J.C. Bellett on Jacob’s blessing of Judah

The following is John Crosthwaite Bellett’s discussion of Jacob’s blessing of Judah in Genesis 49:8–12.

[John Crosthwaite Bellett. God's witness in prophecy and history: Bible studies on the historical fulfilments of Jacob's prophetic blessings on the twelve tribes. J. Masters, London. 1884. pp. 43--63.]

J. N. Darby and Matthew 2:15

The Trinity Millennialism Project has published Darby’s handwritten annotations included in his personal copy of the Greek New Testament. The image below shows part of his commentary on Matthew 2:15.

The seven year covenant

The land of Canaan was a type and a shadow of better land, to which Christians have come, as taught in the New Testament. [Heb. 11:16; 12:22] Paul said that the experiences of the Israelites recorded in the Old Testament were written for our examples, and for our admonition. Peter said the prophets ministered, not to themselves, but unto us, that is, the saints, or the New Testament church. The prophets, he said, wrote about the gospel, (they “prophesied of the grace that should come unto you”) and they wrote by the spirit of Christ which was in them. [1 Peter 1:9-12]

William D. Barrick on the church inheriting the promised land

In Romans 8:32 Paul wrote: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” But there is something that many Christians adamantly deny that God has ever given to the church: the land and mountains of Israel. Therefore, they implicitly reject the above statement of Paul; they do not believe it.

The miracle at Cana, and the Elisha connection

Gary T. Manning Jr. has investigated several allusions to the stories of Elijah and Elisha in the New Testament. One of these allusions was in the account of Jesus turning water to wine in the Gospel of John, which connects with an event in the life of Elisha. The kings of Israel, Judah and Edom went out into the wilderness with their armies in order to punish the king of Moab, who had stopped paying tribute to the Israelite king. But they ran short of water. So they called for the prophet Elisha. Manning discussed this in I Am Not Elijah, Part 2 (John 2:3-4, 2 Kings 3:9-22).

When Israel went out of Egypt: Psalm 114

Psalm 114:1-2
When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.

Charles H. Spurgeon wrote:— [1]

The meaning of the passage is that the whole people at the coming out of Egypt were separated unto the Lord to be a peculiar people, a nation of priests whose motto should be, “Holiness unto the Lord.” Judah was the Lord’s “holy thing,” set apart for his special use. The nation was peculiarly Jehovah’s dominion, for it was governed by a theocracy in which God alone was King. It was his domain in a sense in which the rest of the world was outside his kingdom.

Andrew Jukes and the land promise

In the excerpt below, Andrew John Jukes (1815-1901) discusses the relation between Israel possessing the promised land, as related in the Old Testament, and the Christian’s experience. He contrasts the book of Numbers with the book of Joshua, and connects the promised land with spiritual realities mentioned in Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and elsewhere in the New Testament.

On giants and grasshoppers

In the account of the Israelites in the wilderness, ten of the twelve spies who surveyed the land for 40 days brought back an evil report, which prevailed over the report of Joshua and Caleb, who encouraged the people to trust God. The ten Israelite spies discounted the power of God to overcome the enemies. They were unwilling to trust something they could not see. They saw themselves as grasshoppers, in comparison to the people who occupied the land.

Israel’s population at the exodus

Estimates of the number of Israelites who came out of Egypt during the exodus are based upon census records in the book of Numbers, in chapters 1 and 26. Many commentaries claim that the exodus involved an enormous number of people, perhaps two million. The traditional interpretation of these records has been challenged because the Hebrew word translated “thousand” is sometimes translated differently. [1] The same Hebrew word is also used to refer to a clan, family, troop, or divisions (אָ֫לֶפ eleph, Strong’s number 505 or 504).

The wells of salvation

What land is host of the “wells of salvation”? Isaiah wrote:

Isaiah 12:1-3

In that day you will say:
“I will praise you, LORD.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.
Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.”

With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.

A literal well is dug into the ground, often through bedrock. The metaphor of a well suggests there are things corresponding to both land, and water. What are they?