the land of the two rivers, God
blessed him and gave him the honourable name of Israel, Gen. xxxii.;
and yet [Pg 97] he had soon thereafter to experience grievous distress
on account of Dinah and Joseph; and in chap. xxxvii. 34, 35, we are
told concerning him: "And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth
upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and
all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be
comforted, and he said, I shall go down into the grave unto my son in
sorrow." In the kingdom of God there are no other promises than such as
resemble those rivers which flow alternately above and below ground,
since it is certain that all the subjects of the promises are affected
by sin.

Ezekiel xliii. 15 likewise refers to the blessing of Jacob upon Judah.
The altar for the burnt-offerings in the new temple is first called
_Harel_ = the mountain of God, and afterwards _Ariel_ = the Lion of
God,--indicating that what had been promised to Judah in Gen. xlix.,
viz., the Lion's nature and invincible power, victorious over all
enemies, has its root in the altar,--in the circumstance that the
people of God are a people whose sins are forgiven, who dedicate
themselves to God, and give Him thanks and praise.

A very remarkable reference to Gen. xlix. meets us at the very
threshold of the New Testament. In Luke ii. 13, 14, the heavenly host
praise God, saying: "Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth
peace." The words, "glory" or "praise be to God," are an allusion to
Judah, and to the glorious things foretold in Gen. xlix. of him who
centres in Christ. Christ is the true Judah,--He by whom God is
glorified, John xiv. 13. The words, "on earth peace," contain the
explanation of the name Shiloh, the first name under which the Saviour
is celebrated in the Old Testament.

As the words with which the Saviour is first introduced into the world
allude to Gen. xlix., so the Lord Himself, before His departure,
alludes to this fundamental Messianic prophecy in John xiv. 27: "Peace
I leave with you. My peace I give unto you;" and in xvi. 33: "These
things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace." So
also, after His resurrection, Christ says, in the circle of His
disciples, "Peace be unto you," John xx. 19, 21, 26.

The last book of the entire Holy Scripture--the Apocalypse
[Pg 98]--likewise points back to the remarkable prophecy of Christ at
the close of its first book. In Rev