The Cross and its Shadow

Chapter 40-Judah

Name, or pedigree, separate from character, has no weight in the records of heaven. Because Reuben failed to cultivate a character worthy of the first-born,-the one entitled to both the temporal and the spiritual birthright,-its blessings were taken from him, and given to others who had developed characters worthy of them. CIS 305.1

Joseph, who had become a noted business manager, was given the double portion of his father’s inheritance,-the temporal birthright; but it required more than ability to control great wealth to be entitled to the spiritual birthright, and to become the progenitor of the Messiah. CIS 305.2

The records state that Judah, the fourth son, “prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the Chief Ruler.” ¹ Jacob, upon his deathbed, pronounced the prophetic words: “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.” ² CIS 305.3

How did Judah prevail above his brethren, and thus inherit the spiritual birthright? This is a subject worthy of careful study by every one who desires a part in the great spiritual birthright by which we today may become heirs of the eternal inheritance. We have no record of Judah’s ever prevailing over his brethren by force of arms. But a careful study of the lives of the twelve sons of Jacob, reveals the fact that Judah was a leader. When he offered to stand as surety for Benjamin, Jacob consented to let Benjamin go into Egypt, although Reuben’s offer had been refused. ³ CIS 306.1

When Jacob and his family arrived in Egypt, Jacob “sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen.” ⁴ When the sons of Jacob were in great perplexity because the ruler of Egypt demanded Benjamin as a hostage, it was Judah who pleaded their cause so earnestly that Joseph threw off his disguise, and made himself known unto his brethren. ⁵ CIS 306.2

By strict integrity to principle, Judah had won the confidence of his father and his brethren. The whole story is told in the blessing pronounced over Judah by his aged father, just before his death: “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies. Thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.” ⁶ CIS 307.1

His brethren bowed down before Joseph, but the circumstances were different. Joseph’s wealth and position, acquired in a foreign land, gave him the pre-eminence; but Judah won the respect of his brethren in the every-day contact of the home life. This confidence was not born in a moment; but day by day his strict integrity won their respect, until of their own free will, not from force of circumstances, they praised him and bowed down before him. A life of conflict and victory over the selfish tendencies of his own heart, is bound up in the words, “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise.” CIS 307.2

It is worthy of note that Judah prevailed under the same circumstances in which Reuben failed. It was not sins committed against the public that debarred Reuben from the privileges of the first-born; he proved himself untrue in the home life. ⁷ He had no regard for the honour of his own family. His father and his brethren could not trust him in their private life. In the same home, surrounded by the same temptations and environments, “Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the Chief Ruler.” ⁸ CIS 307.3

Twelve thousand of the one hundred and forty-four thousand will enter the holy city under the name of Judah, ⁹ -persons who, in times of perplexity, have been recognized by their brethren as trusted leaders. CIS 307.4

“Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?” ¹⁰ In these words Jacob gives the impression that it would be as easy to conquer a lion as to overcome one with the character of Judah; that it would be as safe to rouse an old lion as to contend with one who stood fast in his integrity to God. CIS 307.5

Judah’s is a character we may well covet,-that firmness that will not surrender our Christian integrity, but will know of a surety that the Lord is with us when we are assailed by Satan and all his hosts. ¹¹ CIS 308.1

Judah is mentioned oftener in the Scriptures than any other of the twelve patriarchs, except Joseph. Of the five sons of Judah, two died childless; but from the three remaining sons came the strongest tribe in all Israel. CIS 308.2

At Sinai the children of Judah numbered 74,600. They evidently had a very small part, if any, in the apostasy at Shittim, where Simeon’s numbers were greatly reduced; for Judah numbered 76,500 as they left Shittim to enter the promised land. CIS 308.3

The tribe of Judah occupied a position among the other tribes similar to that which their progenitor held in his father’s family. They were entrusted with the care of the priesthood. The nine cities occupied by the family of Aaron, the priests, were all within the territory of Judah and Simeon. ¹² The remainder of the forty-eight cities occupied by the Levites were scattered throughout the other tribes. CIS 308.4

Judah was an independent tribe. After the death of Saul, they did not wait for others to acknowledge David as king, but crowned him king of Judah, and David reigned over them seven and one-half years before he was crowned king over all Israel. ¹³ CIS 308.5

After the death of Solomon, Judah and Benjamin remained true to the seed of David, and formed the kingdom of Judah. This kingdom retained their own land about 142 years after the kingdom of Israel was carried captive into Assyria. ¹⁴ CIS 308.6

Zedekiah, king of Judah, was given the last opportunity of saving the holy city from falling into the bands of the heathen, ¹⁵ but he failed, and Judah, the kingly tribe, was carried captive into Babylon. CIS 309.1

The scepter never fully departed from Judah until Shiloh came. Herod, the last king who reigned over the Jews, died a few years after the birth of Christ. In his first will Herod appointed Antipas as his successor; but his last will named Archelaus as the one to reign in his stead. The people were ready to receive Archelaus, but afterward revolted. Archelaus and Antipas both went to Rome to present their claims before Caesar. Caesar confirmed neither, but sent Archelaus back to Judea as ethnarch, ¹⁶ with the promise of the crown if he proved worthy of it; but he never received it. Thus the land “forsaken of both her kings” during the childhood of Christ, as was prophesied by Isaiah. ¹⁷ CIS 309.2

The tribe of Judah furnished a galaxy of names noted in sacred history. No other tribe furnished the world so many mighty men of God. At the head of the list is the one incomparable name,-Jesus of Nazareth, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. CIS 309.3

Caleb’s great faith and dauntless courage has been an inspiration to men of all ages. In the prime of life his faith was strong. When other men saw only the giants of difficulties in the way of entering the land, he said, “We are well able to overcome it.” ¹⁸ At the age of eighty-five, in the strength of God, he drove the enemies from the stronghold of Hebron. ¹⁹ CIS 310.1

David has been honoured above all earthly kings in being taken as a type of Christ, and inspiration calls the Saviour “the son of David.” ²⁰ Judah furnished a number of other kings who, surrounded by all the temptations of the court life, stood true to God. CIS 310.2

After the captivity, when for a time it seemed as if the Israel of God were almost obliterated from the earth, four young men of Judah, true to the lion-like character of their tribe, risked their lives rather than defile themselves with the royal dainties ²¹ from the table of the king of Babylon. ²² CIS 310.3

A few years later three of these men stood fearlessly before the king of Babylon, saying, “Be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods.” ²³ In fulfilment of the promise made over one hundred years before, ²⁴ the Lord walked with those three sons of Judah through the fiery furnace, and they came forth unhurt. ²⁶ And Daniel, true to the integrity of his tribe, faced hungry lions rather than have any interruption in his communion with God. CIS 310.4