Look for a King

Look for a King

The Law anticipates a coming King of Israel.

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” Genesis 49:10

The word poorly translated “tribute” in our text is the Hebrew word “Shiloh.” This word is a contraction of the relative pronoun asher (“which” or “who”) and a prepositional phrase loh (“to him”). Literally, it could be translated, “which to him,” or, from the Hebrew idiom, “him whose it is.” When He comes, for whom the scepter and Kingdom have been prepared, the dynasty begun with David will cease to be passed down among the tribes of Judah. Rather, “Shiloh” will rule until He brings about the obedience of all the peoples, until all His enemies are placed under His feet and all His faithful people have been gathered unto Him (v. 8; cf. Ps. 110). He will wield the scepter of uprightness as He advances His rule on earth unto the meekness, goodness, truth, and righteousness of God (Ps. 45:6).

Shiloh will be like a lion. Note how Jacob uses all the names for a lion to describe the tribe of Judah—a lion, a lioness, and a lion cub. The Lion of the tribe of Judah is the King, not merely of the forest, but of the earth. He comes on a donkey’s colt (v. 11) with his garments stained with the color of blood. He has wine in His eyes and purity in His mouth (v. 12), and to Him, to Shiloh, will be the obedience of all the peoples of the earth.

The guidelines for a king to rule over Israel, set forth in Deuteronomy 17, provide a temporal foreshadowing of the coming Shiloh. His rule will be according to God’s Law (as understood in its entire revelational setting), and His purpose will be not to aggrandize Himself but to serve His people for the sake of the promises God has for them. The Law points forward to a coming King, the King of Nations. Only in His hand, according to His Word, can we truly understand, obey, and teach the Law of God unto the fullness of God’s blessings (2 Pet. 1:4; Matt. 5:17-19).

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T. M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.