The Scepter and the Birthright Promises
By Liaf
Abraham was promised great things such as becoming a great nation, becoming many nations, having kings come from him, having many descendents, becoming powerful and wealthy, inheriting a specific land of promise, and so forth. This was shown to be the Abrahamic covenant. From these promises, the Bible teaches whom these promises passed down to. Theologians today see these promises foreshadowing the coming Christ, the promised seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15 and Abraham’s seed in Genesis 22:18. The basis for these promises was by faith, and God often had these promises passed on to the next generation in unexpected ways including a child of promise such as Isaac over Ishmael instead of the firstborn. From Abraham the promises went to Isaac, and from Isaac the promises went to Jacob (who was renamed Israel after his famous wrestling incident with an angel). Up to this time the blessings passed on as something called the birthright as one unit of blessing to whomever God wanted them to be passed on to. Each child was to have descendents that fit the description of the birthright. What is utterly amazing is the prevailing belief that Abraham’s promise to become many nations and peoples was fulfilled by both Isaac and Ishmael, or through Abraham’s other offspring such as those through his wife Keturah. While this is true, the line of promise also had to have a continuation of these promises. In other words, these promises had to apply to Jacob and his descendents as well. This indeed is the definition of the birthright. To apply them to an uncle of Jacob’s or some previous ancestor makes no sense since the birthright with its promises CONTINUED to his generation. Therefore, to say that the promises of many nations, peoples, etc. were already fulfilled makes no sense, although if God wanted to start other nations and peoples through Abraham’s "unblessed" lineage, that is an acceptable additional benefit!
Jacob (Israel) had twelve sons, from which the twelve tribes of Israel resulted. But to whom did the birthright go? All twelve? Or just one? We all know the story of Joseph being sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. Joseph rose to power equal to the Pharaoh’s power in Egypt and supplied for his father and brothers in Egypt during the seven year famine. It was here that Jacob blessed all his sons when he was ready to die. Genesis 48, which is often an overlooked chapter, tells where the birthright went. It went to Joseph’s two sons (that he had while in Egypt). Manasseh was Joseph’s firstborn, and Ephraim was his other child. As is typical with Bible stories of the previous generations, Jacob elevated Ephraim over Manasseh in his blessing, but the birthright blessing went to the Joseph as a "double portion" through his two sons. (Biblical inheritance laws gave the firstborn a double inheritance over the others). What did Jacob say about them? Jacob called them "mine" who would have "my name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac". Joseph was displeased that his father Jacob would bless the younger Ephraim over the older Manasseh, but Jacob reassured Joseph that he knew what he was doing. Ephraim, Jacob said, would become a "multitude of nations" and Manasseh would become "great" as a "people" (a great nation). Here is an interesting question. When was this fulfilled in any Jewish tribe, the church, or even in Christ? You see, the Bible DOES promise NATIONS coming from offspring several generations after Abraham. It’s amazing that all Bible commentaries either remain SURPRISINGLY SILENT on this passage of scripture, or they state a watered down version claiming that these tribes of Israel later became the dominant, powerful tribes (does that sound like a great nation or a multitude of nations?) The problem is that our theologians and perhaps the rest of us DO NOT REALLY BELIEVE WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS. These promises had to be fulfilled somewhere or else God is a liar. One hint to understanding the answer is found in the next chapter (chapter 49) when the birthright is divided into scepter promises and birthright promises. The promise to rule was split off to the tribe of JUDAH as Jacob gave each son his deathbed blessings. But to JOSEPH went the rest of the birthright. Now the blessings were no longer one unit, but TWO. Hence Judah had the right to rule, but the rest of the blessings went to Joseph. What most people do not understand about the "Jewish" people is that God saw his people as TWO groups after this blessing incident. The Jew today comes primarily from the tribe of Judah (hence the name "Jew") which DID NOT RECEIVE THE BIRTHRIGHT BLESSING. That is the reason why the Jewish people never aspired to these promises BUT because of the scepter promises, that is why Christ came from the Jewish people (i.e. the tribe of Judah). It is amazing that theologians see these blessings to Judah in Genesis 49 as prophecy concerning Christ, but they virtually gloss over the birthright blessings to Joseph. Well then, who did fulfill those birthright promises? Who became many people and multitudes of nations? More on that later.
If we summarize our lesson here by focusing on the tribe of Judah, from which Christ came, we read a racy story in Genesis 38 where Judah had twin sons through his daughter-in-law Tamar. The Bible says that Tamar had twins in her womb. When the first one started coming out, the midwife bound a scarlet thread to his hand to mark that child as the firstborn. Surprisingly, the Bible goes on to say that the child withdrew his hand in and the other child came out first. "How hast thou broken forth?" she asked, "this breach be upon thee." Hence this child was named Pharez which means, "breach". The other child who withdrew his hand later came out with the scarlet thread and he was called Zarah. Zarah was the "prince of the scarlet thread" but Pharez was born first. It is through the Pharez line that King David and eventually Christ came. This incident foreshadowed a time when the kingly line of Pharez would have a breach in it, only to be continued on in Zarah’s line. And supposedly like Pharez who had broken forth first, the throne of David would one day be assumed by that lineage. This is getting a little ahead of the lesson here, but one must realize the origin (Genesis 49) of the promises that the tribe of Judah was to rule. These twin children of Judah’s formed TWO distinct lines of kings. The Biblical line through Pharez is the line that produced Christ. The Zarah line is mentioned very little in the Bible. Secular history shows they ruled in Egypt after this blessing until the time of the Exodus. Prior to the Exodus, they fled Egypt before the rest of the Israelites and migrated to the Mediterranean region and up the coasts where they ruled. Some were the founders of Troy, and later some migrated to Spain and what is now known as Ireland and Britain. Please remember these "Zarah" folks. They will be turning up later in these messages.
One must also understand that when Jacob said, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah… until Shiloh come [the second coming of Christ]" he meant just that. Through Jacob’s blessing, God promised an ETERNAL and UNINTERRUPTED rule by kings of Judah. This is not an abstract rule (e.g. Christ in our hearts), or a rule from elsewhere (such as heaven) but HERE ON EARTH by a human kings. From this time in history forward human kings had to rule uninterrupted over the people of Israel until Christ’s second coming or else this promise is fake. Also notice the great blessings given to the birthright tribe of Joseph in Genesis 49 that reiterated the blessings to Ephraim and Manasseh in Genesis 48 (See also I Chronicles 5:1-2).
This set the stage for God to execute his divine plan for his people Israel and the rest of fallen mankind. He went from mere shadows, prophecies and promises to a more substantial base regarding the tribes (sons) of Israel. The problem with most teaching today is that promises to Israel are erroneously applied to the Jew only (instead of to the other tribes). And the prevailing teaching is that the human government of the throne of David is fallen. It is replaced by the abstract "throne of Christ in our hearts". This erroneous teaching is similar to replacement theology and causes serious doctrinal errors regarding Israel. This is one major reason why end time prophecy is little understood.
Click on the link below to get a free online book by J.H. Allen (this is one of my favorites). This is in ZIP format so you need a Zip utility such as WinZip to extract it.
Judah's Sceptre Joseph's Birthright