Ver. 7. And this is the blessing of Judah— This is more properly rendered by Houbigant and Durell, and this he said of Judah; the word blessing not being in the original, or in any other version than ours and the Vulgate. Durell renders the rest of the verse thus:
Hear Lord, the voice of Judah, And make him go before his people: Let his hand contend for him, And be thou an help against his enemies.
And, I. He observes upon it in general, that Jacob had promised Judah, that the sceptre would be established, and would long continue in his land, which was to be a remarkably good one, &c. To which blessings having probably nothing material to add, Moses here prays God that he would be propitious to him; that he would send him at the head of his brethren to fight against the Canaanites; and that, by assisting against them, they all might gain possession of that country which was the great object of their hopes. It has been asked, What could be the subject of these prayers, which Moses entreats God to hear from this tribe? Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah. To which question a general reply may be sufficient, that such things must necessarily be supposed to be meant as were proper for them to ask, and for God to grant; but that nothing is so likely to have engaged their attention in particular as what has been suggested, namely, the accomplishment of Jacob's promises to them. It is further asked, Why does Moses make this and the following petitions in behalf of this tribe, rather than of any other? Because not only Judah, but all Israel, were immediately concerned in having them granted; he being, as it were, the heart which gave life to the other members, by taking the lead in all military expeditions. See Genesis 49:9. עמו אל el ammo, rendered unto his people in our version, is rendered by Durell, before his people; and the particle al, he observes, is not unfrequently thus used: or it may be rendered together with. What the meaning of the common version of this place is, I cannot comprehend; for it is obvious, that it cannot here signify to his country. The phrase, his people, is not to be confined to the tribe of Judah, (as it is to the tribe of Dan, Genesis 49:16.) but must be extended so as to take in all the other tribes; which, as they were in some sort subordinate to this tribe, are not for that reason improperly so called. Thus far Durell. II. Bishop Sherlock, in his excellent Dissertation on the Blessing of Judah, observes, that this benediction cannot relate to the time when it was given; for then Judah's hands were very sufficient for him, this tribe being by much the greatest of the twelve tribes, as appears by two different accounts of the forces of Israel in Numbers 1:26 : and there was more reason to put up this petition for several other tribes than for Judah. The bishop, therefore, refers it to the prophesy of Jacob, and to the continuance of the sceptre of Judah, after the destruction of the other tribes. Judah, in Moses's time, consisted of 74,600, reckoning only those of twenty years old and upward; see Numbers 2:6. But upon the return from Babylon, Judah, with Benjamin, the Levites, and the remnant of Israel, made only 42,360, Ezra 2:64.; and they were in so weak a state, that Sanballat in great scorn said,, what do these feeble Jews? Nehemiah 4:2. Now Moses, in the spirit of prophesy, seeing the desolation of all the tribes; seeing the tribes of the children of Israel carried away by the Assyrians, and the people of Judah by the Babylonians; seeing that Judah should again return, weak, harassed, and scarcely able to maintain himself in his own country; conceives for him this prophetic prayer: Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people, &c. III. Houbigant supposes that this prophesy immediately refers to CHRIST, the Judah here spoken of, to whom these words agree, hear, Lord, &c. as Jesus Christ says, I knew that thou always hearest me. Nor can the words, bring him to his people, be applied to any other. Moses well knew, in the blessing of the patriarch Jacob, that Judah was the Messiah; wherefore, he also accommodates Judah to the Messiah. This learned writer goes on to shew, that the words cannot properly be applied to Judah as a tribe; and concludes, "these words, therefore, entirely belong to that Judah, concerning whom Jacob says, Judah, thou art He whom thy brethren shall adore; which Judah Moses wishes to come to his people, that is, to come into this world, and converse amongst men."
Note; (1.) With Judah's prayers, we may expect Judah's blessing. (2.) Christ, the lion of the tribe of Judah, hath prayed and fought, and conquered for us; and, having made peace through the blood of his cross, will keep us safe from the fear of evil, in time and in eternity.