Genesis Genesis 49:1-33
Jacob's deathbed oracle moves from forfeiture to investiture: the scepter passes to Judah, held only until Shiloh comes — and the earliest Jewish readings of that line, in Greek and at Qumran, all take it of the Messiah.
Genesis Gen 49:5–12; 1 Chr 5:1–2; Heb 7:11–17
Reuben forfeited the firstborn inheritance. Simeon was cursed alongside Levi and then disappeared from Moses's final tribal blessing. Levi, cursed for violence, became the priesthood. Judah was fourth and received the scepter. 1 Chronicles 5:1-2 names the three-way split. Hebrews 7 argues that Jesus's Judah-descent requires a priesthood from outside Aaron's line — recovering through Melchizedek what the Torah had divided.