The Wolf of God Text: Genesis 49:27
Introduction: Taming the Untamable
We live in an age that wants a domesticated God and a declawed gospel. Our modern sensibilities prefer a Christianity that is, above all else, nice. We want a Jesus who is endlessly affirming, a lamb but never a lion, a savior who would never be so rude as to overturn a table. And consequently, we want saints who are more like placid sheep in a petting zoo than the flock of a conquering king. We have gelded the faith. We have traded our swords for plowshares, and then traded the plowshares for participation trophies.
Into this tranquilized landscape, the Word of God lands with the force of a thunderclap. The dying patriarch Jacob, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is blessing his twelve sons, which is to say he is prophesying the character and destiny of the twelve tribes of Israel. And when he comes to his youngest, his beloved Benjamin, the son of his right hand, he does not offer gentle platitudes. He does not say, "Benjamin is a fluffy bunny, he shall nibble clover in the morning and take a nap in the evening." No, the Spirit of God says something that would make our modern church committees very nervous.
He says, "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf." A wolf. Not a golden retriever. Not even a respectable sheepdog. A wolf. An animal that is lean, hungry, dangerous, and utterly uninterested in public relations. This is not an insult. It is a blessing. It is a prophecy of martial prowess, of fierce loyalty, of a tribe that would produce warriors and kings and one of the most ferocious apostles the world has ever known. This is a divine commendation of a certain kind of divinely-directed ferocity. And because our generation has made a peace treaty with the world, a peace treaty God never signed, this is a commendation that we desperately need to understand.
We need to recover a biblical affection for the wolfish virtues when they are constrained by covenant and aimed at the enemies of God. We must understand that the same God who makes His people lie down in green pastures also prepares a table for them in the presence of their enemies. And you don't eat at that table with a butter knife.
The Text
"Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; In the morning he devours the prey, And in the evening he divides the spoil."
(Genesis 49:27 LSB)
A Ravenous Wolf
The prophecy begins with the central, startling metaphor:
"Benjamin is a ravenous wolf..." (Genesis 49:27a)
The Hebrew word for "ravenous" here comes from a root that means "to tear in pieces." This is not a wolf content to scavenge. This is a predator. This is a killer. It speaks of an aggressive, relentless, and martial spirit. And we should not be surprised to find that the history of the tribe of Benjamin bears this out completely. They were known for their fierce warriors. Think of the left-handed slingers who could hit a hair and not miss (Judges 20:16). Think of their bloody civil war against all the other tribes, where they were vastly outnumbered but won the first two battles through sheer ferocity (Judges 20). Think of Ehud, the left-handed Benjamite judge who personally dispatched the obese tyrant Eglon of Moab with a concealed dagger (Judges 3). Think of Saul, the first king of Israel, a Benjamite who fought relentlessly against the Philistines. The tribe of Benjamin was small, but it consistently punched far above its weight. They were scrappy. They were dangerous.
Now, this wolfishness, like any great strength, could be a source of great sin when misdirected. The incident at Gibeah, which provoked the civil war, was a horrific example of Benjamite depravity and their stubborn refusal to deal with their own sin (Judges 19-20). A wolf uncaged in the sheepfold is a disaster. But a wolf guarding the perimeter against other wolves is a blessing. The problem is not the ferocity; the problem is the direction of the ferocity. Our issue in the modern church is not that we have too many wolves. It is that we have too many well-fed sheep who think the highest virtue is to be inoffensive, while the actual wolves, the spiritual ones, are carrying off the lambs one by one.
God does not call us to be passive. He calls us to be at war. "Contend earnestly for the faith" (Jude 3). "Fight the good fight" (1 Tim. 6:12). We are to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, yes. But the dove's harmlessness is directed toward her own brethren, not toward the serpent. Toward the serpent, we are to be wise, which means we are to be dangerous. We are to be a threat to the kingdom of darkness. A placid, harmless church is no threat to anyone, and is therefore good for nothing.
Morning Devours, Evening Divides
The prophecy then describes the wolf's daily labor, which is a picture of total, relentless victory.
"...In the morning he devours the prey, And in the evening he divides the spoil." (Genesis 49:27b)
This is a book-ended day of martial success. The work begins at dawn and concludes at dusk, and the theme is consistent throughout: conquest. In the morning, at the start of the conflict, he is on the offensive. He is not waiting to be attacked; he is seeking the prey. He "devours" it. This is total consumption, utter victory. There is no negotiation with the prey, no compromise. The wolf does not form a committee to discuss multicultural coexistence with the rabbit. He eats it.
And then, at the end of the day, the work is not done. The victory is not just for himself. "In the evening he divides the spoil." The spoil, the plunder, the fruit of the victory is distributed. This is a crucial point. The wolfishness God blesses is not for selfish gain. It is for the good of the pack, for the good of the tribe. The warrior fights, and the whole covenant community benefits from his victory. This is the principle of federal headship in action. The king goes to war, and the kingdom enjoys the peace and prosperity that he wins. This is dominion. It is taking ground from the enemy and then cultivating that ground for the glory of God and the good of His people.
This is a picture of a successful, ongoing campaign. From morning to evening, from the beginning of an era to its end, the story is one of victory and provision. This is a profoundly optimistic, postmillennial sentiment. The work of God's kingdom is not one of frantic retreat and managed decline. It is a long, steady, morning-to-evening work of devouring the prey of darkness and dividing the spoil of Christ's victory among the nations.
The Wolf of Tarsus
As with all these prophecies, we must see their ultimate fulfillment in Christ and His Church. And there is no greater fulfillment of this Benjamite prophecy than in the person of the Apostle Paul. He introduces himself as "of the tribe of Benjamin" (Rom. 11:1; Phil. 3:5), and his life perfectly matches Jacob's prediction.
In the "morning" of his life, Saul of Tarsus was a ravenous wolf against the Church of God. He was, by his own admission, a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man. He "made havoc" of the church (Acts 8:3). He breathed out "threats and murder" against the disciples (Acts 9:1). He was devouring the prey, but he was a wolf in the service of the wrong master.
Then, on the road to Damascus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah met this wolf and brought him to heel. Christ did not break him, but He did redirect him. He took all that Benjamite ferocity, all that zeal, all that relentless energy, and aimed it in the right direction. And so, in the "evening" of his life, the Apostle Paul becomes a wolf for the gospel.
He travels the Roman world, planting churches, confronting paganism, refuting Judaizers, and battling demonic powers. He devours the prey of the evil one. He snatches brands from the burning. And what does he do at the end of his day? He divides the spoil. He takes the glorious riches of the gospel, the plunder won by Christ on the cross, and he distributes it among the Gentiles. He spends his life dividing the spoil of grace, truth, and eternal life to the fledgling churches. He takes that which was won in the heat of the battle and ensures it enriches the entire kingdom. Saul in the morning devoured the saints. Paul in the evening divided the spoil for the saints. The prophecy is fulfilled in him with breathtaking precision.
Conclusion: Your Inner Wolf
So what does this mean for us? It means that God has a purpose for the aggressive, zealous, and martial instincts that He Himself has woven into the fabric of manhood. It means that the answer to sinful aggression is not placidity, but sanctified aggression. The problem with the world is not that men are too strong, but that they are not strong enough in the right way, for the right things.
Every Christian man has an inner wolf. The question is not whether you have one, but who it serves. Is it a mangy, selfish cur that snaps at your wife and children and devours the prey of lust and bitterness for its own gratification? Or is it a consecrated wolf of God, lean and disciplined, that hunts the enemies of Christ? A wolf that devours heresy in the morning, that tears into the lies of our age, and that comes home in the evening to divide the spoil of a day's faithful labor with his family and his church?
We are in a war. The prey is all around us. The strongholds of the enemy are ripe for the taking. Christ, our great King from the tribe of Judah, has already won the decisive victory. He has bound the strong man. Now He sends us, His Benjamites, into the world to plunder his house. He calls us to be ravenous for righteousness, to devour the works of darkness, and to spend our lives dividing the glorious spoil of the gospel until that final evening, when the Chief Shepherd returns, and we will feast with Him forever.