And this [is the blessing] of Judah
Which follows; the same supplement of the words is made in the
Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; but Aben Ezra thinks it refers
to what goes before, that this, the same thing prayed for or
prophesied of Reuben, belongs also to Judah, that he should live
and not die; it may be in the wars in which that tribe would be
and was engaged:
and he said, hear, Lord, the voice of Judah;
in prayer, as all the Targums paraphrase it, which was eminently
fulfilled in David, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and other kings,
which were of this tribe; who, when in distress, lifted up their
voice in prayer to God, and were heard and delivered, as the
Lord's people in all ages are: Judah signifies professing,
confessing, praising this tribe was both a praying and praising
people, as all good men be; they profess the name of the Lord,
and their faith in him; they confess their sins and unworthiness;
they praise the Lord for his mercies, temporal and spiritual, and
pray to him for what they want; and their voice is heard with
pleasure, and answered: particularly Judah was a type of Christ,
who was of this tribe, and whose voice in prayer for his people
has been always heard:
and bring him unto his people;
in peace, often engaged war, so all the Targums: and as it may
refer to Christ his antitype, it may respect his incarnation,
when he came to his own and was not received by them; and to his
resurrection from the dead, when he appeared to his disciples, to
their great joy; and to the ministry of the Gospel among the
Gentiles, when to him was the gathering of the people; and will
be further accomplished at the last day, when he shall return and
appear to them that look for him, a second time, without sin unto
salvation:
let his hands be sufficient for him;
both to work with, and provide for themselves all the necessaries
of life, and to fight with their enemies, and defend themselves
against them; so Christ's hands have been sufficient, or he has
had a sufficiency of power and strength in his hands, to combat
with and overcome all his and our enemies, to work out the
salvation of his people, and to supply all their wants:
and be thou an help [to him] from his enemies:
which this tribe often experienced in their wars with their
enemies, being very warlike and courageous, successful and
victorious, both before they had kings and in the several kings
of their tribe, as David, Jehoshaphat, and others; and was
remarkably fulfilled in Christ, whose helper the Lord was as man
and Mediator, see ( Isaiah
1:7-9 ) ( 49:1-26
) ; no mention is made of Simeon, because of the affair of
Baalpeor, in which that tribe had a great concern, ( Numbers
25:1-18 ) ; as Aben Ezra observes; or because, according to
Jacob's prophecy, it was to be scattered in Israel; though the
same is also said of Levi, who yet is here blessed; rather
therefore the reason is, because Simeon had his inheritance in
the midst of the tribe of Judah, and so was blessed in it, see (
Joshua 19:1 )
; thus the Targum of Jonathan expresses it here,
``and he joined in his portion and in his blessing, Simeon his brother;''some copies of the Septuagint version, as that in the king of Spain's Bible, make mention of him at the end of Reuben's blessing,
``and let Simeon be much in number.''