Grace Thoughts
GraceLife Thoughts – Train to Reign (Part 26)
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel. Genesis 3:15
Remember God’s promise to one day destroy the seed of the serpent through the ‘Seed’ of the woman? We know who the Seed is because of 1 John 3:8 (among many other New Testament Scriptures) –
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
We know that the ‘Seed’ would come from Eve, but which of her children would carry the ‘Seed’ forward? We’ve seen that it was through her son Seth, his son Enosh, and their lineage to Noah. Noah’s son Shem would carry forward the promised ‘Seed’ through his descendants to Abram. Abram would carry forward the promised ‘Seed’ through Isaac (the son of promise) and his son Jacob. We next learned from Jacob’s prophecies concerning his twelve sons that the Seed would carry forward through Judah –
Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s children shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people. Binding his donkey to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, He washed his garments in wine, And his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine, And his teeth whiter than milk. Genesis 49:8-12
Jesus Christ is the ‘Lion of the Tribe of Judah’ (Revelation 5:5), which is proof that Jacob’s prophecy was accurate – ‘The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.’
However, given all that we’ve seen happen so far in God leading the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage and giving them His Law at Mount Sinai, have you seen any of the descendants of Judah mentioned by name? We know they must have made it because King David was from the Tribe of Judah, and of course Jesus Christ is the ‘Lion of the Tribe of Judah,’ but where do we find the lineage of Judah pushing the ‘Seed’ forward in the wilderness?
Judah in the Wilderness
The family of Judah is not mentioned by name until Exodus 31. That’s when God commanded Moses concerning the artisans who would build the tabernacle –
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. Exodus 31:1-5
You might notice that Bezalel, the artisan, was the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. Remember Hur? He was one of the two men who held Moses’ hand up as he held the ‘rod of God’ during the war with Amalek (Exodus 17). The tribe of Judah continued to be invaluable to Israel’s success as it carried the ‘Seed’ of the woman who would destroy the ‘seed’ of the serpent.
God called Bezalel and filled him with ‘the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship.’ Bezalel from the Tribe of Judah was involved in all aspects of building the Tabernacle, including teaching others how to do the necessary work –
And He has put in his heart the ability to teach, in him and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. He has filled them with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and the designer and the tapestry maker, in blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen, and of the weaver—those who do every work and those who design artistic works. Exodus 35:34-35
The Tabernacle was a ‘portable’ Temple or worship center for God (mishkan, מִשְׁכָּן – ‘to dwell, dwelling place’) was a complex structure, as you can read in Exodus 36. The entire structure was surrounded by a ‘fence’ and had only one ‘entrance.’ The people of Israel would regularly bring their offerings to the priests in what was called the ‘Courtyard’ or ‘Outer Court.’ The Courtyard had a bronze altar where the priests would perform the sacrifices and wash their hands. That’s as far as the people (non-priests) could go. The priests would then enter into the ‘Tent’ that contained two rooms, separated by a large veil. The first room, known as the ‘Holy Place,’ contained an altar of incense where the priests were to burn a special incense to God each morning and evening as a reminder of God’s Presence there, a golden lampstand that was to be kept burning continually, and a table of showbread (‘shewbread’ – ‘bread of the presence’). The priests baked fresh bread every week and they were the only ones who could eat it. The second room was known as the ‘Holy of Holies’ or ‘Most Holy Place.’ It contained the ‘Ark of the Covenant’ with its ‘Mercy Seat,’ which was where God ‘dwelled’ with His people. Only the High Priest was allowed to enter the ‘Holy of Holies’ once a year on the ‘Day of Atonement’ to sprinkle blood on the ‘Ark of the Covenant’ to atone for the sins of the people, including his own.
Jesus Christ told His followers that He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life, which corresponds to His being the Entrance to God’s Presence, the Offering for Sin, the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, and God Himself. The portable Tabernacle and Solomon’s permanent Temple pointed to the coming of Jesus Christ, God in Flesh, who would dwell with His people.
You can read how Bezalel of the Tribe of Judah made and oversaw the making of the following –
- the Ark of the Covenant
- the Table for the Showbread
- the Golden Lampstand
- the Altar of Incense
- the Holy Anointing Oil and the Pure Incense of Sweet Spices, ‘according to the work of the perfumer’
- the Altar of Burnt Offering
- the Bronze Laver
- the Court of the Tabernacle (Exodus 37 and 38).
Again, complicated and intricate, but empowered by the filling of the Holy Spirit .. led by a member of the Tribe of Judah and the Tribe of Dan. The work they did was of such quality that we find it still in use centuries later –
Now the bronze altar that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, he put before the tabernacle of the Lord; Solomon and the assembly sought Him there. And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Lord, which was at the tabernacle of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it. 2 Chronicles 1:5-6
Judah in the Census
Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying: ‘Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above—all who are able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies. And with you there shall be a man from every tribe, each one the head of his father’s house. Numbers 1:1-4
We also find the family of Judah mentioned in the census that Moses took on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of Egypt. The name of the man who would represent the Tribe of Judah and stand with Moses was ‘Nahshon the son of Amminadab’ –
From the children of Judah, their genealogies by their families, by their fathers’ house, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and above, all who were able to go to war: those who were numbered of the tribe of Judah were seventy-four thousand six hundred. Numbers 1:26-27
You can find Nahshon listed in the lineage of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1 and Luke 3.
That census demonstrated the strength of each tribe by the number of its people. Judah had the most people at the time and would grow in population through the years. You will find the Tribe of Judah mentioned many times in Numbers, which is part of the Torah. It is an official record that is recognized by God and Israel. You will also find the Tribe of Judah mentioned as being active during the leadership of Joshua, and in the Book of Judges. We also see Judah’s family mentioned in the Book of Ruth, and the writings of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. You can follow the ‘Seed’ to the family of Jesse, the father of David who would become the king of Israel (Jesse and David are also included in the lineage of Jesus in Matthew 1 and Luke 3). You can follow the ‘Seed’ through Solomon and all the kings of Judah until the children of Israel were taken into Babylonian captivity. You can follow the Seed after that time as well, but we’ll save that for a future part of our study.
Free eBooks
You can download the first 13 chapters of this series here.
You can download chapters 14 – 24 of this series here.
Next Time
God’s training of Israel to ‘reign’ with Him was not a straight line, as we’ll see in the next part of our series – Train to Reign.
“Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
GraceLife Copyright © 1990-2025
12 Tribes of IsraelBible StudyChristianityGod's LawJesus ChristLaw of MosesMosesTribe of Judah
Published by gracelifethoughts
Founder & Director of GraceLife Ministries View all posts by gracelifethoughts
