Monday, February 25, 2008

More Palm Sunday Perspectives

The "Testament of Jacob" passage in Genesis 49:10-11 has another interesting reference to the promised messianic figure in close proximity to a mule-colt, and may somehow lie behind or be a development on the significance of the "royal mule" in David's coronation of Solomon, the prophecy of Zechariah, and the Gospel references to the "colt tied" which Jesus' disciples are sent to borrow. The references to the "scepter" and the "ruler's staff" which shall belong to the tribe of Judah (from which, of course, Jesus is a legal descendent through Joseph) "until he comes to whom it belongs" (if we take the Syriac reading) are clearly messianic and are here related to the act of "binding his foal to the vine, his donkey's colt or mule (polon tes onou autou) to the choice vine"; this is apparently a symbol of such affluence that the risky behavior which would allow the colt to devour a choice vine can be dared, along with the extravagant act of washing one's garments in wine. This may or may not shed any light on the other passages, but it is an interesting and apparently very ancient linking of the royal figure from the tribe of Judah with a tied-up mule, as in the Gospel references. Puzzling, isn't it! (It is also interesting that vss. 8 and 9 seem to transfer to the tribe of Judah the fulfilment of Joseph's dream about his brothers bowing to him.) (Gen. 37:5-11)

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