Wednesday, May 22, 2013

The Ruler of Promise: Genesis 49:10.

The following is from the ESV Bible. Genesis 49:10
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him;1 and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
Footnotes
[1] 49:10 By a slight revocalization; a slight emendation yields (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Targum) until he comes to whom it belongs; Hebrew until Shiloh comes, or until he comes to Shiloh
Notice from the footnote and from older translations of the Bible (KJV, ASV) "until tribute comes to him" is translated "until Shiloh comes." In his book, "The Promise-Plan of God," Walter Kaiser argues that Genesis 49:10 adds further revelation about the Man of promise (the promised Seed of Genesis 3:15) by quoting von Orelli. Von Orelli comments on the phrase "until Shiloh comes."
The context on one hand, the oldest authorities in respect of reading on the other, conduct us to our translation. Selloh was the reading handed down from antiquity, and the LXX [Septuagint] rendered this neutrally: heos ean elthe ta apokeimena auto [until there come the things stored up for him]. Instead of this abstract neuter subject we take the personal subject dominating everywhere here and render: until he comes into that which belongs to him, therefore into his own, his possession described on the sequel. Cf. especially the blessing of Moses on Judah, Deut. xxxiii.7: we'el ammo te bi 'ennu ["to his people bring him"]. As champion of the other tribes, he will display untiring energy until he has won his territory without curtailment; and then not merely will the tribes of Israel do homage to him but other nations also will bow to his rule.
Kaiser summarizes his argument that from Judah's descendants would come the prophesied Man of promise.
For Ezekiel, or later Jewish and Christian interpreters, to regard this as another addition to the doctrine of the seed to come is therefore not unwarranted. Neither was Ezekiel's allusion in 21:27, "until he to whom it rightfully belongs shall come, to him I will give it," out of bonds either. The Man of promise would be overwhelmingly successful; he would reign over all the peoples of the earth because it was his right and destiny so to do. Furthermore, he would originate from the tribe of Judah in Israel.

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