the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 1 of 5
Genesis 49:1-18
We have before us another chapter of a prophetic nature. In these last words of Jacob to his sons, the whole history of the people of Israel is found as if it is set out in advance and summarized here. Under the judges and the kings, it became corrupted like Reuben; he forsook the LORD for idols. Then, as in Simeon and Levi, violence is shown in the rejection of the prophets and of the Messiah Himself, bringing about the dispersion of the Jewish people among the nations. Christ is represented by Judah, a tribe which is His by birth. Dominion and the sceptre of the kingdom are His alone. After this we find Israel dispersed under the judgment of God, in commercial activities and at the same time hated by the nations. The present-day period is personified in Zebulun and Issachar. As for Dan, he represents Antichrist, a Jew who, in the near future, will be received by Israel as her Messiah. "A serpent by the way", this is the terrible figure of satanic power which will then operate without restraint. Before this terrifying prospect, the faithful remnant will then only be able to count on deliverance from on high: "I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD" (v. 18).
