The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.
Genesis 49:10, 28 (NIV)
Read: Genesis 49
Consider: When Jacob came close to death he gathered his twelve sons together and pronounced a blessing over each of them.
As you’ve read Genesis 49 you have probably come to the realisation that what we think of as a blessing today is not what Jacob gave his sons. Of the twelve blessings only two are what we would call extremely positive (Judah and Joseph), three are moderately positive (Zebulun, Asher and Naphtali), while seven are negative (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Dan, Gad and Benjamin).
If you had the choice of Jacob’s blessings which would you choose – probably the blessing given to either Judah or Joseph. The blessing pronounced over Judah (49:8-12) speaks very clearly of Jesus and him coming from the descent of this tribe.
Think again about Jacob’s blessings and take note of what is said in Genesis 49:28 that ‘… he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him’.
We should not crave the blessing reserved for another person, but only that which is appropriate to us.
Pray: Lord, may we be blessed with the blessing that is appropriate to us, as you alone measure our character and know what we are really like. Amen
Every blessing
No Condemnation 