For Judah prevailed above his brethren. — Literally, was mighty among his brethren. Comp. Jacob’s blessing (Genesis 49:8-10): “Judah, thou — thy brethren shall praise thee, Thy hand shall be on the neck of thy foes, Thy father’s sons shall bow before thee. Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor doom-staff from between his feet,” &c. (See also Judges 1:1-2, where Judah is divinely commissioned to lead the attack upon the Canaanites.) At the census of Moses, Judah greatly outnumbered any other single tribe (Numbers 1:27).
And of him came the chief ruler. — “And from him (one was to become) prince.” Literally, and for a prince — out of him. (Comp. Micah 5:1.) LXX., εἰς ἡγούμενον ἐξ αὐτοῦ. David is meant, as in 1 Samuel 13:14. We may also remember the word of the apostolic writer: “It is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah” (Hebrews 7:4). The prophecy concerning the royal dignity of Judah is only thus exhausted of its meaning.
But the birthright was Joseph’s, who actually received the “double portion” in the two tribal domains of Ephraim and Manasseh.