ces,--in father and mother and old
men (Lev. xix. 32), in princes (Exod. xxii. 28), in the office of the
judge (Deut. i. 17; Exod. xxi. 6, xxii. 7, 8). It is wicked to refuse
this honour, and its natural expression in the bowing of the body,
under the pretext, that it is due to _God_ alone. It is to be refused
only where there is some danger that, thereby, any independent honour
would be ascribed to the mere vessel of the divine glory." In what the
[Greek: proskunesis] consists, which Judah is to receive from his
brethren, we see distinctly from Isa. xlv. 14, where the heathen, at
the time of the salvation, fall down before Israel: "Thus saith the
Lord, The labour of Egypt and merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans,
men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and be thine: they shall go
behind thee; in chains they shall walk; _and they shall fall down
before thee, and they shall make supplication unto thee_ (saying).
_Only in thee is God, and there is no God else._" The ground of Judah's
adoration on the part of his brethren is this:--that God's glory is
visibly upon him, that by glorious deeds and victories the seal is
impressed upon him: "with us is God" (_Immanuel_). And this found its
most glorious fulfilment in the Lion of the tribe of Judah, in Christ,
of whom it is said in Phil. ii. 9-11: "Wherefore God has highly exalted
Him, and given Him a name which is above every name; that at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, of all those who are in heaven, and on
earth, and under the earth; and that every tongue should [Pg 62]
confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
That, in its final accomplishment, this prophecy referred to Christ,
was known to Jacob as certainly as he makes Judah centre in the Shiloh.
This Solomon also knew, when, in Ps. lxxii. 11 (compare Ps. xlv. 12),
he ascribes to his great Antitype what is here ascribed to Judah: "All
kings shall worship Him, and all nations shall serve Him." The
consequence of the worship "by kings and nations" is the worshipping
"by the sons of the father." Jacob thus transfers to Judah that which
Isaac had promised to _him_: "People shall serve thee, and nations
shall worship thee: be lord over thy brethren, and thy mother's sons
shall worship before thee:" Gen. xxvii. 29.

In ver. 9 Judah is first designated a young lion,--a name which is
intended to indicate, that the victorious power ascribed to Judah
exists, as yet, only in the _germ_.