The reference of this passage to Gen. xlix. cannot be mistaken. It was recognised, indeed, by the ancient translators; only that most of them erroneously found in it an explanation instead of an allusion.
Instead of the words, "to whom is the judgment," we should, from the expression used in Gen. xlix. 10, "Until Shiloh cometh," have expected, "to whom is peace;" but Ezekiel has filled up Gen. xlix. 10 from Ps. lxxii. 1-5, where judgment and righteousness appear as the basis of the peace which the Anointed One shall bring. And peace occupies the background in Ezekiel also. The advent of Him to whom is the judgment, in contrast with the injustice and wickedness of those who were hitherto the bearers of the sceptre, puts an end to strife, confusion, and destruction. That, in like manner, in Gen. xlix., the judgment occupies the background, we see plainly, from the commentary upon that passage furnished by Ps. lxxii., as well as from Is. ix. and ii. In Ps. lxxii., peace comes into consideration, only in so far as it is a product and consequence of justice, which is an attribute of the King, and is by him infused into the life of the nation. In vers. 1-50, the thought is: "God gives righteousness to His King, and in consequence of it, righteousness and the fear of God become indigenous to the people, and these again bring peace in their train."
Every word in Ezekiel is taken from Gen. xlix. and Ps. lxxii. From the latter are taken the words, "judgment," and "I will give it." (Compare Ps. lxxii. 1: "Give the King thy judgments.") The combination of these two passages points out their close connection, and indicates that Ps. lxxii. is to be viewed as a comment. Onkelos, who thus translates the passage in Gen. xlix., "Until Messiah comes, to whom the kingdom is due, and Him the people shall obey," has very properly only supplemented the declaration of Jacob from Ezekiel, or, at least, has taken thence the explanation of Shiloh.
But, at the same time, the words אשר לי המשפט, which, on the basis of Ps. lxxii., Ezekiel puts in the place of שילה, allude to the letters of the latter word which forms the initials of the words in Ezekiel. That ש is the main letter in אשר, is shown by the common abbreviation of it into ש; and that the י in שילה is unessential, is proved by the circumstance that the name of the place is often written שלה, and that even in Gen. xlix. 10, a number of manuscripts have this orthography.
"From the allusion to a prophecy so well known, and so frequently used, the brevity of the prophecy in Ezekiel is to be explained. It forms a most powerful conclusion and resting-point for the prophetic discourse." (Hävernick.)
There cannot be any doubt that Ezekiel found in Gen. xlix. 10, the prophecy of a personal Messiah. They, therefore, who assert that no such prophecy is contained in our passage, must, at the same time, assert that Ezekiel misunderstood it; yea, even more, that, even as early as at that period, a false view of that passage was generally prevalent. For, the manner in which Ezekiel alludes to it presupposes that, at that time, the view which found in it a personal Messiah was generally held. If we observe still further, that Ezekiel connected the allusion to Ps. lxxii. with that to Gen. xlix., we cannot hesitate for a moment to admit that he understood the name Shiloh to be Rest-maker, Peace-maker; only, that on the ground of Ps. lxxii., he mentions the cause instead of the effect. He had, moreover, the stronger reason for designating the bearer of peace as the bearer of judgment, because, in his time, the want of judgment had evidently produced the absence of peace, and the general confusion, misery, and destruction.
"As in Gen. xlix. the Patriarch sees a light rising at a far distance, and spreading its brightness over the darkness of centuries, so in Ezekiel also, the same ray of glorious hope lightens through the dark night of confusion and unutterable misery in which he sees himself enveloped."
Kurtz, S. 266, has altogether denied the connection of the passage in Ezekiel with Gen. xlix. These two passages are, as he thinks, altogether different, inasmuch as Ezekiel announces destruction and desolation which shall continue until He comes to whom is the judgment, while Gen. xlix., when understood of a personal Messiah, announces dominion which shall continue until Shiloh comes. But Ezekiel does not contradict Gen. xlix. 10. He gives only the supplement necessary for preventing this passage from being considered as a permission to sin, and from becoming a support of false security. Ezekiel, too, assumes a continuation of the dominion. If that were not concealed behind the destruction, how could "the coming of Him to whom is the judgment" be pointed out as the limit of that destruction? The tree indeed is cut down, but the root remains in its full vigour.
When Jacob announces that the sceptre shall not depart until Shiloh, the prince of peace, cometh, he can thereby mean only that it would not depart definitively; for, otherwise, he would have belied his own experience. From the way by which the Lord had led him, he had sufficiently learnt that God's promises to sinful men must be taken cum grano salis; that they never exclude the visitation of the elect on account of their sins, and that it is only in the end that God will bring all to a glorious fulfilment. When he went to Mesopotamia, God had said to him, "I am with thee, and I will keep thee in all places whither thou goest," Gen. xxviii. 15; and yet the deceit which he had practised upon his father and brother was recompensed to him there by the deceit of Laban, and he was obliged to say, "In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from mine eyes," Gen. xxxi. 40. When he came from the land of the two rivers, God blessed him and gave him the honourable name of Israel, Gen. xxxii.; and yet 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.