There is a definite pattern emerging. The supposed "proof text" has nothing whatsoever to do with the claim. Take this one, how does B'reshit / Genesis 49:10 give the time of the messiah's arrival (coming)? It doesn't. What Br'eshit / Genesis 49:10 says is "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the student of the law from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him will be a gathering of peoples." Luke 21:1-4 has to do with a "widow's offering" and has nothing at all to do with the messiah's arrival. Lines 5-7 speaks of the destruction of the Temple. What does any of that have to do with the arrival of the messiah, let alone Jacob's statement about the tribe of Judah? Nothing. Galatians 4:4 makes more sense as a "proof text", but it is a claim that is not supported in any way. Galatians 4:4 says "But when the set time had fully come, G-d sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law," Says who? But, again, what does either Christian quote have to do with Jacob's statement that the right to kingship rests with the tribe of Judah? After all, per the Christian bible Jesus was a "virgin birth" which means he had no tribal status (thus B'reshit / Genesis 49:10 does not apply to Jesus at all). Missionaries tend to think that the statement in Br'esthit / Genesis means that there will always be a Jewish king from the line of Judah. The T'nach (bible) shows that this interpretation is wrong. Ask yourself "was there a Jewish king from the tribe of Judah following Jacob's comment and his subsequent death?" Or course not! The Jews were in Egypt. Joseph, Jacob's son, was second in only to Pharaoh in power in Egypt. For hundreds of years Jews were slaves in Egypt. Along came Moses who, as G-d's servant, freed us from slavery and took us into the desert. For those forty years in the desert was the ir a king of the tribe of Judah? Nope. Moses was not a king, and he was of the tribe of Levi, not Judah. When the Jews settled in the land of Israel was their a king of Judah? Again, no. There was no king. Judges ruled the land. Was the first king, Saul, of the tribe of Judah? Also no. Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin. Some missionaries claim "Jesus had to be the messiah because since then (2000 years ago) there has been no king of Judah on the Jewish throne. Why do they forget the hundreds of years preceding King David (the first Jewish king of the tribe of Judah)? Why do they also ignore that the last king of Judah sat on the throne around 600 BCE -- as in 600 years before Jesus supposedly lived? If length of time were the deciding factor Jesus would not fit -- 600 years is a long break between kings from Judah! IF Genesis 49:10 had anything at all to do with the Davidic / Judaic claim to the throne going away then Jesus would have been ineligible, too. Somehow none of those missionaries ever seem to mention that! Jacob's comment was indeed a prohecy, but it was not a prophecy about Jesus -- and neither Galatians 4:4 or Luke 2:1-7 "fulfill" Jacob's prophetic statement. The words of Jacob did not tell us anything about the time of the messiah's arrival. Shiloh is not a person's name either (many missionaries equate "Shiloh" in this passage to mean "the messiah"). There is not one single example of the word "Shiloh" being used as a name in the T'nach (bible). There are 33 instances where the term is used in the T'nach -- and it always refers to a PLACE. Shiloh is a small town about 18 miles north of Jerusalem. The plain meaning (p'shat) of Jacob's words are “until he (or ‘it’) comes to Shiloh”. Shiloh (pronounced "She-lo") is a small town north of Jerusalem. The Mishkahn (Tabernacle, aka "portable" Temple) was transferred to Shiloh after forteen years of being at Gilgal (Y'hoshua / Joshua 18:1). The Mishkahn remained at Shiloh for 369 years, until that whole area was overrun by the Philistines (see Sh'muél Alef 4:3-18 / 1 Samuel 4: 3-18). The meaning of B'reshit / Genesis 49:19 is that Jacob prophesied that the ‘scepter’ [the symbol of kingship] was not going to depart from [the Tribe of] Judah “until (or, ‘except when’) He (or it) comes to Shiloh”. King Saul fits this description. King Saul belonged to the tribe of Benjamin and the "septer" (or national shrine, the Mishkahn) was resting at Shiloh when he became king.
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