nations" is the worshipping "by the sons of the father." Jacob thus transfers to Judah that which Isaac had promised to _him_: "People shall serve thee, and nations shall worship thee: be lord over thy brethren, and thy mother's sons shall worship before thee:" Gen. xxvii. 29. In ver. 9 Judah is first designated a young lion,--a name which is intended to indicate, that the victorious power ascribed to Judah exists, as yet, only in the _germ_. It required that centuries should pass away before he grew up to be a lion, a full-grown lion. By the long period which thus intervened between the promise and its fulfilment, the divine election is the more strikingly manifested. (Several interpreters have been of opinion that there is no difference between the young lion, the lion, and the full-grown lion. But it is shown by Ezek. xix. 3--"And she brought up one of her גורים, and it became a כפיר, and it learnt to tear prey,"--that גור אריה is a young lion not yet able to catch prey.[2]) In the words, "From the prey, my son, thou art gone up," the _prey_ is the _terminus a quo_: for עלה with מן is always used of the place from which it is gone up (see Josh. iv. 17, x. 9; Song of Sol. iv. 2): the _terminus ad quem_ is the usual abode, as is shown by what follows. The residence of the conqueror and ruler is conceived of as being _elevated_. Joseph, according to Gen. xlvi. 31, goes up to Pharaoh, and in ver. 29 of the same chapter he goes up to meet his father. The expression "to go up" is commonly used of those who come from [Pg 63] other countries to Canaan. But the "going up" in the passage under review implies also the "going down" into the lower regions to seek for prey, just as in Ps. lxviii. 19, where it is said of the Lord, after He had fought for His people, and had been victorious, "Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them." "_To dwell_" means there, that, after having accomplished all this, thou mayest dwell gloriously, and be inaccessible to the vengeance of the conquered, in thy usual place of abode. The sense is the same in the passage before us. Luther is therefore wrong in explaining it thus: "Thou hast risen high, my son, by great victories,"--as are others also who translate it, "From the prey thou growest up." Such a view of this clause would, moreover, break up the connection, and all that follows would appear without preparation.[3]