Shiloh

Noah waited yet another seven days, and again he sent out the dove from the ark. And the dove came to him toward evening, and behold, in her beak was a freshly picked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water was abated from the earth. Then he waited yet another seven days, and sent out the dove, but she did not return to him again.

For Thy salvation I wait, O Lord. (Jacob’s dying words in Genesis 48 and 49) “Please swear to me, Joseph, my son, please do not bury me in Egypt, but when I lie down with my father, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” Jacob recalls and reminds everyone that Rachel is buried in Bethlehem.

Genesis 49:15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my SHEPHERD all my life to this day, the angel who has redeemed me form all evil, bless the lads, and may my name live on in them, and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” (vs 21) “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers. And I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

I don’t think Jacob is talking about Judah so much in Genesis 49:8-12 “Judah, your brothers shall praise you, your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies, your father’s sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a lion’s whelp, (cub) from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to Him shall be the obedience of the peoples. He ties his foal to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; He washes His garments in wine, and His robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are dull from wine, and His teeth white from milk. (Judah in the Hebrew sounds like the word for Praise—says the Net Bible notes) (Shiloh—the place where the ark resided in the future, or does Shiloh mean the Messiah?, or does it mean just ‘tribute comes’?) (obedience of the peoples means the nations)

Right before Jesus went to the cross, He asked his disciples to fetch a colt that had never been ridden, and He rode it into Jerusalem during His first advent. Then He went to the cross. When He comes back, at the second advent, also called, His Second coming, He will defeat all the armies arrayed against Israel, and set everything right, and rule for one thousand years. So, back in Genesis 49, Jacob is dying, and God the Holy Spirit is prophesying about the coming Messiah. These words probably did not make much sense to their ears, but to us, looking back, the Promise of a Messiah continued with each generation. Jacob believed in that Messiah. And Jacob knew he was going to die and be gathered to his fathers. Jacob believed in resurrection. Jacob knew this was not the end. Joseph honored his father’s wishes, and carried his father’s bones back to Israel. And then Joseph gave instructions that his bones, too, be carried back and four hundred years later, as Israel became a nation, they carried Joseph’s bones with them back to the Promised Land.

Shiloh is in Psalm 78. Wow. Whoever wrote Psalm 78 also must have read Jacob’s dying words in David’s time when so much of what Jacob said had come true. Again, that theme of Shepherd.

(Psa 78:1 NASB) (A Maskil of Asaph.) Listen, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

(Psa 78:2 NASB) I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,

(Psa 78:3 NASB) Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have told us.

(Psa 78:4 NASB) We will not conceal them from their children, But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.

(Psa 78:5 NASB) For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should teach them to their children,

(Psa 78:6 NASB) That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and tell them to their children,

(Psa 78:7 NASB) That they should put their confidence in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments,

(Psa 78:8 NASB) And not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not prepare its heart, And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

(Psa 78:9 NASB) The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, Yet they turned back in the day of battle.

(Psa 78:10 NASB) They did not keep the covenant of God, And refused to walk in His law;

(Psa 78:11 NASB) And they forgot His deeds, And His miracles that He had shown them.

(Psa 78:12 NASB) He wrought wonders before their fathers, In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.

(Psa 78:13 NASB) He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; And He made the waters stand up like a heap.

(Psa 78:14 NASB) Then He led them with the cloud by day, And all the night with a light of fire.

(Psa 78:15 NASB) He split the rocks in the wilderness, And gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths.

(Psa 78:16 NASB) He brought forth streams also from the rock, And caused waters to run down like rivers.

(Psa 78:17 NASB) Yet they still continued to sin against Him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.

(Psa 78:18 NASB) And in their heart they put God to the test By asking food according to their desire.

(Psa 78:19 NASB) Then they spoke against God; They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

(Psa 78:20 NASB) "Behold, He struck the rock, so that waters gushed out, And streams were overflowing; Can He give bread also? Will He provide meat for His people?"

(Psa 78:21 NASB) Therefore the LORD heard and was full of wrath, And a fire was kindled against Jacob, And anger also mounted against Israel;

(Psa 78:22 NASB) Because they did not believe in God, And did not trust in His salvation.

(Psa 78:23 NASB) Yet He commanded the clouds above, And opened the doors of heaven;

(Psa 78:24 NASB) And He rained down manna upon them to eat, And gave them food from heaven.

(Psa 78:25 NASB) Man did eat the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.

(Psa 78:26 NASB) He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens; And by His power He directed the south wind.

(Psa 78:27 NASB) When He rained meat upon them like the dust, Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas,

(Psa 78:28 NASB) Then He let them fall in the midst of their camp, Round about their dwellings.

(Psa 78:29 NASB) So they ate and were well filled; And their desire He gave to them.

(Psa 78:30 NASB) Before they had satisfied their desire, While their food was in their mouths,

(Psa 78:31 NASB) The anger of God rose against them, And killed some of their stoutest ones, And subdued the choice men of Israel.

(Psa 78:32 NASB) In spite of all this they still sinned, And did not believe in His wonderful works.

(Psa 78:33 NASB) So He brought their days to an end in futility, And their years in sudden terror.

(Psa 78:34 NASB) When He killed them, then they sought Him, And returned and searched diligently for God;

(Psa 78:35 NASB) And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer.

(Psa 78:36 NASB) But they deceived Him with their mouth, And lied to Him with their tongue.

(Psa 78:37 NASB) For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant.

(Psa 78:38 NASB) But He, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; And often He restrained His anger, And did not arouse all His wrath.

(Psa 78:39 NASB) Thus He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes and does not return.

(Psa 78:40 NASB) How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert!

(Psa 78:41 NASB) And again and again they tempted God, And pained the Holy One of Israel.

(Psa 78:42 NASB) They did not remember His power, The day when He redeemed them from the adversary,

(Psa 78:43 NASB) When He performed His signs in Egypt, And His marvels in the field of Zoan,

(Psa 78:44 NASB) And turned their rivers to blood, And their streams, they could not drink.

(Psa 78:45 NASB) He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, And frogs which destroyed them.

(Psa 78:46 NASB) He gave also their crops to the grasshopper, And the product of their labor to the locust.

(Psa 78:47 NASB) He destroyed their vines with hailstones, And their sycamore trees with frost.

(Psa 78:48 NASB) He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones, And their herds to bolts of lightning.

(Psa 78:49 NASB) He sent upon them His burning anger, Fury, and indignation, and trouble, A band of destroying angels.

(Psa 78:50 NASB) He leveled a path for His anger; He did not spare their soul from death, But gave over their life to the plague,

(Psa 78:51 NASB) And smote all the first-born in Egypt, The first issue of their virility in the tents of Ham.

(Psa 78:52 NASB) But He led forth His own people like sheep, And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;

(Psa 78:53 NASB) And He led them safely, so that they did not fear; But the sea engulfed their enemies.

(Psa 78:54 NASB) So He brought them to His holy land, To this hill country which His right hand had gained.

(Psa 78:55 NASB) He also drove out the nations before them, And He apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

(Psa 78:56 NASB) Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, And did not keep His testimonies,

(Psa 78:57 NASB) But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers; They turned aside like a treacherous bow.

(Psa 78:58 NASB) For they provoked Him with their high places, And aroused His jealousy with their graven images.

(Psa 78:59 NASB) When God heard, He was filled with wrath, And greatly abhorred Israel;

(Psa 78:60 NASB) So that He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh, The tent which He had pitched among men,

(Psa 78:61 NASB) And gave up His strength to captivity, And His glory into the hand of the adversary.

(Psa 78:62 NASB) He also delivered His people to the sword, And was filled with wrath at His inheritance.

(Psa 78:63 NASB) Fire devoured His young men; And His virgins had no wedding songs.

(Psa 78:64 NASB) His priests fell by the sword; And His widows could not weep.

(Psa 78:65 NASB) Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, Like a warrior overcome by wine.

(Psa 78:66 NASB) And He drove His adversaries backward; He put on them an everlasting reproach.

(Psa 78:67 NASB) He also rejected the tent of Joseph, And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

(Psa 78:68 NASB) But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved.

(Psa 78:69 NASB) And He built His sanctuary like the heights, Like the earth which He has founded forever.

(Psa 78:70 NASB) He also chose David His servant, And took him from the sheepfolds;

(Psa 78:71 NASB) From the care of the ewes with suckling lambs He brought him, To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance.

(Psa 78:72 NASB) So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them with his skillful hands.