Verse 2
2. Judah The tribe; the individual had long been dead.
Deuteronomy 1:35. This designation of Judah to the pre-eminence was in substance a repetition of the prophetic blessing of dying Jacob: “Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be upon the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.” Genesis 49:8. But although God thus clearly designated Judah for the leadership, the tribe failed to understand that from among its thousands a personal leader and national executive should be sought, and measures at once be taken to organize a strong central government, and realize as soon as possible the ideal presented in the book of the Law. Here was Judah’s divine call, but the tribe neglected it, entered into a league with Simeon, andthrough all the period of the Judges kept sinking into comparative insignificance. In Samson’s time this tribe seems to have been the most cowardly in Israel, and utterly afraid to resist the Philistine conquerors.
Compare Judges 15:11, note. Not until David attained the throne did Judah recover from the effects of the failure to improve fully this divine call.
I have delivered It was the divine purpose that the ultimate and complete conquest of the Promised Land should be wrought by Judah’s sceptre, but it was not done till the days of David.
The land Not only the lot of Judah, but the whole land of Canaan.
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