Psalm 108:8

Psalm 108:8

Judah is my scepter

Some more locations to wrestle with! “Gilead is mine” says the Lord from His sanctuary. Remember that the Lord owns all of Israel, the Jews live in it as foreigners and strangers and should never sell any of it, although it has been given to them as an inheritance. Leviticus 25:23-24. Gilead referred to a large area of mountainous land north-east of the River Jordan. North of Gilead is the River Yarmouk which provided a boundary with Bashan in the far north, to the south was the land of Moab. There was no clearly defined boundary to the east, so the name “Gilead” was often used to describe all territory east of the Jordan River. In the time of Joshua this area was given to Reuben, Gad and half the tribe of Manasseh. The other half of the Manasseh tribe occupied land that adjoined Gilead but this time on the west of the Jordan River, the area included a large chunk of central Israel and stretched all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. 

Ephraim was also centrally located in Israel and was regarded as a very strong tribe, often called upon when the land needed to be defended. In fact, such was the influence of the Ephraimites that the whole of Northern Israel was often generically referred to as Ephraim, thus this tribe came to be known as the Lord’s helmet! Notice that Manasseh and Ephraim were the two sons of Joseph upon whom their grandfather, Jacob, conferred the rights of tribal inheritance. Their influence was considerable over the smaller, weaker tribes. 

The final tract of land referred to in this verse is Judah, David’s own tribe. It was from his people that the kingly line developed, all the way to the King of kings, Messiah Himself. In Jacob’s blessings of his twelve sons, he says this about Judah: “The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his”. Genesis 49:10. 
Starting with David, the line of Judah’s kings continued through Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, and many others, all the way through Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. Jacob’s prophecy came true: the tribe of Judah possessed the sceptre—the kings of the Davidic dynasty were all descended from Jacob’s fourth son, Judah. The sceptre was passed down the line until the final King was born, Jesus Christ Himself. That is why His genealogies in Matthew and Luke, are so important.