Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, you are gone up: he stooped down, he crouched as a lion, and as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?
All Commentaries on Genesis 49:9 Go To Genesis 49
Rufinus of Aquileia
AD 411
“Having crouched, you slept as a lion and as a whelp.” It is evident that the actions of crouching and sleeping signify the passion and death. But let us see why he sleeps as a lion and a whelp. With regard to the sleep of the whelp it has been already said above that it can very conveniently be referred to Christ, who, after being buried for three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, completed, as was expected, the sleep of death. But I believe that the expression “as a lion” must be interpreted in this way: the death of Christ marked the defeat and the triumph over the demons. In fact, our lion captured all the prey that the hostile lion had conquered after destroying and crushing the man. Then, by coming back from the underworld and ascending on high, he made slavery his captive. Therefore in his sleep the lion won and defeated every evil and destroyed the one who had the power of death. And like a whelp he woke up on the third day.
