 17; chapter 13 verse 2 and Book 18; chapter 1 verse 1).

  By that decree, the Sanhedrin was restricted and adjudication of capital offenses was lost. The Jews went about mourning for they thought (but see Luke 2:42-52):

  "Woe unto us for the scepter has departed from Judah and the Messiah has not come!" (Babylonian Talmud, chapter 4, folio 37).

  Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death: That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die. John 18:31-32
• 49:11 the wine district of Israel: 2 Chronicles 26:10, also Engedi. "ass's colt to the choice vine" Zechariah 9:9 - who is the Choice Vine? John 12:13-15 "clothes in the blood of grapes" Isaiah 63 (remember, Edom means "red"), Revelation 19:13
• 49:13 Zebulun - "dwelling", was in Galilea, Joshua 19:10. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judah, but lived in Galilea. All the disciples were from Galilea except for Judas. "Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out." Deuteronomy 33:18 Jesus went out from Zebulun to proclaim the Kingdom of God.
• 49:14 Issachar, "an hire", the Ox.