Yesterday, I mentioned how I’m nearly done with my in-depth study of Genesis, and after writing the devo I returned to my studying. I came to Jacob’s blessing to Dan, as he described his son (and the Tribe soon to spawn from his loins) as a “snake ready to bite the heel of whatever enemy threatens Israel’s descendants” (Genesis 49:17). Right after making that analogy, the Genesis record contains these words…

I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

(Genesis 49:18)

This statement is not connected to Dan, at least not directly. It is also not a prelude to the blessing about to be given to the next son, Gad. Instead, this is almost an aside, a random thought, a sudden expression on the part of Jacob. He just got through describing Dan as a snake that will, if provoked, bite the heel of its enemy. As a Bible reader, when you think of a snake biting a heel, does any Biblical account come to mind? Do you not think of the promise made in Eden, concerning Satan and the Messiah-to-come?

That account was not yet written when Jacob spoke these words, but the history of it was known, having been passed down from Adam to Seth, from Seth to Enos, etc, until Noah passed it down to his sons. Eventually it passed to Abraham, who told it to Isaac, who told it to Jacob. The promise that the snake would be crushed under the heel of the Savior was well-known to the Patriarch.

I think his words about Dan triggered that thought, causing him to exclaim: “I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord!” That statement is, in essence, the national motto of the children of Israel. That’s who they are. That’s what they do. They will spend the entirety of the Old Testament waiting for the Messianic salvation of God to come to them. When you open the New Testament, their hope is realized with the birth of Jesus Christ.

I love Jacob’s outburst here. It’s an example of what happens when a person is so engrossed in the Word of God that they look for any opportunity to find a connection to the Text, and when they find it, they exclaim it for all to hear.

What an example!

~Matthew