Or rather, Thou art Judah, thy brethren shall praise or celebrate thee. So the expression is like that 1 Samuel 25:25. As his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him, or in him. So here the sense is, As thy name signifies praise, Genesis 29:35, so shalt thou have praise or honour from thy brethren. He alludes to his name, and to the occasion of it, but with an elegant variation. Thou art deservedly called Judah, not only because thy mother praised God for thee, but also because thy brethren shall praise and bless thee for the reasons here following. But this, as also the other blessings or predictions, do not so much declare the state of Judah or the rest in their own persons, as in their posterity. Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, i.e. thou shalt overthrow and subdue them. This was fulfilled in part, Judges 1:1,2,4 3:9,10; but more fully in David, 2 Samuel 8:1, and Solomon, 1 Chronicles 12:9; and most eminently, though spiritually, in Christ. The phrase is taken either,
1. From the practice of warriors, who use to assault their enemies in that part, that they may throw them down at their feet; of which see Job 15:26, Job 16:12. Or, 2. from the custom of conquerors, who are said to put the yokes upon the necks of the conquered. See Genesis 27:40 Deuteronomy 28:48 Isaiah 10:27 Jeremiah 27:8, Jeremiah 28:14. Thy father's children, i.e. all thy brethren, and my posterity; he saith not thy mother's children, for his sons had divers mothers; shall bow down before thee, i.e. shall own thee as their superior and lord, upon whom I have devolved this part of the right of the first-born. By this and the following words we plainly see that these blessings and predictions were not distributed according to Jacob's affections and inclinations, (for then Judah should never have been advanced above his worthily beloved Joseph,) but by the direction of God's Spirit.