Abraham's grandson was Jacob/Israel. Just before his death, Jacob gave a patriarchal or father's blessing to all of his sons. To his son, Judah, he promised the kingship and the lineage for the savior of the world:
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?
(Genesis 49: 9)
Because of the scriptural account of this blessing, Jesus Christ has been called "The Lion of Judah"
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him
(Isaiah 11: 1,2)
A 15th Century German Carol expresses these verses from Isaiah:
Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming from tender stem hath sprung!
Of Jesse’s lineage coming, as men of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright, amid the cold of winter,
When half spent was the night.
Isaiah ’twas foretold it, the Rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind.
To show God’s love aright, she bore to men a Savior,
When half spent was the night.
(Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming)
David was a humble shepherd boy, youngest of the sons of Jesse. He became King of Israel and an ancestor of Jesus Christ. Matthew tells us that there are fourteen generations from the great patriarch, Abraham, to King David; fourteen generations from David to the carrying away of the Jews to Babylon; and fourteen generations from Babylon to Jesus. Both Mary and Joseph were descendants of David through the same lineage (see Matthew, chapter 1.)
John, the author of the Book of Revelation would, of course, have known all of these connections in great detail. This statement identifying the Lion and the Root is a sign and token to John that the only one in all eternity who can discern and hold in his hand, all the history of the world, as it were a sealed scroll, is Jesus Christ; Lamb of God; Savior of the World.
Youtube postings of the carol, Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUGTzpntLs8
Text copyright Gebara Education February 2013
Text copyright Gebara Education February 2013
Picture of the Lion of Judah from www.endthelie.com
Picture of the Root of Jesse from www.madebycat.co.uk
Picture of Michaelangelo's David, from www.bible-topten.com
Picture of the Lamb of God from www.shalfleet.net
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