od's-praise"
(_Gottlob_), whose very existence becomes the cause of exclaiming,
[Greek: doxa to Theo], praise be to God, will assuredly receive praise
from the brethren.--"Judah thou" stands (according to Gen. xxvii. 36;
Matt. xvi. 18) either for, "Thou art Judah," _i.e._, thou art rightly
called so, or, according to Gen. xxiv. 60, for, "Thou Judah," _i.e._, I
have something particular to tell thee (compare the emphatic "I" in
Gen. xxiv. 27).--On the expression, "Thine hand shall be in the neck of
thine enemies," _i.e._, thou shalt put to flight all thine enemies, and
press them hard while they are fleeing, compare Exod. xxiii. 27, "I
will make all thine enemies (turn their) backs unto thee," and Ps.
xviii. 41, where David says, in the name of his family, in which Judah
centred, as did Israel in Judah, "Thou hast given me mine enemies (to
be) a back." If, however, we inquire how this prophecy was fulfilled,
we must not overlook the circumstance that the subjects of it are
sinful men, and that, for this reason, God could never give up the
right of visiting their iniquity,--a right which has its foundation in
His very nature. Three sentences of condemnation precede the blessing
upon Judah, and this indicates that Judah too will be weighed in the
balance of justice. "The excellency of dignity and the excellency of
power," which, in ver. 3, were taken from Reuben, are here adjudged to
Judah. The circumstance of his being the first-born could not protect
the former against the loss of his privileges; [Pg 59] and just as
little will the divine election deliver Judah from a visitation for his
sins, although, by that election, the total loss of his privileges is
rendered impossible. These two ordinations--the election and the
visitation of sin in the elect--stand by the side of each other; and
the latter could not be stayed, even at the time when Judah had reached
its height in the Lion from out of his tribe; for although the Shepherd
was blameless, yet the flock was not so. The ordination of election is,
however, far from being thereby darkened; it only shines by a brighter
light. Often painful indeed were the defeats which Judah had to
sustain; often enough--as during the centuries which elapsed between
the destruction of David's kingdom and the coming of Christ--was the
promise, "Thy hand shall be in the necks of thine enemies," reversed.
But when we behold Judah ever and anon returning and rising to the
dignity here bestowed