Genesis 49:9

Judah is a lion's whelp,.... Or as one; the note of similitude being wanting, as Aben Ezra and Ben Melech observe; he was comparable to a young lion for his strength, courage, and generosity; and it

Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.

Judah is as a lion’ s whelp, or as a young lion, for courage, and strength, and terror to his enemies. The particle as is here wanting, as also ,17,21,22, and in many other places, as 12:6 22:6, &c. And he is rightly compared first to a lion’ s whelp, then to an old lion, to signify the growth of that tribe in strength and interest; and that from small beginnings, and a precedency of order only, ,2, it should ascend to the height of honour, and power, and happiness in David, and especially in the Messiah, who should conquer all nations. From the prey... thou art gone up. Having taken the prey, i.e. conquered thine enemies, thou art gone up in triumph; or gone up, i.e. grown greater and higher after thy victories, as the manner is. Or he alludes to the lions, which usually dwell in mountains, as divers writers observe, and come down to prey in the valleys, and when they have got their prey, they go up to their habitations, and so shall Judah do. He stooped; a change of the person very frequent in prophetical writings, as we shall oft have occasion to note hereafter. He couched. When he hath taken the prey, he doth not convey it away to his den with haste and speed for fear the enemy should return and overtake him, but like a lion he stoops down to feed upon his prey, and coucheth or lieth down securely to rest himself after he hath eaten it, without the least fear of any enemy, as it is observed of him, . Judah’ s conquests shall not be interrupted or followed with ill successes and defeats or overthrows afterward, as it frequently happens in the course of war, but he quietly possess his spoils, and after the bloody wars, to which he will be forced, shall enjoy a sweet peace and tranquillity, which his posterity did, . As an old lion, or rather a grown lion, not a decrepit and impotent lion, but one come to his full strength; who shall presume or dare to disturb or provoke him? All shall fear him, and seek peace with him.

Genesis 49:9 Judah [is] a lion’ s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? Ver. 9. Judah is a lion’ s whelp.] Many lionlike Lysimachusses came of this tribe, that, as Samson and David, first fought with lions, and then with their enemies; all which were types of that "Lion of the tribe of Judah," Revelation 5:5. The devil is a roaring lion, Leo ωρυομενος, lies in wait for the Church: but Christ, her invincible champion, is ever at hand for her help, who is also Leo ορυομενος, as St Paul hath it, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, "that delivereth us from the wrath to come." And when this lion roareth, all creatures tremble. St Ambrose tells us that when the lion puts forth his voice, many creatures that could outrun him are so astonished at the terror of his roars, that they are not able to stir from the place. And Isidore writeth, that the lion’ s whelp, for the first three days after it comes into the world, lieth as it were asleep, and is afterwards roused and raised by the old lions’ roaring, which makes the very den to shake. Christ, at the last day, shall come with the voice of the archangel, and trump of God, &c. And then shall they "that sleep in the dust of death awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting horror and amazement." In insidiis. In subsidiis.

(9) Judah is a lion’s whelp.—We have seen that the sons of Jacob had each his signet, and that Judah’s was so large as to be worn by him attached to a cord fastened round his neck (Genesis 38:18). Probably his emblem was a lion; that of Zebulun a ship; that of Issachar an ass; that of Dan an adder, and so on. Using then his self-chosen emblem, Jacob compares him, first, to a “lion’s whelp,” full of activity and enterprise, and which, after feasting upon its prey, goes up to its mountain lair, calm and fearless in the consciousness of its strength. But as Judah is a young lion in his activity and fearlessness, so is he “a lion” full-grown and majestic in his repose, which Jacob’s words literally describe. For the “stooping down” is the bending of the limbs together before the lion couches, that is, lies down in his den. As an old lion.—Heb., as a lioness, the female being said to be more fierce than the male, and to resent more angrily any disturbance of its rest.

9. a lion’s whelp] For the comparison of Judah with a lion, which through this verse became its historic symbol, cf. 2Es 12:31-32; Revelation 5:5. The metaphor of a lion is applied to Gad (Deuteronomy 33:20) and to Dan (Deuteronomy 33:22). For its use in poetical description, cf. Numbers 23:24; Numbers 24:9; Micah 5:8; 1Ma 3:4. gone up] The lion, having seized and devoured its prey, returns to its fastness in the hills, secure and inaccessible. stooped down … couched] A description of the movements of a lion (cf. Numbers 24:9) stalking its prey, running swiftly and secretly, and gathering itself for a final spring. The verb describes the habitual swiftness and force in the movements of the tribe.

9. Whelp of a lion — Three different Hebrew words are here employed for lion, represented in our translation by whelp, lion, and lioness.