Justin Martyr, First Apology 32

Moses, the first of the prophets, spoke these exact words: "A ruler will not cease from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until the one for whom it is reserved arrives; he will be the expectation of nations, tying his donkey colt to a vine and washing his robe in the blood of grapes" (Genesis 49:10). You, therefore, must carefully examine and determine up to what point the Jews had a ruler and king of their own; the answer extends to the appearance of Jesus Christ, our teacher and the interpreter of the unknown prophecies. The divine, holy, prophetic Spirit foretold through Moses that a ruler would not cease from the Jews until the one for whom the kingdom is reserved would come. Judah was the forefather of the Jews, and from him they received their name; after Christ's manifestation, you assumed rule over the Jews and took possession of their entire land. The declaration "He will be the expectation of nations" signaled that all nations would await his return, a fact you can now witness and verify by its fulfillment; people from every nation now expect the one who was crucified in Judea, after whose death the land of the Jews was immediately handed over to you. The phrase "Tying his donkey colt to a vine and washing his robe in the blood of grapes" was a symbolic forecast of what would happen to Christ and what he would accomplish. A donkey's colt stood tied to a vine at a village entrance; Jesus ordered his acquaintances to bring it to him, he mounted it, rode into Jerusalem, where the Jews' greatest temple stood — later destroyed by you — and shortly afterward he was crucified, so that the remainder of the prophecy might be fulfilled. The statement "Washing his robe in the blood of grapes" foretold the passion he would endure, cleansing through his blood those who believe in him. The robe, spoken of by the divine Spirit through the prophet, represents the believers in whom the seed from God, the Word, dwells. The mention of the blood of grapes signifies that the one who appeared possesses blood, yet not from human seed but from divine power. The first power after the Father of all and Lord God is the Son, the Word; he became flesh and human, a matter we will address later. Just as the blood of the vine is produced not by humans but by God, so this indicated that the blood would not originate from human seed but from the power of God, as we foretold. Isaiah, another prophet, proclaimed the same truths through different words: "A star will rise from Jacob, and a shoot will spring from the root of Jesse; nations will hope in his arm" (Isaiah 11:1, 10). A bright star has risen, and a flower has bloomed from the root of Jesse — this is Christ. Through a virgin descended from the seed of Jacob, who fathered Judah, the declared forefather of the Jews, he was born by the power of God; Jesse served as a forefather according to the oracle, and stood in the genealogical line as a son of Jacob and Judah.