, 15), but which, on the contrary, preserves it undiminished.
If the promise, "From the prey, my son, thou art gone up," found its
first glorious, although only preliminary, fulfilment in the reign of
David (compare the enumeration of his victories in 2 Sam. viii.), the
words, "He stoopeth down, he coucheth," etc., are the most appropriate
inscription for the portal of Solomon's reign. But, in Christ, the
pre-eminence in the reign both of war and peace is united.--That
[Hebrew: lbia] is not "the lioness," but only the poetical designation
of the lion, appears from just the very passage which is so commonly
adduced in support of the former signification, viz., Job iv. 11; for
the sons of the lion spoken of in that passage are the sons of the
wicked (compare Job xxvii. 14).

A parallel to the words in ver. 10, "The sceptre shall not depart from
Judah," is formed by the departing of the sceptre from Egypt, in Zech.
x. 11: "And the pride of Assyria shall [Pg 64] be brought down, and the
sceptre of Egypt shall depart away." All dominion of the world over the
people of God is only temporary; and so also, the dominion of the
people of God over the world, as it centres in Judah, can sustain only
a temporary _interruption_: its departure is everywhere in appearance
only; and when it departs, it is only that it may return with enhanced
weight.--The _sceptre_ is the emblem of dominion. The words, "A sceptre
rises out of Israel" (Num. xxiv. 17), are explained in chap. xxiv. 19
by the words, "_Dominion_ shall come out of Jacob." The question as to
the subjects of this dominion must be determined from the preceding
words; for there shall not depart from Judah what Judah, according to
these words, possesses. Hence they are (1) the brethren of Judah, and
(2) the enemies of Israel. The latter can the less properly be
excluded, because of these alone the whole of the preceding verse
treated. In the words of Balaam, in Num. xxiv. 17 (which refer to the
passage under consideration), "There cometh a star out of Jacob, and a
sceptre riseth out of Israel, and smiteth the territories of Moab, and
destroyeth all the sons of the tumult," there is viewed, in the
sceptre, only the victorious and destructive power which he shall
display in his relation to the _world_; but the subjects of dominion
are, in that passage, according to ver. 19, the heathens also. The
sceptre is pre-eminently an ensign of kings. Hence, to the sceptre and
star out of Isra