Notice that this verse identifies two distinct privileges.
- Joseph received the birthright.
- Judah prevailed among his brothers, and the chief ruler came from Judah.
The verse does not say Joseph's descendants alone constitute Israel, nor does it say that Judah's descendants ceased to be Israel.
Exactly Judah was just one the tribes, and after the Northern tribes went into Assyrian captivity, only Judah retained the marital name Israel. This was of course until the Husband died - Jesus Christ.
B. Judah received the royal promise.
Joseph's birthright did not transfer Judah's royal promise to Joseph.
Genesis 49:10 (KJV):
"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be."
Yes they retained the Royal Line until Shiloh/Jesus Christ came
An important distinction:
The Bible uses the name
Israel in more than one way, depending on the context:
- Jacob personally: God renamed Jacob Israel.
- The descendants of Jacob collectively: The twelve tribes constitute Israel.
- The northern kingdom: After the kingdom divided, Israel often referred specifically to the northern kingdom.
- The reunited people: Prophetic passages sometimes use Israel and Judah to distinguish the two kingdoms while anticipating their restoration.
The meaning must be determined from the passage in question.
It is therefore incorrect to assume that every biblical occurrence of
Israel refers exclusively to the northern kingdom, or that every reference to
Judah excludes the broader identity of Israel.
The Bible repeatedly calls the Northern tribes The House of Israel and the Southern tribes The House of Judah yes
Now ask yourself where did those tribes besides Judah, Benjamin and some Levites go to ?
And when a new marriage contract came into being with the house of Israel and the house of Judah - as stated in Hebrews and Jeremiah, what the new name they were given ?
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people (Gentiles), there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
Hosea 1:10
Notice it says also about the numbers of them being as the sands of the sea. Does not sound like that little nation in the middle East does it.
And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
Acts 11:26
Read Galatians
Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
It was Israel that had been under the law
The Northern tribes had been divorced and taken into Assyrian captivity, they lost the name Israel as we read in Hosea
It was Israel that was divorsed and needed to be redeemed.
Whereas Judah (at least the ones that did not believe) retained their name, it was left to them as a curse and a taunt, Jeremiah 24:9:
And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
Jeremiah 24:9
And in Isaiah 65:15, we have:
And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:
Isaiah 65:15
In Mark 11, Jesus curses the fig tree, which was emblematic of the Judah nation. In verse 14, Jesus says, "No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever"
And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
Mark 11:14
And in verse 21:
And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
Mark 11:21
That was a prophecy of what was to happen to the Judah Nation, in the events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
Does the Judah nation bear any fruit today ? No, nor will it, and Christ says a tree that bears no fruit will be cut down
Luke 13:7 Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
8 And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:
9 And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
Romans 9 verse 4, tells us that the promises made to Israel are still in force.
Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
Romans 9:4
Therefore, we must look for the Israelites among the Christians. These prophecies and promises to Israel have been fulfilled by the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian countries, therefore, the people to whom they were fulfilled are identified as Israel.
Romans 11 vere 25 tells us that Israel was to be blind to its idenity
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Romans 11:25
Whereas the Jews are not blind to their identity as Jews, although they try to fool people into believing they are Israel.
