captivity, the place, at least, was pointed out by Zerubbabel, which the Davidic kingdom would, at some future period, again occupy. The victories of the times of the Maccabees, though they themselves were not of the tribe of Judah, served to manifest clearly that the lion's strength and the lion's courage had not yet departed from Judah. It is not without significance that _Judas Maccabeus_ had his name thus. And under all these events the family of David always remained distinct, and capable of being traced out. But nothing of all this is to be found with the Jews during the 1800 years after Christ; and hence the vanity of their hope that, in some future time, it will be made evident by the appearance of Shiloh, that the supremacy and dominion of Judah are not lost. Along with the _sceptre_ which shall not depart from Judah, the _lawgiver_ is mentioned, for whom many would, quite arbitrarily, substitute the _commander's staff_. Is. xxxiii. 22 is explanatory of this passage; "For the Lord our Judge, the [Pg 68] Lord our Lawgiver, the Lord our King, He will save us"--where the _lawgiver_ is put on a level with the _judge_ and _king_. Gesenius translates it by: our _commander_. The lawgiver shall not depart "from between his feet." This is a poetical expression for "from him." He is, as it were, to have the lawgiver wherever he moves or stands. Explanatory of this is the passage in Judges v. 27, where, in the Song of Deborah, it is said of Jael, "He bowed between her feet, he fell, he lay down." That which any one has between his feet, is accordingly his territory on which he moves, that within his reach. In the latter passage the prose expression would have been, "beside her," and in the passage under consideration, "from him."[8]