Sunday Night, May 17, 2020 PM

Good God and all that you do is good. We know that every good and perfect thing comes down from you, our Father of lights, and with you there is no variation or shifting shadow. Now we can trust that whatever you bring into our lives is for our good and for your glory.

Now we ask that you would indeed provide for us what we need in every day. The wisdom that we need, the safety, the healing, the protection, our food, and our understanding of your word, our communion with you.

Lord, for all these things we come to you and ask that you would provide, and we ask that you would forgive us of our sins, that you would help us to know the cleansing and the freedom that we have in Christ, that we would not unnecessarily walk around weighed down by the burdens of guilt and shame, that we would come to Christ quickly and find in your Son Jesus Christ and his death upon the cross your righteous and faithful forgiving of us and our cleansing of our unrighteousness.

We ask that you would lead us always to consider what would be pleasing to our Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ and ask that you would lead us away from all those things which would be in opposition to Christ.

We need your wisdom and guidance in these matters. Father, we ask that in all things in our lives that you would be honored and glorified and that what you have commanded in heaven would be done here among us, that we would be the amen on earth of your will in heaven.

As we look at these final words of your servant Israel, we would give consideration to their weightiness, that we would take them to heart, and that we would consider what they have to say about your Son Jesus Christ, and we pray about all these things in his name, amen.

The Weight of Jacob’s Last Words in Genesis 49

Well, I invite you to turn in your Bibles to Genesis 49. We're going to be reading verses 1 through 12 in a moment. As we come to the end of our study of the book of Genesis, it is fitting that we have a chapter full of last words, the last words of Israel, his name being Jacob, but changed to Israel.

We come now to his prophecies concerning his sons, where we began in considering the generations of Jacob. Now, these are the generations of Jacob, and we began to consider all that happened in his family amongst his sons, but now we come to chapter 49.

He will be giving a final assessment of their lives and speaking about the future of their descendants. So, it's a chapter full of prophecies about the tribes of Israel. Last words are a fascinating consideration.

They seem to hold as much weight as the totality of an entire life lived. Philip III, King of France, said this as his last words, what an account I shall have to give to God, how I should like to live otherwise than I have lived.

The philosopher Socrates said all the wisdom of this world is but a tiny raft upon which we must set sail when we leave this earth, if only there was a firmer foundation upon which to sail, perhaps some divine word.

Now, Beethoven was succinct, too bad, too bad, it's too late. Karl Marx told his housekeeper his last words, go on, get out, last words are for fools who haven't said enough. Well, tonight we have far better words to consider, the last words of Jacob.

And Jacob had lived a very long life. And as we hear him from time to time reflect upon his days, he considered it, he considered his life filled with sorrows. Many of his sorrows stemmed from situations with his sons, but he also found great joy in some of his sons.

His health had been declining. And so, as we saw in the last chapter, he called Joseph to himself along with Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and Jacob adopted them as his own, giving Joseph that double portion that he wanted to bless him with as the firstborn of his favorite wife.

And so, Joseph inherited the rights of the firstborn, and Jacob made it clear that in that special time that God would lead his people into his place under his rule through his redeemer. This is all from chapter 48, but now in chapter 49, Jacob addresses all of his sons.

Now, this chapter is important for three reasons. First of all, we're going to read about the final words of this patriarch, Jacob, and consider the weightiness of it. But also, secondly, these words contain evaluation of Jacob's children, the lives that they had lived.

And third, these words are prophetic, and we'll see how it is that God's Word is true. The prophecies given by Jacob actually come true, and this gives...it's even more clear as he gives prophecies concerning Judah's famous descendant, the Messiah.

So, Genesis 49 is full of interesting prophecies and challenging application. And it is true that the last words of a man are important. We should consider how important a man's last words would be to you if they carried with them the final assessment of what he thought of you, and that's kind of what we have here, right?

Jacob is giving his last words, and he's giving a final assessment to all of his sons. You may imagine the critical importance, the heaviness, the weightiness that these words carried for these sons as they listened to their elderly father before he died.

So, let's begin by reading the text, verses 1 through 12 of Genesis 49. This is the Word of the Lord. Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, "'Assemble yourselves, that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come.

Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel, your father. Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. Uncontrolled 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. Simeon and Levi are brothers, their swords are implements of violence. Let my soul not enter into their council, let not my glory be united with their assembly, because in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they lamed oxen.

Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel. I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. Judah, your brother, 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. From the prey, my son, you have gone up,' he couches. 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.".

Reuben, Simeon, and Levi: Disgraced by Lack of Control

So, these last words of Israel, he begins with the disgraced tribes, the disgraced sons in verses 3 through 7. There were three sons in particular who had disgraced themselves by defaming Jacob's name.

And their crimes center really around their lack of control. In Reuben's case, a lack of control in terms of his sexual sins and Simeon and Levi in concern with their anger. But the consequences that came from Reuben's sin and Simeon and Levi's sins, the reason why they are disgraced is because the way in which their actions brought shame upon Jacob's name.

He was very upset with what they had done to him, and he did not forget it. We find that their sins have particular consequences on the future of their tribes, and the manner in which they would be disadvantaged concerning the promised inheritance of the land of Canaan.

And so, we have some lessons to learn from these things. First of all, Reuben's defilement in verses 3 and 4. Jacob says, Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, preeminent in dignity, preeminent in power.

And here's the key word in verse 4, uncontrolled. Uncontrolled 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. Clearly, Jacob's concern is with the fact that Reuben had evidenced a lack of self-government.

He had not controlled himself. He had not stewarded himself correctly. And therefore, Jacob says, you will not have preeminence. You will not be given the leadership of this family. You couldn't control yourself.

So, what business do you have ruling? What business do you have leading and governing others? Jacob's words start off very grandly. He wants all of Reuben's brothers to hear of the grandeur and the potential of Reuben.

He had a lot going for him. But of course, what brought him down was he was not disciplined. He lost everything he had going for him when he gave into a mixture of pride and immorality. This incident is noted in Genesis 35 and verse 22.

It came about while Israel was dwelling in that land that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it. What Reuben was trying to do is, many scholars guess, but essentially, this seems to be Reuben's attempt to assert leadership of the family, that he was trying to usurp Jacob's authority.

But Jacob, at the last, accuses Reuben before his brothers, and you can hear how upset and disgusted Jacob is at what Reuben has done. So, Jacob calls Reuben unstable. He calls him without control. We live in a world today in which a lack of control concerning sexual gratification is honored, and it is given special names, and we are told that it's okay to have no control and, in fact, to identify ourselves by our lack of control, and yet this is very shameful, and Reuben lost his status as the firstborn because of it.

Now, the word that Jacob uses for Reuben, unstable, is the same word that is used in Judges 9 -4 to describe a lawless mob. It denotes wildness mixed with weakness. Wildness mixed with weakness. Reuben was a man of ungoverned impulse, and his tribe was known by these two words, wildness and weakness.

This was evidenced first with the rebellion of Dathan and Abiram, who were from the tribe of Reuben, and how they rebelled, and in their pride, they lashed out against Moses, God's appointed leader, and whatever dignity and majesty Reuben may have had, his tribe received scant mention in Israelite history and the tribe of Reuben produced not one judge, not one prophet, not one military leader or other important person, and so you see that Jacob's prophecy comes true.

Reuben never exercised preeminence. In the book of Numbers, in fact, the tribe of Reuben decreased in the subsequent census. Their number went down over the years. They were apportioned a small part of land on the east side of the Jordan River, and they became weak enough before the conquering of the promised land to where Moses prayed that the tribe would not die out.

He prays that in Deuteronomy 33 -6, and they are mocked in Judges 5 -15 for their great intentions but their failures to act. The last note we have about the territory of Reuben is that they were overrun by Moab in the late ninth century, about a hundred years before the fall of the northern kingdom, and such went the way of Reuben and his tribe.

So, we see that Reuben was disgraced because the way that he defiled his father's name, and Jacob gave a prophecy that came true and that he would not have preeminence. And what about Simeon and Levi?

We have Simeon and Levi's dispersion in verses 5 -7. Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are implements of violence. Let not my soul enter into their council. Let not my glory be united with their assembly, because in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they lamed oxen.

Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel. I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.". You remember all the warnings in the book of Proverbs, how the father warns the son time and again about the kind of consequences that come in a young man's life if he gives in to sexual temptation, and the kind of disaster that comes to a man if he gives in to anger.

And in this way, we have these two poster child sins of the lack of control set by side by side, a lack of control in immorality, and a lack of control in terms of anger. What is Jacob upset with Simeon and Levi about?

He rebukes Simeon and Levi for their infamous actions at Shechem. We read in Genesis 34 that Dinah, Jacob's daughter, went and chaperoned into the city to visit with the daughters of the land. And the leader of the city was Hamor, and his son Shechem saw Dinah, and he lusted after her in his heart and then proceeded to kidnap and to rape her.

And then he wanted to marry her so that he and his father tried to work out a business deal with Jacob, but Jacob's sons caught wind of the matter, and led by Simeon and Levi, demanded that all of the men of the city be circumcised before the two families could join, but they had no intentions at all of following through on the deal.

And so they used this holy sign of circumcision to accomplish the profane, and they went through the city while all the men were in cold blood and killed them and destroyed the city. They went through the city systematically.

They slaughtered everything. They even wreaked random violence to the livestock, and we see that their hearts were full of malice. Now, their father says of them in front of their brothers that he wants nothing to do with their counsel or their friendship, because Jacob abhors their violent tendencies.

And the final word on them is that they will be dispersed and scattered. How did that come about? Well, the consequences affected Simeon, who became the smallest tribe in the second census of Moses in Numbers 26, verse 14.

And in fact, the tribe was omitted from the blessings of Moses in Deuteronomy 33. Later on, we find that the tribe of Simeon remained within the territory of Judah, that they kind of began to blend and to mix with the tribe of Judah.

They became indistinct, and indeed, they were dispersed. They were scattered. Levi as well. The tribe of Levi was scattered throughout Israel. They, of course, became the priestly tribe and residents of the cities of refuge, and so they were, even though they were given actual territory, they were sprinkled throughout the land, several Levitical cities throughout the land.

And so they, too, were scattered. They, too, were dispersed throughout Jacob. So we see in these words, these last words of Israel, how he reflects upon the uncontrolled actions of his first three sons, and then has a moral judgment to say about those matters, and then he gives a prophecy concerning each one of these sons, which all come true.

And so as we consider these words and the weight of them, as we are reminded of the truthfulness of God's Word, the veracity of God's Word, how the prophecies that were given by His servants actually came true and came to pass, the weightiness of the moral evaluations should be evident to us.

We are to beware the stain of immorality. Faithfulness to your spouse or to your future spouse is honorable among all men. Breach of that covenant is devastating and destructive. Proverbs 7, 24 through 27, says, now, therefore, my sons, listen to me and pay attention to the words of my mouth.

Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, meaning the immoral woman. Do not stray into her paths. For many are the victims that she has cast down, and numerous are all her slain. Her house is the way to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.

So serious is this type of sin that Jesus says we need to be willing to make radical changes in our lives to avoid it. After He reminds us that the commandment, thou shalt not commit adultery, is actually to be followed from the heart, not to lust in our hearts, He then proceeds to talk about the radical changes that are sometimes necessary for us to be freed from this type of sin.

Verse 29 of Matthew 5, for if your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you. For it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you. For it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go to hell. As we live in a world that wants to say that their sexual immorality is so much a part of them that they are to identify themselves by it, in fact, Jesus says, if something is a part of you that's going to send you to hell, you should be willing to cut it off and get rid of it in repentance.

We are to beware of the defilement of sexual immorality, but also the stain of sinful anger. Now, anger is not a sin. Jesus got angry. God is often angry. There is a righteous type of anger. Anger is much like wine.

It's much like alcohol. There are many warnings about alcohol in the Bible, but in and of itself, it is not a sin. Same with anger. Many warnings about anger in the Bible, but in and of itself is not a sin.

What we are to beware of is the stain of sinful anger. Proverbs 14, 29 says, he who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly. And we are told several times in the New Testament to put away bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, put all those things away.

That's the old way of living. Put on the new way of living in Christ. So, the disgraced tribes are listed for us there, Reuben, Simeon, and Levi in verses 3 through 7. But what of the dominant tribe, verses 8 through 12?

You see, we move from the lack of control in the first three sons to the one who will be in control, and that is Judah in verses 8 through 12. Notice his preeminence in verse 8. 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's name actually means praise, and he will be praised by his brothers when he comes victorious from battle.

That is clearly seen in the person of King David, who was of the tribe of Judah. It is interesting to note that the dreams of Joseph, which were really accomplished as his father and his brothers all bowed before him and treated him with honor, that these dreams of Joseph accomplished in history are actually now applied to Judah's future.

Joseph had had the dreams in which his family bowed to him, but this is actually going to happen in the future to Judah. Now, this is an important transition at this point from Joseph to, who is a type of Christ, to Judah, who is the tribe of Christ.

In the days to come, all will bow to Judah. Judah was the tribe that led out in the wilderness. Whenever the cloud, the pillar of cloud, moved by day, Judah was the tribe that led out. Judah had the largest population in both Mosaic censuses, and often Judah was the main contributor of troops in the battles.

Six hundred and forty years after this prophecy, which Israel gave, David Solomon and their dynasty was established, which lasted for over four hundred years. And, of course, from that world line came Christ.

Consider Judah's power. Verse 9, Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up? Judah is likened to a lion.

His tribe will be like the pride of lions, the rulers of the animal kingdom. His ferocity, his strength are emphasized. And, indeed, it was a descendant of Judah, David, who conquered every last bit of the promised land, defeating larger nations and slaying mighty giants.

Who would dare rouse up David? There have been more than one story in 1 and 2 Samuel where you see someone of great folly who dared to poke David, and then they regretted rousing David from his resting place.

We also are given Judah's promise in verse 10. 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.

The scepter and the staff were Judah's. That meant that Judah would be the leader by God's good design. Psalm 78, 67, and 68 says, he also rejected the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved.

The word Shiloh means one to whom it belongs, one to whom it belongs. And this is a good name for Christ. He is the one to whom it belongs. He is the one who inherits everything. He is the firstborn of creation, and therefore he is the heir of all things.

Hebrews 1 tells us, Shiloh is a great name for Christ because to him everything belongs, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. This is an extension and a clarification of God's promise to Abram in Genesis 12, that through his seed, all the families of the earth will be blessed.

Well, just particularly how will that flesh out? Well, to Shiloh, to the seed of Abraham, shall be all the obedience of the peoples. And so the kingdom that Shiloh will reign, that he will reign in according to this prophecy, will be one to where all the different peoples, the Goim, the Gentiles, the nations will come and be subservient to Christ.

This is, of course, the same language that is used of the Messiah in Daniel 7. To him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him.

That's the picture we have in Revelation 5 of all the nations gathered around the lion, the tribe of Judah, and people from every tribe, tongue, and people, and nation are gathered around the lion of Judah giving him praise.

And finally, Judah's prosperity in verses 11 and 12. 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. Verse 12 says, his eyes are dull from wine and his teeth white from milk.

The sense of this imagery is that wine, which was the symbol of prosperity and blessing, will be so plentiful that even the choicest vines, you know, just laden down with grapes, will be used to tie up your donkey.

And who cares if the donkey eats everything in sight because there's so much abundance? And that's the kind of picture that you have here. Vintage wine will be used as commonplace wash water. There'll be so many vineyards and so many flocks that there will never be a shortage of wine or of milk.

That over-abundance, that uber-abundance, that pointed to the prosperity of Judah to come in the future, but more importantly, it points to the new creation. The universal rule of Shiloh, that the coming one will culminate in unimaginable abundance.

Heaven will be on earth as the new creation is displayed in other prophecies as well. As we consider these last words of Jacob, as he turns his attention to Judah, the dominant tribe, I think that it is fitting that some of Jacob's last words are focused upon the coming Messiah.

Isn't it true that as profound or as witty, as curious as some men's last words may be, the last word that really matters about our lives is not really the one that we may be able to speak, but the last word that is most important in our lives is the last word from our Savior Jesus Christ, from the Messiah, from Shiloh, the one to whom it belongs.

What will we finally say about him? What will our last words be concerning him, and what will his last word be about us? Will our final assessment of our lives be one in which we are considering who we are in light of Jesus Christ, and will his last words be of us, well done, thou good and faithful servant?

Last words are a great tool to help us consider the direction of our lives. What will I want my last words to be? What will people's last words about me be? That can be a helpful thing to think about to give us a direction, a trajectory in life.

Well, we want our last words, we want the last words of the loved ones around us to be focused upon Christ, don't we? Last words of Ignatius as he was facing lions in the arena, he said, I am the wheat of Christ.

I am going to be ground with the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread. Matthew Henry, last words, a life spent in the service of God and in communion with him is the most pleasant life that anyone can live in the world.

And one last one, Abeniram Judson said, I go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from school. I feel so strong in Christ. Those are good last words for us to reflect on, and let's pray together. Father, I thank you for the time you've given us in your word.

As we're considering these last words of your servant, Jacob, we thank you that you are not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. For you say that I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And we thank you that Jacob is at rest with you even now.

And as we consider his last words, the words about his sons, we see that it does matter how we live our lives, and that we ought to live our lives in light of the one to whom it all belongs, Shiloh, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

And I pray that we will give careful consideration to his assessment of our lives. And we pray that you would bless us as we continue throughout this week. I pray that you would care for our needs and help us to trust you in all things.

We pray these matters, pray for these graces in the name of Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased. Amen.