Obscure Advent Verses: Week 2

Last week the blessing that Jacob gave to Judah was offered as an “obscure advent” passage. Jacob told Judah that his people would rule “until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”

The mysterious phrase “until Shiloh comes”, spoken by Jacob, means “until he comes to whom it belongs.” 1 This phrase is a link to another obscure advent passage; a passage that occurs in the book of Ezekiel:

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your deeds your sins appear – because you have come to remembrance, you will be seized with the hand. And you, O slain, wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the punishment of the end,’ thus says the Lord God, ‘Remove the turban and take off the crown; this will no longer be the same. Exalt that which is low and abase that which is high. A ruin, a ruin, a ruin, I will make it. This also will be no more until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him.’ Ezekiel 21: 24 – 27

In this passage, God through the prophet Ezekiel tells king Zedekiah, the last Davidic king of Judah, that He is taking the crown from him. Not only does God take the crown from Zedekiah, but He tells him that there will not be another Davidic king “until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him.”

God, in this prophecy through Ezekiel, reveals that there will not be another legitimate king until Messiah. And perhaps this is why Herod, the illegitimate king over God’s people, was so very concerned when he heard that Christ was born.

1 The Zondervan NASB Study Bible. Grand Rapids, 1999

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