Commentaire sur La Genèse 49:8

יהודה אתה יודוך אחיך THOU JUDAH, THY BRETHREN SHALL PRAISE THEE — Because he rebuked the first three tribes in harsh terms Judah began to move away that he (Jacob) should not censure him for the incident with Tamar; Jacob therefore recalled him with words that would soothe him: Judah, you are not like these! — you your brethren may indeed praise (Genesis Rabbah 99:5).

יהודה אתה יודוך אחיך, anyone who interprets these words to mean that the brothers ought to praise Yehudah is grossly mistaken. The reason that Yaakov transfers the status of leader of the brothers, and, ultimately, hereditary royalty to Yehudah, was not his excellence as much as his older brothers’ unfitness. Yehudah’s elevation to this status would be initiated by his own brothers by their own volition, not through his father imposing him on the rest of the brothers. (compare the end of our verse “and the sons of your father will prostrate themselves before you.”) In Numbers 26,20 when Moses appoints Joshua as his successor, G’d suggests that he on his own account transfer his mantle of leadership to Joshua, [although G’d could have removed it from Moses and then Himself have bestowed it on Joshua. Ed.]

יהודה אתה, “you are the one who is fit to fill the position of royalty. The reason is that you are not stained with fatal flaws which would disqualify you from becoming king.

יהודה אתה יודוך אחיך, "Yehudah- as to you, your brothers will praise you, etc." Why did Jacob have to add the word אתה when he addressed Yehudah? Apparently the word was meant to exclude someone else. Besides, why did Jacob not say: וידך, "and your hand, etc," instead of simply: ידך, "your hand?" The same applies to the missing conjunctive letter ו in front of ישתחוו לך.

יהודה אתה יודוך אחיך, they will elevate you to the position of royalty instead of Reuven, for the royalty, or potential for royalty of which I have deprived him your brothers will bestow upon you. We have proof of this happening from Samuel II 5,1 when David was crowned in Chevron by all the tribes of Israel. We are told in Bereshit Rabbah 99,8 that when Yehudah saw that Yaakov suddenly served up Reuven’s sin, as well as that of his brother Shimon and Levi, he became afraid that his own sin with Tamar would be the next one to be referred to by his father. He only calmed down when Yaakov began his remarks to Yehudah with the words “your brothers will elevate you to the position of royalty because you had the strength of character to publicly acknowledge and repent your having slept with your daughter-in-law Tamar.”

יהודה אתה יודוך אחיך, “as far as you, Yehudah are concerned, your brothers will have to admit to you, etc.” They will acknowledge you as already foretold in your very name, for they will realize that your hand will vanquish the neck of your enemies thereby saving them.

יודוך אחיך, “your brothers will acknowledge you.” According to the plain meaning of the text this is a reference to the Israelites eventually acclaiming David, a descendant of Yehudah as their king.
ישתחוו לך בני אביך, “the sons of your father will prostrate themselves before you.” He did not say: “the sons of your mother.” There was no need for him to say that Leah’s sons would acknowledge Yehudah as their leader. The point Yaakov made was that even the sons of his other wives would also acknowledge him as their leader. Yaakov referred to Yehudah (verse 9) as גור אריה instead of as אריה, a fully grown lion. He added the word גור seeing Yehudah had still been a child (less than 20 years old when the brothers first deferred to him). He called him אריה on account of his physical power which [paralleled that of the lion, the king of the beasts. He is also called גבור, to reflect Proverbs 30,30 “the lion is the mightiest of the beasts and recoils before none.” Yehudah is described in similar terms in Chronicles I 5,2.

In the days of Dovid... [Rashi knows this] because Yaakov should have blessed Yehudah with, “You shall rule over nations,” or, “You shall be king.” Why did he say, “Your hand will be on the neck...”? To allude to Dovid. (Maharshal)

Indem Jakob seine Söhne mustert, um den zum Führer Tüchtigen zu finden und er bereits Reuben, Schimeon und Lewi für diese Führerschaft untauglich gefunden, ruht endlich sein Blick auf Juda mit dem Ausspruch: Du bists, du bist der Berufene, du vereinigst die erforderlichen Eigenschaften, die Reuben einerseits, Schimeon und Lewi andererseits nach entgegengesetzten Seiten hin fehlen; ידך בערף אויביך: nicht erst dein Schwert, deine natürliche Macht sitzt in dem Nacken deiner Feinde, du begehst keinen Mord, du brauchst keine כלי חמס deinen Feinden gegenüber. Die Entfaltung deiner natürlichen Macht wird so achtunggebietend sein, dass deine Feinde dir den Rücken kehren, dich nicht anzugreifen wagen und froh sind, wenn du sie in Ruhe lässest. Und nach innen wirst du in solcher edlen Überlegenheit dastehen, dass deine Brüder sich dir freiwillig unterordnen.

יהודה, אתה יודוך אחיך, “Yehudah your brothers will agree to your becoming king;” (your father’s sons will prostrate themselves before you [end of the sentence] (B’reshit Rabbah 99,8) We find this prediction having come true in the time of King David.. The numerical value of the letters in the word “Yehudah,” equals 30, corresponding to the 30 qualities required of a person who is fit to become Royalty. (Ethics of our fathers, 6,6) The thirty qualities (virtues, and privileges accorded) referred to have been enumerated in the Talmud tractate Sanhedrin, folio 18. An alternate interpretation of the words: יודוך אחיך: all the Israelites collectively, not only the members of his tribe will become known as יהודים, “Jews,” derived from his name Yehudah. (B’reshit Rabbah 98,6) Not only this, but the Messiah, the king of the Israelites after the final redemption will be descended from him.

יהודה אתה יודוו אחיך, as to Yehudah, “your brothers will acknowledge you (as leader);” we have a play on words here, using Yehudah’s name as synonymous with the owner’s position amongst this brothers. The word יודרך, is equivalent to ישבחוך ויכבדוך, “they will praise you and honour you.” This will happen when they see you subduing your enemies, i.e. ידך בעורף אויביך, ”your hand will be around the neck of your enemies.” When this happens, they will prostrate themselves before you.

ידך בערף איביך THY HAND IS ON THE NECK OF THINE ENEMIES — a prophecy fulfilled in the days of David, a descendant of Judah, who said (2 Samuel 22:41) “Thou hast also made mine enemies turn their back unto me” (Genesis Rabbah 99:8). (The Hebrew may signify, “Thou hast given me my enemies’ necks”)

יודוך, they will crown you. The word is abbreviated in its spelling, being the equivalent of יהודוך, (as in Psalms 45,18) Similar constructions [a letter being omitted, Ed.] are found in Kings II 6,27 where we have יושיעך instead of יהושיעך). The latter and proper spelling is found in Samuel I 17,47 i.e. יחושיע. At any rate, even though the word יודוך is derived from הוד as in הוד מלכות, “regal majesty,” the letter י is not an integral part of the word, but is added as part of the constructions known as חטופי פ'ה, the first root letter in roots commencing with the letter ה being shortened in sound. When we encounter to word הוציא, a transitive past construction derived from the root יצא, the first root letter of יצא has actually been omitted, the letterה in הוציא not being part of the root, but substituting for the letter י of the root. The same is true of the root ישב and the transitive construction of that verb as הושיב. We encounter the same phenomenon in Exodus 15,5 where the Torah wrote ירה בים. In our case the root of יודך is הרה. [The author quotes more examples of this kind, which I think we can skip. Ed.]

יודוך אחיך, your brothers will accept you as king as they admit that you are fit to rule.

ידך בעורף אויביך, a reference to King David, who was victorious in all his wars against his enemies. We have a parallel verse said by David himself in Samuel II 22,41 ואויבי תחת לי עורף, “He made my enemies turn tail before me.”

It appears that Jacob's intention was to assure Yehudah that contrary to the blessings for the other brothers which were predictions for the distant future after Israel would take possession of the land of Canaan, Yehudah himself would already experience the esteem of his brothers. We have confirmation of this in Chronicles I 5,2 where we read: "for Yehudah became more powerful than his brothers and a leader came from him." At the appropriate time, Yehudah's hand would be at the neck of his enemies. At that time his brothers would prostrate themselves before him and he would become their king. This prophecy was fulfilled during the reign of Saul when David won great victories and the Jewish people crowned him king.

בני אביך THY FATHER’S CHILDREN — Because they were born of different wives he did not say “thy mother’s children” as Isaac said (Genesis Rabbah 99:8). (He meant: all thy brothers will bow down to thee. Had he said “thy mother’s children”, he would have included only Judah’s brothers who were born of the same mother as himself.)

וישתחוו, in order to enthrone you.

ידך בעורף אויביך, so that they will flee from you so that you do not destroy them. We find a similar construction in Exodus 23,27 ונתתי את כל אויביך אליך עורף, “I will make all your enemies turn their backs on you.”

ישתחוו לך בני אביך, when they will observe that you are successful, then they will prostrate themselves before you and declare that you are fit to be their king. When Yitzchok blessed Yaakov in Genesis 27,29 he referred to “the sons of your mother” prostrating themselves before him. Seeing that Yitzchok had only one wife this was quite normal. Seeing that Yaakov had four wives it would not have been good enough to refer to the sons of Yehudah’s mother, as that would have included only half the tribes. By phrasing the blessing as applicable to the “sons of your father,” Yaakov included all 12 tribes.

בני אביך, Yaakov chose this formulation because having had four wives it was the simplest way. On the other hand, when Yitzchok (who had only one wife) blessed Yaakov, he spoke of בני אמך, “the sons of your mother” (27,29)

וישתחוו לך בני אביך; you will rule over all your brothers (fellow tribes), but not over all the other nations,