“Judah, you shall your brothers acknowledge; your hand will be at the nape of your enemies; your father’s sons will prostrate themselves to you” (Genesis 49:8). “Judah, you shall your brothers acknowledge” – your brothers acknowledge you; your mother acknowledges you; I, myself, acknowledge you.47All acknowledge you as worthy of honor and kingship. Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai said: All your brothers will be called by your name.
A person does not say: I am a Reubenite, I am a Simeonite, but rather: I am a Jew [Yehudi].48Judah is called Yehuda in Hebrew. Rabbi Yehuda bar Simon said: This is analogous to a king who had twelve sons, and there was one who was more beloved to him than all of them, and he gave him a portion of his own and a portion with his brothers.49Similarly, Judah was its own tribe, and additionally the entire nation became known as Jews.
“Your hand will be at the nape of your enemies” – how many times did Joshua prostrate himself so that the nape would be shown him, but it was not granted to him, as it is stated: “Please, my Lord, what can I say after [Israel] has turned [its nape before their enemies?]” (Joshua 7:8). To whom did He grant it? To David: “My enemies, you had them turn their napes to me” (II Samuel 22:41). Why?
Because it was his ancestral endowment, as it is written in his regard: “Your hand will be at the nape of your enemies.” “Your father’s sons will prostrate themselves to you” – here it says: “Your father’s sons will prostrate themselves to you,” but elsewhere, it says: “Your mother’s sons will prostrate themselves to you” (Genesis 27:29). It is that Isaac, because he took only one wife, said: “Your mother’s sons will prostrate themselves to you.”
But [when] Jacob [gave blessings], because he took four wives, it is written: “Your father’s sons will prostrate themselves to you.”