which his posterity did, 1 Kings iv. 25. As instar leonis et leæna. est nom. generale an old lion, or rather a grown lion, not a speciei totius, leanam significat., decrepit and impotent lion, but one come to crura flectit. Graphice describitur leæna his full strength; who shall presume or dare satura in antrum redux, quæ primum crura to disturb or provoke him? All shall fear flectit, dein toto corpore in terram prohim, and seek peace with him. cumbit. Quis exiget, excitabit eum? Gesen. A lion, perhaps, lioness. Quis irritare eum audeat? Quamvis sumta Used poetically, Gen. xlix. 9; Numb. xxiv. esca leo mitior sit, attamen, si quis in antro 9; Deut. xxxiii. 20; Job iv. 11; xxxviii. recubantem excitare adgrediatur, collecta 39; Isai. v. 29; xxx. 6, &c. In Arabic ira, totam ferocitatem prodit. Sensus : signifies lioness, for which Judæ tribum spoliis gravem, et domi de , reason also Bochart. always considers Hebrew as fem. see e.g., Job iv. 11: in positis armis quiescentem, nec de bello cogitantem, nemo lacessere sine malo suo poterit, propter strenuos viros et rei bellica peritos, quibus abundabit. Schum. Quam Iudæ virtutem brevi ante No and Gen. xlix. 9. In Numb. xxiv. 9, it is combined with . But those Arabic forms can certainly prove nothing concerning the gender of the Hebrew, since the paucis verbis cecinit poëta, eam nunc magis etiam extollit imagine, a catulo leonis, leone sign of the feminine gender is affixed to et leæna petita, qua in V. T. viri fortes them, which in Hebrew is wanting. How- sæpius describuntur. Cfr. Num. xxiii. 24; ever, the acceptation receives, notwith- xxiv. 9; Deut. xxxiii. 20; Ies. xxxi. 4; standing, from the passages cited, some Ps. xxii. 22. Tripartita autem est hæc probability. But the female of brutes have imago, si recte sentio, eo haud dubie, ut varia frequently quite a different name from that Iudæ tribus conditio, in qua sit futura, of the male, e.g. asinus, in asina. signetur. Nam tenuia potentiæ eius initia Prof. Lee.-, m. pl., see . A videntur comparari cum catulo leonis (qualis fierce she lion, according to Bochart. Hie- Iuda post fata Iosuæ dux cæterarum tribuum roz., i. p. 719. Gesenius objects, because in præliis fuisse videtur Iudic. i.), victoriæ Ezek. xix. 2, on which the argument of eius ab hostibus reportatæ cum leone rapaci, Bochart. rests, is written. Bochart. qui ex præda cum triumpho in lustra monsaw this, and objected to the punctuation of the word there, declaring that it was contrary to analogy, "contra analogiam." Probably Bochart. is right. tana se recipit (memento Davidis, qui per totam fere vitam in bello versatus assiduas prædas ex hostibus tulit), florens denique ac perenne imperium cum leæna, cuius feritatem omnes timent et cui nemo resistere possit et ausit, id quod optime quadrat in Salomonem. Quodsi ita animo reputaveris, facile videbis, quo nexu v. 9 et 10, cohæreant. Rosen. In hac comparatione est gradatio quædam: catulus leonis-leo adultus-leana, quæ utroque terribilius furit; qua imagine res fortiter gerendæ a tribu Judæ describuntur., Ex præda, mi fili, sunt, qui reddere malint: ascendisti, i.e., ascendes, præteritum pro crevisti, invaluisti (Schulz, Dathe, Ilgen, et futuro positum, ut solet in prædictionibus. Herder, 1. 1); sed quia Iuda cum leone Comparatio inde desumta, quod leones post comparatur, qui a præda in montes, ubi prædam e locis montibus subjectis raptam in habet lustra, adscendit quietis et securitatis montes, ubi lustra habent, ascendunt. Sensus causa, præstat eum cogitari victorem, qui e itaque hic erit: redibis invictus, et te in certaminis campo discedit. Cfr. 1 Sam. locum tuum relata de hostibus præda re- xiv. 46. Eadem de causa mira est Saadiæ cipies. Alii hic crescendi, invalescendi sententia, qui hæc de Iosephi servatione significatu capiunt, quæ sane conjuncta est 133 cum ascendendi notione; et usurpatur hoc dicta censet hoc modo: nificatione sensus hic erit, fore, ut Judæ filium meum a nece. posteri bellis feliciter gestis et victoriis sæpius reportatis magisque invalescant. quia certe tu eripuisti Ver. 10. hop by N 1 2, The staff of command, sceptre, Numb. xxi. 18; Ps. lx. 9; Gen. xlix. 10. [So [.Schumann עַמִּים : Prof. Lee.-Lawgiver. Gesen. Gen. xlix. 10, only: [וְלוֹ .(see notes of Gesenius and Lee) שילה יקהתו [יִקְהַת K. 81; pr. III. codd. Sam., Syrus, Chaldæi, et Arabes. Vid. Ge- . The full manner of writing (with) is to be found in most Jewish MSS., senii Diss., p. 39, пп K. 99.—Schum. and in almost all the editions; the defective oùk ékλeiveι äpxwv é§ 'Ioúda, kaì nyoúμe-mode (without '), is found only in twenty.. νος ἐκ τῶν μηρῶν αὐτοῦ, ἕως ἐὰν ἔλθῃ τὰ ἀποκείμενα αὐτῷ. καὶ αὐτὸς προσδοκία ἐθνῶν. Kaì 1.] ovde, IV. codd. eàv] av. XIX. codd., Alex., Cat., Nic. Tà ȧTоKEίμeva avtậ] @ ȧtókeitai, XV. codd., Alex. in char. min.; Aquila et Symmachus. ő ȧókeιται αὐτῷ ΙΙΙ. codd. ő ȧTÓKEITαι, VII. codd. Ovov] + éorí 59.-Schum. Ged. A sceptred chief shall not fail to Judah, nor a leader of his own offspring, until there come peaceful prosperity, and to him the nations be obedient. Booth. A sceptred chief shall not depart from Judah, And to him the nations shall be obedient. âve Jewish MSS. according to Kennicott, and in thirteen according to De Rossi, but in all the Samaritan MSS. and so all the ancient versions appear to have read. A few MSS. only have the form and . All these various readings admit only of explanation by being regarded as one word, either a proper name or an appellative. It may then be explained, 1. As a proper name, the city Shiloh (see the following Art.). This would give the sense until they come to Shiloh, i.e., to the land of Canaan; or, so long as they go to Shiloh (comp. quamdiu, Cant. i. 12), i.e., always, for ever. This form actually signifies to Shiloh, in Judg. xxi. 20; 1 Sam. iv. 4. 2. As an appellative, pacificus, the harBp. Jebb. Sometimes in the alternate binger of peace, the prince of peace (comquatrain the third line forms a continuous pare Isai. ix. 6), from , after the form sense with the first, and the fourth with the p, . It may also be compared with second. Dr. Hales thus reduces Genesis xlix. 10. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah; Until Shiloh shall come; And (until) to him a congregation of peoples. the name of Solomon (i. e., the peaceable, 1 Chron. xxii. 9), and to him the Samaritans expressly apply this prophecy. (Repert f. bibl. und morgen land. Literatur, Th. xvi. p. 168). So among the moderns, Alexius ad Aquilino (de Pent. Sam., p. 100). Rosenmüller (de Vers. Pent. Pers. ad h. 1.). That is, according to Dr. Hales, the Others compare, the afterbirth, hence sceptre, or civil government, shall not offspring, and express the whole clause by, depart, till the coming or birth of Shiloh; as long as the latest posterity. All ancient and the scribe or expounder of the law, versions entirely differ. They take the word intimating ecclesiastical regimen, shall not as a compound from, i.q. and, depart, or cease, until there shall be formed i. q. to him, and pronounce therefore, a congregation of peoples, a Church of or according to which the sense is, until Christian worshippers from various nations; he cometh to whom it (the sceptre or the. the former branch of this prophecy was ful- dominion) belongs. Compare Ezek. xxi. filled, when Augustus made his enrolment 32; TENT until he cometh to preparatory to the census throughout Judea whom the right belongeth. (LXX. & kabŋkeL) and Galilee; thereby degrading Judea to a i.e., the Messiah. Perhaps Ezekiel alluded Roman province: the latter branch was to this passage in Genesis, and gives the fulfilled at the sacking of Jerusalem by true commentary upon it. Aq., Symm., Titus; when the temple was destroyed, and and LXX. (according to several MSS.), the Jewish ritual abolished.-Jebb's Sacred ȧTÓKEITαι. Syr., Saad., is, cujus est. OnLiterature, p. 30. kelos, Messias, cujus est regnum. Targum Gesen.-P. 1. A legislator, Deut. Jerus. LXX. according to the usual reading, xxxiii. 21; Isai. xxxiii. 22, leader, governor, rà àñокeiμeva avт@, that which is reserved for Judg. v. 14. him. The fem. (with dag. forte euphon.) Obe-allusion. All the Targums, viz., of Onkelos, dience, Gen. xlix. 10; Prov. xxx. 17: Jonathan, and Jerusalem, apply the place, ON ? and refuseth obedience to his mother. moreover, directly to the Messiah. Root Arabic, to obey. [So Lee, Rosen., thus: The rod, or sceptre of rule shall not passage may, therefore, be paraphrased Schum.] depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver, or executor, i.e., Ruler, from among his descendants, until he shall come whose it is (i.e., the rule), and to whom the obedience of the nations shall be rendered. Why we should recur here to a supposed proper name . שילה the codices are for which, however, has neither authority nor parallel in the Scriptures, and especially as this is directly opposed to the whole current of antiquity,-I must confess I cannot see; and, as the passage is much more obvious and clear without it,-whatever ingenuity it may otherwise have to boast, the expedient is unworthy of adoption. Prof. Lee., and, once, Gen. xlix. 10. Theologians are divided as to which of these forms ought to be taken; and then, as to how that preferred ought to be interpreted. 1st, As to the forms. According to Jahn (Heb. Bib. in loc.), the first, viz., was unknown till about the middle of the tenth century. Up to that time, both Jews and Christians read. Of the centuries following also, forty codices read (i.e., with reference to the collations of Kennicott and De Rossi), viz., five of the 12th century, twenty-two of the 13th, nine of the 14th, and four of the 15th. In two others of the 13th Pool. The sceptre, i.e., the dominion or a marginal note gives ; in one of the 16th government, which is oft expressed by this the text has ; in three of the 13th had word, as Numb. xxiv. 17; Psal. xlv. 6; been altered into. In one of the 13th Isa. xiv. 5; Ezek. xix. 11, 14; Amos i. 5,8; again, had been altered into . In Zech. x. 11, because it is an ensign of governthree of the 13th, in one of the 14th, and ment, Esth. iv. 11. So it is a figure called a one of the 15th, had been altered metonymy of the sign, than which nothing into. At length, however, most of is more frequent. The sense is, That supeThe Greek of riority or dominion over his brethren, which Venice, Eλov; the Arab. of Erp.; and the I said he should obtain (ver. 8), he shall Arab. Samaritan Commentary. The Targum keep; it shall not depart from him. Others, of Jonathan is doubtful. The Vulgate seems the tribe, as the word shebet signifies, 1 Sam. to have read some form of, for it has x. 19-21; 1 Kings xi. 32, &c. So the "qui mittendus est" It should seem, theresense is this, Whereas the other tribes shall fore, beyond doubt, that between the 10th be captivated, dispersed, and confounded, and 16th centuries, the reading must the tribe of Judah shall be kept entire and have originated; and further, that very little distinct until Christ come. This is a great reliance ought to be placed on the consi- and important truth, and a singular demonderation of most Heb. MSS. being now in its stration of the all-disposing providence of favour. In earlier times, the contrary was God, and of the truth and Divine authority evidently the fact; and this surely ought to of the Scriptures; but it seems not to be the determine the question in favour of y. meaning of this place, 1. Because both the As to its interpretation, Gesenius thinks foregoing and following words do evidently that it is of little moment which reading is speak of Judah's power and greatness, and adopted; each having a form suitable enough particularly this shebet, or sceptre, is exto a proper name. All Jewish and Christian plained and restrained by the following lawantiquity, however, took the form, as giver. 2. Because this renders the phrase equivalent to . LXX. (1) тà ȧtokeiμeva improper and absurd; for the tribe had not avtậ; or, (2) ♣ átóкELTаι. Aquila, this last. departed from Judah, nor had they ceased Theod., i. q. LXX. 1. Sym. άTокeîтaαι. to be a tribe, if the other tribes had been With Aquila Justin Martyr agrees, in his mixed with them in their land, as indeed dialogue with Trypho, Epiphanius, and they were sometimes. See 2 Chron. xi. 16; Herodian, with LXX. (1). With this agrees 3. Because this is not peculiar to the tribe Ezek. xxi. 32, DEVDO KUN Nay, which of Judah; for in this sense the tribe did appears to me to be a direct imitation of our passage in Genesis; and to this St. Paul's, éñýууeλτaι (Gal. iii. 19) is probably an not depart from Levi, nay, that tribe was kept more distinct than that of Judah; thus also the tribe did not depart from Benjamin, A lawgiver; so the Hebrew word signifies, as here, so also Numb. xxi. 18; Deut. xxxiii. 21; Psalm lx. 7; cviii. 8; Isaiah xxxiii. 22. And the verb from whence this word comes signifies to make laws, as Prov. viii. 15, &c.; and the Hebrew word chok, which comes from the same root, constantly the scribe, and that either the civil scribe, who belongs to the ruler, or the ecclesiastical scribe, the interpreter of the law: and so it signifies, that both the civil and the ecclesiastical power should continue in Judah till Christ came, and then should be taken away, both which the event did verify. But, indeed, the Hebrew word for scribe is sopher, not mechokek, which never is so used in Scripture, but always for a lawgiver, as I have showed; and so Kimchi and Aben Ezra, two late and learned Jews, with others, expound it. as appears from Ezra i. 5; x. 9; Neh. xi. | we do, as the learned have proved out of 4. Nay, it is questionable whether in this their own writings. See my Latin Synopsis. sense the tribe departed from any of the other tribes, not only because there is a distinct mention of the several tribes, Ezek. xlviii., which was written after the dispersion and supposed confusion of the other tribes, and which speaks of the times after the coming of the Messiah, but also because of the great care which the Israelites generally signifies a law or statute. Some render it took in distinguishing, not only their tribes, but their several families, in exact genealogies, of which we have many proofs and instances, as 1 Chron. iv. 33; v. 1, 7, 17; vii. 7, 9, 40; ix. 1, 22; Ezra ii. 62; viii. 1, 3; Neh. vii. 5, 64. The Jews, indeed, have another device to avoid the force of this text. They say shebet signifies a rod, to wit, a rod of correction, as the word is taken Prov. xxii. 15. And so they say the sense is, The tyrannical sceptre, or the rod of the oppressor, shall not cease or depart from Israel till the Messiah come, who shall save them from all their oppressors and From between his feet; from his posterity, enemies. But this is a vain and frivolous or from those that come from between his conceit; for, 1, The following sentence, feet, i.e., that are begotten and born of that which expounds the former, as it is usual in tribe [Schumann maintains that in this sense Scripture, plainly shows that this shebet, or the words can only be applied to rod, is such as is proper to the lawgiver, and women. See below]. And thus Kimchi, therefore is a rod of authority, or a sceptre, and the Chaldee Paraphrast, and other which is called also a rod, Ezek. xix. 14, ancient Jews, understand this place. And and not a rod of affliction. 2. This is con- the truth of this interpretation may appear, trary to the whole context, wherein there is by comparing this with other texts of Scripnothing prophesied of Judah, but honour, ture, as Deut. xxviii. 57, ubi proles ea and dominion, and victory, and safety. 3. dicitur quæ intra pedes mulieris nascitur; et There was no reason why the rod of afflic- Ezek. xvi. 25, et ex iis locis ubi pedes ra tion should be appropriated to Judah, which aidoua significant, ut Jesaia vii. 20, abradet was common to all the tribes, and came Dominus pilum capitis et pedum, ubi non de sooner, and fell heavier, and abode longer pedibus sermo est in quibus crines raro geneupon the other tribes than upon Judah. rantur: et 2 Regum xviii. 27, Isaia. xxxvi. 4. This interpretation is confuted by the 12, ubi aqua pedum pro urinâ dicitur. Cum event or history, both because the rod of vero iis qui alvum exonerant præcipitur ut correction did depart from Judah, and from pedes tegant, haud scio an hoc intelligendum them more than from the other tribes, for sit, non ut pedes, quos proprie dicimus many generations before the coming of the occulerent, sed potius verenda, quæ ne Messiah; and because that rod is not re- incuriâ detegerentur periculum erat. Non moved from them, but hath continued desunt qui pro exercitu pedestri aclonger and more dreadfully upon them since cipiunt, q. d., non auferetur dux de exercitu the coming of the Messias than ever before; ejus. [Sam., de vexillis ejus. Ar., de sub which one consideration hath been the oc- imperio ejus]. casion of the conversion of many Jews. 5. Howsoever the modern Jews pervert this word and text out of enmity to Christ and Christians, it is certain that the ancient Jews, the LXX., and the Chaldee Paraphrast, with many others, take the word as τα Shiloh, i.e., the Messias; which we need not stand to prove, because it is so expounded by all the three Chaldee Paraphrasts, and by the Jewish Talmud, and by divers of the latter Jews themselves. And the word signifies, either a peace-maker, or saviour; or, as others, her son, or one that came out of the woman's womb, or out of that skin in which the child in the womb is wrapped, which this word, or one near akin to it, signifies. So it notes that the Messias should be born of a woman, though without the help of man. Or, as others, the sent, he who was oft promised and to be sent. And this signification may seem to be warranted by comparing John ix. 7, with those places of the New Testament in which the Messias is described by that periphrasis of one sent, or to be sent, as John iii. 34, &c. And the phrase here used is remarkable, Till the Shiloh come, for the Shiloh, or Messiah, oft goeth under the name of him that was to come, as Matt. xxi. 9; Luke vii. 20; xiii. 35. And hence the kingdom of the Messiah is called the world or kingdom to come, i.e., of him who was to come, Heb. ii. 5; vi. 5. Jesus Christ is he, because he was to come during the time wherein the sceptre was in the hands of Judah; and about that time when Jesus Christ came the sceptre was taken away from Judah and the Jews, and hath now been lost for sixteen hundred years together. The Jews are mightily perplexed and confounded by this argument; one evidence whereof is their various and contradictory expositions of the place, whilst some of them affirm this Shiloh to be Moses, others Saul, others Jeroboam, others Nebuchadnezzar, which neither need nor deserve confutation; others David; which, though some of the acutest of the Jewish doctors assert, is as contemptible as any of the rest, it being ridiculous to say, the sceptre departed from Judah under him by whom it first came into that tribe, having been till David's time in other tribes. But the great difficulty is, how this was accomplished; for Unto him shall the gathering of the people if the event fully agrees with this prophecy, be; they shall be gathered together, or united the cause of the Jews is lost, and Christ both among themselves, and with the Jews, must be owned as the true Messias. The under him as their head. Others, the re- sceptre was for a time in other tribes; as in verence, obedience, or worship; which comes Moses, of the tribe of Levi; in divers of to the same thing, for they that are gathered the judges, who were of several tribes; and, to him, do also reverence, obey, and worship lastly, in the tribe of Benjamin, under Saul; him. The Hebrew word is used only here but the sceptre departed from all these. and Prov. xxx. 17. The people, i.e., the But this is prophesied as Judah's privilege, Gentiles, as the Jews themselves understand that when once the sceptre or government it. And so it is a plain prophecy of the came into that tribe, which it did in David's conversion of the Gentiles by and under the time, it should not depart from it till Christ Messiah; signifying, that whereas the ordi- came, and then it should depart. And thus nances of God, and means of worship and it came to pass. Concerning the time from salvation, were confined to the Jews before David unto the captivity of Babylon there Christ's coming, Psal. cxlvii. 19, 20, when is no dispute, there being a constant succesthe Messiah should come, the pale of the sion of kings in that tribe all that time. Church should be enlarged, the partition For the time of the Babylonish captivity, wall between Jews and Gentiles taken down, wherein there may seem to be more diffiand the Gentiles should worship the true culty, it is to be considered, 1. That the God and the Messias. And this is no more sceptre or government was not lost or dethan is foretold and promised in other pro- parted from Judah, but only interrupted, phecies, as we shall see hereafter. The sum and that but for seventy years at most, of this verse is, The sceptre or dominion which, in so long a space of time as above a shall be seated in the tribe of Judah, though thousand years, is little to be regarded. As he doth not determine when it shall come none will say the kingdom was departed thither; but when once it shall come, it from the house of David, because of those shall not depart from thence till the Messiah interreigns or interruptions which sometimes come; and then Judah shall lose this sceptre fell out in that family. Add to this, that and other privileges, and the Gentiles shall God had given them an absolute promise come into the stead of the Jews, and and assured hope of the restoration of shall embrace that Messiah whom they shall Judah's sceptre; so that this was rather a reject. So now here is an undeniable argument to prove against the Jews that the Messiah is already come, and that the Lord sleep than the death of that government. 2. That within these seventy years there were some remainders and beams of Judah's X |