"Gather around, sons of Jacob. And listen to your father Israel!
Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the first fruits of my manhood! excelling in honor and excelling in power.
Restless a flowing water, you will excel no more for you went to your father's wife, on to my bed and defiled it.
Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence. Let me not share their counsel! Let my heart keep far from their company, for in anger they killed men, and hamstrung oxen at their pleasure. A curse on their anger for it is fierce; a curse on their fury, so cruel! I will divide them among Jacob, and scatter them among Israel.
Judah, your brothers will praise you!
You shall seize your enemies by the neck!
Your father's sons shall bow before you.
Judah, a young lion!
You return from the prey, my son!
Like a lion he stoops and crouches,
and like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?
The scepter shall not be taken from Judah,
nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs,
and who has the obedience of the nations."
- Genesis 49:2-10
(Jacob's blessings do not go to his sons but to the twelve tribes bearing their names. The future destiny of these tribes will vary greatly. Jacob's blessing is a way of saying that these destinies were known to GOD beforehand and that they were part of HIS plan of salvation which benefits everyone, but does not give the same gift to everyone.
The two tribes of Judah and Joseph dominate. This ancient prophecy seems to say that Judah would live apart from others until the coming of "the one the people would obey." This text, however, is not clear in the original manuscripts. Did they wish only to celebrate the coming of king David, or was it the announcement of a great destiny for the kingdom of Judah, or was it the expectation of a savior-king? Actually the kings of the people of GOD and JESUS after them were to come from the tribe. Judah here is considered as the heir of the promises made to Abraham and Jacob.)
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