Grace
I finished up Genesis in my daily devotions this week and was struck by how it ends. The Patriarch Jacob, on death’s door, offers his pronouncements about the future of his sons. Perhaps our guess is that as an old man—some older folks seem to soften up—he would go easy on them. But right out of the gate, we realize there won’t be any free passes. Dad tells the truth and there are consequences. He begins with Reuben, the firstborn, and the beginning is promising, until its not:
“Reuben, you are ymy firstborn,
my might, and the firstfruits of my strength,
preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence,
because you went up to your father’s bed;
then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!”
What’s that bit about Jacob’s bed and couch, which is the ground for why Reuben loses stature? Back in chapter 35:22, we read the following: “While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it.” That’s all we hear until it comes time for Jacob’s pronouncements in chapter 49. Maybe Reuben expected praise from Jacob, assuming that his father was unaware of his betrayal and his sexual sin.
Next up is Simeon and Levi, and they seem to fare no better:
“Simeon and Levi are brothers;
weapons cof violence are their swords.
Let my soul come not into their council;
O my glory, ebe not joined to their company.
For in their anger they killed men,
and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen.
Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,
and their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will divide them in Jacob
and scatter them in Israel.”
We’re reminded of the injustice committed against Dinah, when Shechem the Hivite seized her and “lay with her, and humiliated her.” The response of her brothers Simeon and Levi was to slaughter all of the men of the city, plundering all of their goods, along with their women and children. For their cruelty, they are destined to be scattered. So far we’re 0-2.
But then we come Judah, we find that the pronouncement is quite different:
“Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
your father’s sons shall bow down before you.
Judah is a lion’s cub;
from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He stooped down; he crouched as a lion
and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?
The mscepter 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.
Binding his foal to the vine
and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
he has washed his garments in wine
and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth whiter than milk.”
Jacob’s pronouncement over Judah is markedly different from that of Reuben, Simeon, or Levi in that there’s no mention of sin and its consequences. That’s not because Judah was more virtuous than his brothers. In fact, we remember that whole episode in chapter 38 where we find out that Judah had a thing for prostitutes and through a series of unfortunate events, including Judah breaking God’s law by refusing to give his son in marriage to his widowed daughter-in-law Tamar, he impregnates her, thinking that she’s a prostitute. It’s hard to find a more twisted, sinful episode than this one in the Bible.
But when hear Jacob’s future pronouncement over him, it’s mind-blowing. All of his brothers will praise him and he will have the honor of being the one through whom a forever king will come. As Jacob notes, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah.” Knowing what we know about Judah, how is a sinful son rewarded so lavishly? One word. Grace. Grace alone explains why Judah, despite his wickedness, was chosen by the Lord for the honor of bearing through his own lineage, the Christ.
Each of us, sinners as we may be, can say much the same as Judah could. That if not for grace, a grace that comes to us through the sin-bearing death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our prospects for the future would be less than hopeful.
