Matthew Poole and continuators on Genesis 49:8

8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise : thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, thy fathers children shall bowe down before thee. ▪

Or rather, Thou art Iudah, thy brethren shall praise or celebrate thee. So the expression is like that, 1 Sam. 25. 25. as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him, or in him so here the sence is, As thy name signifies praise, Gen. 29. 35. So shalt thou have praise or honour from thy brethren. He alludes to his name and to the occasion of it, but with an elegant variation, Thou art deservedly called Iudah, not onely because thy mother praised God for thee, but also because thy brethren shall praise and bless thee for the reasons here following. But this, as also the other blessings or predictions, do not so much declare the state of Iudah or the rest in their own persons as in their posterity.

(i. e.) Thou shalt overthrow and subdue them. This was fulfilled in part Iudg. 1. 1, 2, 4. and 3. 9, 10. but more fully in David, 2 Sam. 8. 1. and Solomon, 1 Chro. 22. 9. and most eminently, though spiritually, in Christ. The phrase is taken either 1. From the practice of warriors, who use to assault their enemies in that part, that they may throw them down at their feet, of which see Iob 15. 26. and 16. 12. Or, 2. from the custom of conquerors, who are said to put the yokes upon the necks of the conquered: See Gen. 27. 40. Deut. 28. 48. Isa. 10. 27. Jer. 27. 8. and 28. 14.

(i. e.) All thy brethren and my posterity: he [illegible: 1+ letters]aith not thy mothers children, for his sons had divers mothers.

(i. e.) Shall own thee as their superiour and lord, upon whom [illegible: 1+ letters] have devolved this part of the right of the first-born. By this and the following words we plainly see that these blessings and predictions were not distributed according to Jacobs affections and inclinations (for then Judah should never have been advanced above his worthily beloved Joseph) but by the direction of Gods spirit.

Marginal references: 1 Chro. 5. 2.