That is a very good question.  To find your answer, let’s read Genesis 49:8-10, “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? 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.”

What we have in Genesis, chapter 49, are the last words of Jacob to his sons.  We read in verse one, “And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.”  In verses 1-27, Jacob addresses each one of his twelve sons.  These so-called ‘blessings’ of Jacob to his sons prove to be truly prophetic of the future of their families, and thus the nation of Israel. 

Much was written about Judah because out of him would come Shiloh.  Shiloh is mentioned 33 times in the Bible, but only here in Genesis 49:10 does it refer to the coming Messiah.  The other uses of Shiloh refer to a place in Palestine.  There is a slight difference in the two Hebrew words, and here the reference is definitely to the Messiah.  From this, we learn that the Lord Jesus Christ would come from the tribe of Judah. 

In reading verses 8-9, we see that Judah’s family would be pre-eminent among the other tribes. Judah is called a lion’s whelp, a lion, and an old lion.  With the vigor and strength of young age, Judah would be able to conquer his enemies and then go up (a reference to a lion who has overcome and destroyed his prey and then gone to lie down afterwards to enjoy the spoils of his prey).  As a grown lion, he crouches to rest after devouring his enemy.  As an old lion, he is feared and respected by all.  Surely, these refer to Israel’s future king, David. 

From this tribe, we are told that “the sceptre shall not depart from Judah.”  A sceptre is a staff carried by a king as a symbol of their sovereign rule.  This shows Judah as the kingly tribe from which all the kings would descend.  Both of the genealogies of the Lord Jesus given in Matthew, chapter 1, and Luke, chapter 3, show that the Lord was in the tribe of Judah, and therefore was rightfully a king among the Jews.  In Revelation 5:5 and 7:5, the Lord Jesus is called the “Lion of the tribe of Juda.”

We read prophetically of the Lord Jesus in Isaiah 11:10 which says, “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.”  Jesse, of course, is David’s father…and the Lord Jesus is David’s descendant. 

Before closing this meditation, I want to point us to a wonderful remark of the Lord Jesus in Revelation 22:16 where He said, “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am THE ROOT AND THE OFFSPRING OF DAVID, and the bright and morning star.”  What a blessed thought!  David came from the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus came from David.  He is the Root of David, as being God and He is the offspring of David as being a man. David’s Son, yet David’s Lord as we read in Matthew 22:41-45.  (CC)  (510.4)