For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of
Judah
Out of the tribe of Judah; it is certain that the Messiah was to
spring from that tribe, ( Genesis
49:10 ) ( 1 Chronicles
5:2 ) he was to be of the family of Jesse, and of the house
of David; and hence he is sometimes called David himself; and so
the Jews expect that he will come from the tribe of Judah, and
not from any other F16; and it is evident that Jesus, who
is our Lord by creation, redemption, and the conquest of his
grace, sprung from this tribe: this is clear from the place of
his birth, Bethlehem of Judah; and from his reputed father
Joseph, and real mother Mary, being both of the house of David;
and this was known to the Jews, and it is owned by them that he
was near to the kingdom F17, which he could not be if he was
not of that tribe; and hence he is called the lion of the tribe
of Judah;
of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning the
priesthood:
he said many things of it in ( Deuteronomy
33:8 ) and relates many things concerning it as spoken by
Jacob, but nothing about the priesthood, as if it belonged to
that, or that any that should spring from it should exercise that
office, The Alexandrian copy, the Claromontane manuscript, and
the Vulgate Latin version, read, "concerning the priests"; whence
it follows that there is a change of the priesthood, and that the
Messiah, as he was not to be, so he is not a priest of Aaron's
order, not being of the same tribe.