Genesis 48-50: Out of Judah

While Joseph was God's provision for the Israelites and made it possible for the promise to Abraham to be fulfilled,  he was not the final promise, nor were his descendants to be the ones to produce the final promise.  It was all foretold in Jacob, or Israel's, blessing of his sons before he died.  Jacob's blessings could not have been of his own giving.  Jacob had glimpsed God throughout his life, and it must have been God that gave him the words to bless his children. 

Joseph's sons had their bad sides and their good sides.  Reuben slept with his father's concubine, Bilhah, but he also tried to rescue Joseph when the brothers wanted to kill him and was willing to forfeit the lives of his sons, if Benjamin did not return from Egypt. Simeon and Levi shamed Jacob when they killed the Hivites because of Dinah.  Judah' two oldest sons were very wicked and when they died, and he had a child by his daughter-in-law.  But he also was the one that convinced the brothers to sell Joseph instead of killing him. Little is told about the other brothers, but they were all willing participants in getting rid of Joseph and causing great pain to their father. 

Jacob's blessing however, foretells God's plan for his chosen people that will comes from these less than honorable, nomadic, sheep herding people.  Out of them will come a great nation, and out of one of them, will come the Savior of the world.

“Judah, your brothers will praise you;
   your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
   your father’s sons will bow down to you.
You are a lion’s cub, O Judah;
   you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
   like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
The scepter will not depart from Judah,
   nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he comes to whom it belongs,
and the obedience of the nations is his. - Gen. 49:8-10 NIV

Out of Judah comes the end of the story.  The one who has the final triumph.  The obedience of the nations is his.

Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”  - Revelation 5:5 NIV

2010 Post - Genesis 48-50: The End of an Era or Beginning