These verses are too important and interesting to be hastily passed by. Reuben, the eldest of Jacob's sons, having forfeited the birth-right by reason of his incest, had the sentence of his father put in execution: see Genesis 49:4. Joseph, therefore, had his and his own portion conferred upon him; for the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, which sprung from Joseph, both of them had each a portion. So the dying patriarch blessed them by faith in the promised seed. Hebrews 11:21. But Joseph had not the whole, for Judah yet more eminently, on account of the promised seed, took precedency of both. So declared Jacob by the spirit of prophecy, when dying: The sceptre was not to depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until the Shiloh should come. And this was literally the case in the royal line going on with Judah, until that Jesus came. Genesis 49:10. And when Christ came the Jews themselves confessed to Pilate, that they had no king but Caesar. John 19:15.
Related Commentaries of 1 Chronicles 5:1
1 Chronicles 5:1-2
1 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, (for he was the firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel: and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright.
2 For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's:)