Genesis 49:9

_JUDAH, THOU ART HE WHOM THY BRETHREN SHALL PRAISE: THY HAND SHALL BE IN THE NECK OF THINE ENEMIES; THY FATHER'S CHILDREN SHALL BOW DOWN BEFORE THEE._ Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise - literally, 'Judah, thou!' The name was significant of blessings (Gen. 9:35); and there is a paranomasia in the clause that follows: "thy brethren shall praise thee." A high pre-eminence was destined to this tribe (Numbers 10:14; Judges 1:2). Besides the honour of giving its designation to the promised land, its history was one progressive course of victory, marked by putting enemies to flight (cf. Psalms 18:42). Chief among the tribes, it grew up from "a lion's whelp" х_ GUWR_ ...

9._Judeah is a lion’s whelp_. This similitude confirms the preceding sentence, that Judah would be formidable to his enemies. Yet Jacob seems to allude to that diminution which took place, when the greater part of the people revolted to Jeroboam. For then the king of Judah began to be like a sleeping lion, for he did not shake his mane to diffuse his terror far and wide, but, as it were, laid him down in his den. Yet a certain secret power of God lay hidden under that torpor, and they who most desired his destruction, and who were most able to do him injury, did not dare to disturb him. Therefore, after Jacob has transferred the supreme authority over his brethren to Judah alone; he now adds, by way of correction, that, though his power should happen to be diminished, he would nevertheless remain terrible to his enemies, like a lion who lies down in his lair. (204)...

8-12 Judah's name signifies praise. God was praised for him, chap. Genesis 29:35, praised by him, and praised in him; therefore his brethren shall praise him. Judah should be a strong and courageous tribe. Judah is compared, not to a lion raging and ranging, but to a lion enjoying the satisfaction of his power and success, without creating vexation to others; this is to be truly great. Judah should be the royal tribe, the tribe from which Messiah the Prince should come. Shiloh, that promised Seed in whom the earth should be blessed, "that peaceable and prosperous One," or "Saviour," he shall come of Judah. Thus dying Jacob at a great distance saw Christ's day, and it was his comfort and support on his death-bed. Till Christ's coming, Judah possessed authority, but after his crucifixion this was shortened, and according to what Christ foretold, Jerusalem was destroyed, and all the poor h...

- Jacob Blesses His Sons 5. מכרה _m__e__kêrāh_, “weapon;” related: כיר _kārar_ or כרה _kārāh_ dig. “Device, design?” related: מכר _mākar_ “sell,” in Arabic “take counsel. Habitation.” 10. מחקק _m__e__choqēq_, “lawgiver, judge, dispenser of laws.” This word occurs in six other places - Numbers 21:18; Deuteronomy 33:21; Jud. Deuteronomy 5:14;...

EXPOSITION GENESIS 49:1 AND JACOB (having closed his interview with Joseph and his two sons) CALLED (by means of messengers) UNTO HIS SONS (_i.e._ the others who were then absent), AND SAID, GATHER YOURSELVES TOGETHER,—the prophet's last utterance must be a public one—THAT I MAY TELL YOU—literally, and I _will tell you_—THAT WHICH SHALL BEFALL YOU—קָרָא, in the sense of happening or occurring to any one, is here equivalent to קָרָה (cf. Genesis 42:4, Genesis 42:38)—IN THE LAST DAYS—literally, _in the end of the days, _not simply in f

JUDAH IS A LION'S WHELP,.... Or as one; the note of similitude being wanting, as Aben Ezra and Ben Melech observe; he was comparable to a young lion for his strength, courage, and generosity; and it may refer to the infant state of this tribe in the times of the judges, who first went up against the Canaanites and overcame them, Judges 1:1 FROM THE PREY, MY SON, THOU ART GONE UP; alluding to the lion going up to the mountains, where it chiefly resides, after it has found its prey and satiated itself with it: HE STOOPED DOWN, HE COUCHED AS A LION, AND AS AN OLD LION; one that is grown up, and has arrived to its full strength, such an one is a proper emblem of David king of Israel, of his royalty, courage, valour and conquests; and who having subdued the nations round about him, couched like a lion, and had rest from all his enemies; and especially this was ver

L, 2. _And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last day. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father._ It must have been a great comfort to the old man to have all his twelve sons with him. What a quiet answer this was to his former unbelief! They were all there, yet he could remember the time when he had said, «Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away.» Ah! we also shall have in our later days to chide ourselves for our foolish unbelief. «Jacob called unto his sons,» so he was not bereaved after all. They are all here, Jacob. It falls to the lot of few fathers to have twelve sons, and to fewer still to have all twelve of them gathered about his dying bed. «Gather yourselves together.» They were t...

CHAPTER 49 JACOB'S PROPHECY _ 1. The call of Jacob: “Gather yourselves together” (Genesis 49:1)_ 2. The prophecy concerning his sons (Genesis 49:3) Reuben (Genesis 49:3) Simeon and Levi (Genesis 49:5) Judah (Genesis 49:8) Zebulun (Genesis 49:13) Issachar (Genesis 49:14) Dan ...

THE BLESSING OF JACOB. This poem had an independent origin, but if it was incorporated in one of the main documents it would be in J. It is not a mere collection of originally isolated utterances on the tribes, but was from the first put in the lips of Jacob, though expansions and alterations have, no doubt, taken place. It need hardly be said that it is not the utterance of Jacob himself. It would be inexplicable that his vision should fix just on the period here covered. The oppression of Egypt, the Exodus, the wandering are all passed over, though they lay nearer to Jacob's day, and were momentous in character. And beyond the time of David or Solomon the author's vision does not range. Why should Jacob, who can see the period of the Judges and early monarchy, see only this, especially as he claims to foretell what is to happen in the latter days? The period is so restricted because it...

JUDAH IS A LION'S WHELP— The common interpretation given to this verse is, that it is an allegorical repetition, or illustration by similes of the former: the warlike Judah being compared to _a lion,_ and his enemies to _a lion's prey:_ in which sense a gradation is observed, Judah being compared first to a lion's whelp, then to a grown lion, then to a lioness (for so the original of the word, rendered an _old lion,_ signifies; see Ezekiel 19:2.) a lioness being reckoned the fiercest and most invincible of all. Thus the beginning, increase, and full growth of the power of this tribe is expressed. Balaam uses the same similitudes, Numbers 23:24 and Numbers 24:9. to denote high-spirited valour and magnanimity;