We would like to introduce Genesis 49:10-11 with a reference back to our introductory material, particularly the material entitled “The Four Types of Messianic Prophecies.” If the reader is not familiar with that information, he or she should master that material before reading this lesson on Genesis 49:10-11. The reason for this advice lies in the nature of this prophecy; Genesis 49:10-11 is a Blend Prophecy. A Blend Prophecy is a prophecy that contains information about the First Coming of the Messiah as well as the Second Coming of the Messiah. However, no information is provided to describe the interval of time that elapses between the First and Second Comings. To put the phenomenon in different words, the two comings of the Messiah are blended together in such a way that the time interval in between is not readily apparent. Sometimes this phenomenon occurs between verses and sometimes this situation occurs in the middle of a verse, in between phrases.
In the case of Genesis 49:10, the time gap occurs in the middle of the verse, in between two phrases. The first phrase is the statement “until Shiloh comes” (NASB), which refers to the First Coming of the Messiah. That phrase is followed by “and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples” (NASB), which is a reference to the Second Coming of the Messiah. To date, approximately 2,000 years has elapsed between these two statements, and yet there is no hint of this extremely large time interval in the text.
With that information forming the introduction to our study, we need to move to the Biblical text itself. We will begin with a brief look at the context surrounding the verse in question.