Genesis 29:35 And she conceived again, and bare a son
A fourth son, a son in whose line, and from whose tribe, the Messiah was to spring: and she said, now will I praise the Lord;
she had praised him before for looking on her affliction, and hearing her cries, and giving her one son after another; but now she determines to praise him more than ever, having a fresh instance of his goodness to her: the Targum of Jonathan adds this as a reason,
``because from this my son shall come forth kings, and from him shall come forth David the king, who shall praise the Lord.''
And why may it not be as well supposed that she had knowledge of the Messiah springing from him, which would greatly heighten and increase her joy and praise?
and therefore she called his name Judah;
which signifies "praise". A further improvement is made of this name, and the signification of it, in (
Genesis 49:8 ) . According to the Jewish writers
F25, these four sons of Jacob were born, Reuben on the fourteenth day of Chisleu, or November, and lived one hundred and twenty four years; Simeon on the twenty first of Tebeth, or December, and lived one hundred and twenty years; Levi on the sixteenth of Nisan, or March, and lived one hundred and thirty seven years; and Judah on the fifteenth of Sivan, or May, and lived one hundred and nineteen years. And all these names being of the Hebrew language, and derived from words in it, show that this language, or what was much the same with it, was spoken in Laban's family, and had been continued from Nahor, as it had been in Isaac's family from Abraham:
and left bearing;
that is, for a while, for after this she bore two sons and a daughter; see (
Genesis 30:17-19 ) .