Deuteronomy 33:7

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

And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be sufficient for him; and be thou an help to him from his enemies. This is the blessing of Judah.

Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, i.e. God will hear his prayer for the accomplishment of those great things promised to that tribe, . This implies the delays and difficulties Judah would meet with herein, which would drive him to his prayers, and that those prayers should be crowned with success. Bring him unto his people; either, 1. When he shall go forth to battle against God’ s and his enemies, and shall fall fiercely upon them, as was foretold ,9, bring him back with honour, and victory, and safety to his people, i.e. either to the rest of his tribe, who were left at home when their brethren went to battle, or to his brethren the other tribes of Israel. Or, 2. When that tribe shall go into captivity, let them not always be kept in captivity, as the ten tribes are like to be, but do thou bring him again to his people. Or, 3. As thou hast promised the gathering of the people to him, even to the Shiloh, who was to come out of his loins, ; so do thou bring him, i.e. the Messias, who may be understood out of that parallel prophecy, and who may be here called Judah, because he was to come from him, as he is for that reason called David in divers places, to his people, i. e. to that people which thou hast given to him. Or, 4. Bring him in, to wit, as a prince and governor, as thou hast promised, Genesis 49, to his people, i.e. to thy people of Israel, now to be reckoned as his people, because of their subjection to him. Or rather, 5. Bring him in to his people, to that people which thou hast promised and given to him, i.e. to that portion of land which thou hast allotted to him, settle him in his possession; the people or inhabitants being here put for the land inhabited by them, as the Israelites are told they should possess the nations or people of Canaan, 12:2, i.e. their land, as it is explained, 30:18; for the people they were not to possess, but to dispossess, and to root out. Let his hands be sufficient for him: this tribe shall be so numerous, and potent, and valiant, that it shall suffice to defend itself without any aid, either from foreign nations or from other tribes; as appeared when this tribe alone was able to grapple with nine or ten of the other tribes. Be thou an help to him from his enemies; thou wilt preserve this tribe in a special manner, so as his enemies shall not be able to ruin it, as they will do other tribes, and that for the sake of Messias, who shall spring out of it.

Deuteronomy 33:7 And this [is the blessing] of Judah: and he said, Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be sufficient for him; and be thou an help [to him] from his enemies.Ver. 7. And this is the blessing.] Simeon is not mentioned, but implied in Judah’ s blessing, in the midst of whose inheritance lay his portion. Besides, that tribe was exceedingly defiled with fornication, spiritual and corporal, and by that means much decayed and diminished. Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah.] Putting thy promises into suit by his prayers, and pressing thee for a performance. Let his hands be sufficient for him, and be thou a help to him, &c.] Moses first prays for Judah, that "his hands may be sufficient for him": and then addeth, as there was need, "And be thou a help to him": for all "our sufficiency is of God," and that man is sure to come down that standeth on his own legs. Ithiel and Ucal are twins.

(7) And this (he said) of Judah.—The words which follow are a kingly blessing: “Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him to his people.” In other words, when we think of “the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” “Thy kingdom come.” Rashi reminds us of the many prayers in Old Testament history which were heard from Judah’s lips. The prayers of David and Solomon; of Asa and Jehoshaphat; of Hezekiah against Sennacherib;—and, we may add, of King Manasseh, and Daniel the prophet—were all “the voice of Judah.” The last line of Old Testament history is a prayer of Judah by the mouth of Nehemiah, “Remember me, O my God, for good.” The psalms of David, again, are all “the voice of Judah.” And, best of all, every prayer of our Lord’s is “the voice of Judah” also. The remainder of the blessing is easily understood. The “hands” of Judah embrace those Hands which were “sufficient” for the salvation of mankind. “His enemies” include all, even to Death, the “last enemy,” whom God shall subdue under His feet.

Verse 7. And this is the blessing of Judah] Though the word blessing is not in the text, yet it may be implied from Deuteronomy 33:1; but probably the words, he spake, are those which should be supplied: And this he spake of Judah, Lord, hear the voice of Judah; that is, says the Targum, receive his prayer when he goes out to battle, and let him be brought back in safety to his own people. Let his hands be sufficient for him - let him have a sufficiency of warriors always to support the tribe, and vindicate its rights; and let his enemies never be able to prevail against him! Three things are expressed here: 1. That the tribe of Judah, conscious of its weakness, shall depend on the Most High, and make prayer and supplication to him; 2. That God will hear such prayer; and, 3. That his hands shall be increased, and that he shall prevail over his enemies. This blessing has a striking affinity with that which this tribe received from Jacob, Genesis 49:9; and both may refer to our blessed Lord, who sprang from this tribe, as is noticed on the above passage, who has conquered our deadly foes by his death, and whose praying posterity ever prevail through his might.

7. See introductory note above. bring him in] Not back. Judah is isolated from the rest of the nation, but whether this refers to that early isolation, to which Deborah’s silence upon Judah testifies, or to the later one after the Disruption of the Kingdom it is impossible to say; see introd. to this ch. With his hands, etc.] Text uncertain, Sam. his hand, LXX his hands, contend for him. Read therefore His own hands have striven for him, in antithesis to the next line, But thou, etc. This is better than Stade’s ‘with thy hands strive thou for him and thou,’ etc. R.V. marg., reading another vb with the same consonants, is possible but less likely; better than it is his own hands have sufficed for him. Calvin: let his hands suffice him; so too Geddes. Contrast the very different description of Judah in Genesis 49:8-12.

Bring him unto his people - Moses, taking up the promise of Jacob, prays that Judah, marching forth at the head of the tribes, might ever be brought back in safety and victory; arm intimates that God

7. And this is the blessing of Judah — Literally, this for Judah. Bring him unto his people — Judah was the regal tribe, from whom for long centuries the sceptre was not to depart.