In chapters 48 and 49 we see Jacob blessing his children. First, Jacob "adopts" the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim (48:5). He does this essentially to give Joseph a double portion of his blessing and inheritance. When the people of Israel go into the promised land they divide up the land by tribes, each tribe being named after a son of Jacob. There is no tribe named Joseph, instead he is given a double allotment through each of his children's tribes receiving a portion of the land (Josh. 16-17)
The other important thing we should note in the blessings of Jacob to his children is his blessing to Judah:
Genesis 49:8–12
8 “Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. 9 You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his. 11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.
Jacob and the other family members clearly respected Judah as a leader. Remember the brothers agree to go along with his plan of selling Joseph. Jacob agrees to allow Benjamin to go with them to Egypt only after Judah takes responsibility for him. Judah speaks up to Joseph in Egypt, offering to take Benjamin's place as a slave. He is clearly a leader and we see Jacob furthering his leadership role in his blessing.
Verse 10 is regularly thought of as a Messianic prophetic text. It is fulfilled partially in the royal line of David being a descendant of Judah. Ultimately, however, it is in Jesus that we find this blessing of v. 10 fully fulfilled (Rev. 5:5). Jesus is the one to whom the scepter belongs and the obedience of the nations shall one day be his. Matthew begins his gospel (Matt. 1) with a genealogy of Jesus precisely because the Messiah was to come from the line of Judah as this text indicates.
