The sceptre will not depart from Judah, Nor the lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh come, And to him will be the obedience of peoples.
Jacob is dying. He gathers his sons and tells them what will happen "in days to come." When he reaches Judah, the words reach far beyond one family. The verse fixes the royal line in Judah and promises the obedience of nations. Older translations read the middle line as "until Shiloh come," where the ESV has "until tribute comes to him." So two questions have followed this verse ever since: who is Shiloh, and when does the scepter pass?
Judah was not the firstborn, and his past held serious wrong. What sets him apart here is repentance that left God free to bless:
The prophecy about Judah is nothing like the one about Simeon and Levi. All of it is favourable. Judah had been guilty of very serious wrong too. But his repentance was deeply felt, as Genesis 44:18-34 shows, and God was free to bless him greatly. His brothers would praise him (Judah means "praise")… The scepter of royal authority would not depart from Judah, and neither would a lawgiver, until Shiloh came. Shiloh is the Lord Jesus. To Him would be the obedience of the people.
The staff "from between his feet" points to Judah's own descendants holding authority. History matched the words with striking precision:
"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet (from among his descendants) until Shiloh come." This was remarkably fulfilled. The tribe always kept its cohesion and self-rule, even in captivity, until "a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered" — enrolled for taxation. The Jews were about to lose their nationality and merge into the Roman Empire as individuals. Joseph and Mary had gone to their home town of Bethlehem for the very purpose of registering as Roman subjects. At that moment Messiah was born. Shiloh came.
Another writer weighs what the scepter itself stands for:
The "scepter" may be no more than the tribal symbol. If that is the sense, Judah was kept in that place until Shiloh, the Prince of Peace, came and was rejected. In due time the place was lost, until He comes again… If it means someone entitled to royal rule in Zion, that is true as well. So the line of David through Solomon ran on to Jesus, as Matthew 1 shows; and in Him — dead, risen and glorified — it remains, to be made good when God's time comes.
Commentators differ on how to translate this line. One reading takes Shiloh as a person who comes:
I believe, with the fullest authority in Hebrew, that the language allows us to take Shiloh as the subject and not the object. And the sense in the context, I believe, demands that we render it "until Shiloh (that is, Peace, or the Man of Peace, the Messiah) come."
Shiloh is also a place, and one reading has Judah coming to it. Set the Messiah reading aside, and a new problem appears:
The point that is hard to accept from the words is Israel's coming to Shiloh. Either it is "until rest come," or "until Judah come to Shiloh"… The ancient interpretations, the Targums and others, all take it as Messiah. If those are not accepted, then it is "till rest come," or "till Judah come to rest." The words "to him shall the gathering of the peoples be" are the difficulty then.
The reach of this promise turns on a single word:
At the end of that verse another striking fact appears. The word "people" is more correctly "peoples." It refers to the nations in general, and not just to the nation of Israel. Through His rejection and death, the coming of Shiloh has made Him the centre of gathering for a great crowd out of all nations. In the coming age He will be the visible centre of Israel and of the nations too.
Israel refused Shiloh when He came, so the gathering has not happened yet. That delay does not cancel the promise:
Shiloh came; but Israel were not ready, and refused Him. So the gathering (or the obedience) of the peoples, however certain, is still future. God's purpose seemed to fail. But the blood of the cross established it, though unbelief thinks the cross is its ruin. It is postponed, not lost.
- Chosen — Judah had serious wrong behind him, but he repented, and the royal blessing fell on him. His name means "praise."
- Kept — rule stayed with Judah's descendants, even in captivity, right up to the Roman registration that took Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem.
- Come — Shiloh means Peace, or the Man of Peace: the Messiah. Commentators differ over the wording, yet the ancient readings point to Him.
- Wide — the promise is to "peoples," plural: nations, not Israel alone, gathered around Him.
- Postponed — Israel refused Him, so the obedience of the nations is still ahead. The cross secured what unbelief thought it destroyed.
He bindeth his foal to the vine, And his ass's colt to the choice vine; He washeth his dress in wine, And his garment in the blood of grapes.
Jacob's dying words over Judah turn from a sceptre to a strange picture: a donkey tied to a vine, and clothes washed in wine. Commentators read a coming kingdom of peace and plenty here, and the King who brings it in, yet they differ over whose blood the "blood of grapes" means.
The verse hangs on the promise just before it. One writer names the ruler, then asks a hard question about His first coming.
Whatever the difficulties of this passage, one thing is clear. God promises a ruler from the tribe of Judah. The people will gather around Him, and He will bring in a period of peace and plenty. Most agree that this ruler is the Christ. But how does the prediction fit His first coming? At that time He was not the ruler. He was the One who had nowhere to lay His head.
A king tying his animal to a vine is a picture of lowliness, not of royal display. Later prophecy says the same, and the Gospels record the day it happened.
Verse 11 hints at His lowly character: He identifies Himself with the godly in Israel. People did not expect a king to ride a donkey, but a horse. Yet Zechariah 9:9 foretells the Lord Jesus coming to Jerusalem on a donkey, and the Gospels record how it happened (Matthew 21:1-9; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:35-38).
The verse names two animals, not one, and two vines — a vine, then a choice vine. One writer sees meaning in the pairing.
Binding his foal to the vine, and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, may point to the lowly ties of Messiah with Israel at His first coming. The first speaks of His link with the nation as a whole. The second speaks of His link with the remnant, the disciples.
The verse calls wine the blood of grapes. Some commentators read the stained garments as the blood Christ shed Himself.
But the vine and the "blood of the grapes" in which He washes His clothes stand for the voluntary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on Calvary.
Other commentators take the stain the opposite way. It is not blood given, but blood spilled in judgment, as in Isaiah 63.
The washing of His dress in wine, and His garment in the blood of the grapes, is in harmony with Isaiah 63:1-6, where He comes in judgment.
This reading turns on one question: whose blood is it?
It is hard to see how this passage could apply to the work of Jesus on the cross. He wears glorious clothing. He is in all the greatness of His strength. He treads the winepress and tramples down the people in His anger. His garments are sprinkled with their blood, not theirs with His.
Wine also stands for gladness. One writer reads Judah's wine as a joy with no shadow over it.
The wine of joy stands for the remembrance of Christ's precious sacrifice… With this there is no drunkenness, no spoiled taste, no evil, but only good. Of Judah, the worshipper, it can be said, "He has washed his garments in wine, and his vesture in the blood of grapes; his eyes shall be red with wine." The fear of drinking too much never enters the soul here.
Israel refused its King, but the prophecy still stands. Only part of it has come true so far.
As it is, only the first part — the negative part — has been fulfilled. The rest waits for the coming thousand-year kingdom, when all nations will gather to the Shiloh of Judah and find blessing in Him.
- Ruler. Jacob promises a King from Judah who brings peace and plenty. That did not fit the One who had nowhere to lay His head.
- Lowly. A colt tied to a vine fits a King who entered Jerusalem on a donkey, not a war horse, as the Gospels record.
- Blood. Commentators differ on the stained garments. Some see the sacrifice of Christ. Others see the winepress of Isaiah 63, where the blood is His enemies'.
- Joy. Judah's wine is joy without excess, joy bound up with the remembrance of Christ's sacrifice.
- Waiting. Only the first part of Jacob's prophecy has come true. The gathering and blessing of the nations still lies ahead.