Genesis 49:10

Hebrew Bible

8 Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, your father’s sons will bow down before you. 9 You are a lion’s cub, Judah, from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches and lies down like a lion; like a lioness—who will rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; the nations will obey him. 11 Binding his foal to the vine, and his colt to the choicest vine, he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes will be red from wine, and his teeth white from milk.

Psalm 2:8

Hebrew Bible

6 “I myself have installed my king on Zion, my holy hill.” 7 The king says, “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ‘You are my son. This very day I have become your father. 8 Ask me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your personal property. 9 You will break them with an iron scepter; you will smash them like a potter’s jar.’” 10 So now, you kings, do what is wise; you rulers of the earth, submit to correction.

 Notes and References

"... “stick”, “rod”, “scepter”, “tribe” ... In a context like this, the noun refers to the rod of ruling authority, rather than the tribe that is ruled. Koehler and Baumgartner comment on the relationship between these two ideas: “It should be noted that in General Semitic the basic meaning of טֶבֵשׁ is stick, staff, sceptre ... The sbst. then develops in meaning from ‘the sceptre of authority’ ... to signify a group of people under the command of ‘the one who holds the scepter.’” In Isaiah 11:4, the Messiah strikes the wicked with the “rod of his mouth”. In Micah 7:14 and Psalm 23:4 the Messiah will lead His people with a shepherd’s rod. טֶבֵשׁ refers to a sovereign’s scepter with reference to the Messiah in Genesis 49:10. An “iron scepter.” Israel was late coming into the Iron Age. Even in the time of Saul and Jonathan an iron implement was a rarity among Israelites (see 1 Samuel 13:19-22). For David, reference to an “iron” scepter would doubtless have signified both the latest in technology and a symbol of invincible authority ..."

Gunn, George Psalm 2 and the Reign of the Messiah (p. 26) Shasta Bible College and Graduate School, 2011

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