from Israel My Glory, Vol. 50, No.5
Messiah In The Law, Part 2
by Will Varner
The dying Jacob issued his last will and testament
by making prophetic statements to each of his 12 sons in Genesis
49:1–27. His fourth son, Judah, received the most precious of these
prophecies. In verses 8 to 12, Judah was promised that he would
be the leader of his brothers, that he would be a great conqueror, and
that he would produce the future kings of Israel.
THE LION OF JUDAH (GEN. 49:10)
The most important of Judah’s privileges, however, was that he would produce the Messiah: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Gen. 49:10). This prophecy promised that one day “Shiloh” would come, as a result of which there was an additional prophecy: “and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
The best interpretation of the term Shiloh views it as a personal name of the Messiah (i.e., the right of kingship will always be with Judah until the Messiah comes). To Him (the Messiah) the nations will submit. The Talmud lists Shiloh as one of the names of Messiah (Sanhedrin 98b). The most ancient Jewish commentary on the Book of Genesis also adopts this interpretation (Bereshit Rabba 99). This is the view of the Authorized Version and of many evangelical commentators. The name Shiloh is related to the word Shalom, the Hebrew word for peace. This agrees with the prophecy of the Messiah’s coming in Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Undoubtedly, the word Shiloh refers to the King Messiah, an interpretation affirmed even by the great medieval Jewish commentator, Rashi. This prophecy is one more brush stroke in the developing portrait of the Messiah in the Old Testament Scriptures. From that time on, people looked for the Promised One to come from the tribe of Judah. Later in Israel’s history, God chose David, a descendant of Judah, to be the man through whose family the Messiah would come (2 Sam. 7:12–16). Then the genealogy was narrowed once more when a specific town within Judah, Bethlehem, was designated as the place of the Messiah’s birth (Mic. 5:2).
Anyone claiming to be the Messiah must present these messianic credentials to Israel. Jesus possessed these credentials. The genealogy in Matthew 1:1–16 qualifies Him to be the Messiah. The marvelous account of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem recorded in Matthew 2:1–10 is in accordance with Micah 5:2. Jesus presented to Israel these and many more messianic credentials.
But someone may ask, “Could a Jewish person appear in the future who would have these same credentials and be Israel’s Messiah” No, because there are no records available to substantiate such a claim. When the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the Temple, with all of its treasures and archives, was completely destroyed as well, including the records necessary to validate the family and tribal genealogies. Since that fateful day, no Jewish person has been able to prove by records his or her genealogy.
When I was doing graduate work at a Jewish college in Philadelphia, I was privileged to study under an Orthodox Jewish professor with a Ph.D. from Harvard University. She taught me medieval Jewish history for 30 consecutive weeks.
About halfway through the term, the subject for the weekly class was “The Messiah in Medieval Judaism.” My professor, knowing my evangelical convictions said, “Well, Mr. Varner, I guess you’ve been waiting for this week for quite a while. Let me explain one thing: In my opinion, Christianity is totally irrational and I cannot see how any thinking person can believe it.”
Since she had thrown down the gauntlet, I decided to pick it up and accept the challenge. I responded, “May I take a few minutes and share with you the reasons why I believe the Christian faith has solid reasons for its validity” She replied, “Go right ahead,” and for the next half hour she allowed me to make my case for the messiahship of Jesus and the truth of the New Testament. I mentioned many messianic prophecies and their fulfillment in Jesus, as well as proofs for His resurrection and the validity of the New Testament.
I finished by telling her, “If Jesus is not the Messiah, then Orthodox Jews will be very disappointed, because there will not be a future Messiah for Israel.” Shocked at this, she asked what I meant by such a conclusion. I reminded her of what she already knew, that the genealogical records had been destroyed, so that no one claiming to be the Messiah today can authenticate that claim through those records. Then my learned professor answered, “Certainly somebody somewhere has kept the records.” Even though she had no idea who or where that “somebody” was, she expressed the hope that someday the records could be produced to authenticate the claims of her future Messiah. Again she remarked, “I certainly hope somebody has kept the records, because I sure want to know Him when He comes.”
I then said, “But you know that nobody has kept the records. Jesus claimed to be the Messiah before the records were destroyed. No one at that time questioned his descent from Judah and David. The only credentials He will bring with Him at His Second Coming will be the wounds He received at his First Coming” (cp. Zech. 12:10). Although she did not accept the Messiah that day, she never again called Christianity “irrational.”
If Jesus is not the fulfillment of the “Shiloh” passage in Genesis 49:10, the awful fact facing Israel is that there will never be anyone who can prove that he fulfills the prophecies of the Messiah’s royal lineage. But there is one who meets all of these qualifications—the Lion of Judah, who is also the Lamb slain to redeem Jews and Gentiles from sin’s bondage (see Rev. 5:5–10).
(We'll continue with the remainder of this article next week.)
 Will Varner is professor of Bible and Greek at The Master's College in Santa Clarita, California.
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