The Lion of the Tribe of Juda: The Devouring Lions and the Lamb That Was Slain
Old Testament: Genesis 49:9
Juda is a lion's whelp: to the prey, my son, thou art gone up: resting thou hast couched as a lion, and as a lioness, who shall rouse him?
Old Testament, also: Psalms 21:14, 22
They have opened their mouths against me, as a lion ravening and roaring. ... Save me from the lion's mouth; and my lowness from the horns of the unicorns.
New Testament: Apocalypse 5:5-6; 1 Peter 5:8
And one of the ancients said to me: Weep not; behold the lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I saw: and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the ancients, a Lamb standing as it were slain, ... Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour.
The connection
When Jacob blessed his sons, he gave Juda the lion: "Juda is a lion's whelp: to the prey, my son, thou art gone up: resting thou hast couched as a lion, and as a lioness, who shall rouse him?" (Genesis 49:9). The next verse promises the sceptre to Juda until "he come that is to be sent" (49:10). Again and again in Scripture the lion devours. "The poor are devoured by the rich" as the wild ass is the lion's prey (Ecclesiasticus 13:23); Ninive filled "his holes with prey" until the Lord came against it (Nahum 2:12-13); Jerusalem's false prophets were "like a lion that roareth and catcheth the prey, they have devoured souls" (Ezechiel 22:25). St Peter gives the lion its last name: "your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8). At the Cross the lions closed in. The psalm Christ prayed there says, "They have opened their mouths against me, as a lion ravening and roaring ... Save me from the lion's mouth" (Psalms 21:14, 22). The Lion of Juda lay down in death, and Jacob's question, "who shall rouse him?", was answered on the third day. In heaven the elder announces Him: "behold the lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David, hath prevailed". John turns to see the lion and sees "a Lamb standing as it were slain" (Apocalypse 5:5-6). The Lion of Juda conquers by being slain. St Cyprian reads Jacob's blessing of Christ, "the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and should couch sleeping in His passion, and should rise up", and St Victorinus says on this verse, "He is called a lion for the overcoming of death". St Augustine sets the two lions face to face: "What sort of a Lamb is it who, when slain, slew a lion? For the devil is called a lion ... By the blood of the Lamb the lion was vanquished." The Catechism teaches that the victory over the prince of this world was won once for all in the hour when Jesus freely gave Himself up to death (CCC 2853).
Moral sense
St Augustine warns that the same figure can mean opposite things: "a lion stands for Christ ... and again, stands for the devil." Whoever devours the weak has chosen the wrong lion. Peter's remedy is plain: "Be sober and watch", and then, "Whom resist ye, strong in faith" (1 Peter 5:8-9). Augustine gives the same counsel from the other side: "See that ye do not depart from the Lamb, and be devoured by the lion."
Anagogical sense
The roaring lion goes about only for a time. The Lion of Juda "hath prevailed to open the book", and heaven sings to the Lamb, "thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God, in thy blood" (Apocalypse 5:5, 9). Isaias sees the end of all devouring: "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together; the lion and the ox shall eat straw ... they shall not hurt nor kill in all my holy mountain" (Isaias 65:25). Where the Lamb reigns, nothing devours any more.
The Fathers
St Cyprian, Epistle LXII: "He Himself is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and should couch sleeping in His passion, and should rise up, and should Himself be the hope of the Gentiles." St Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse, on 5:5: "We read in Genesis that this lion of the tribe of Judah hath conquered ... For He is called a lion for the overcoming of death". St Augustine, Tractates on John VII: "What sort of a Lamb is it who, when slain, slew a lion? For the devil is called a lion, going about and roaring, seeking whom he may devour. By the blood of the Lamb the lion was vanquished." St Augustine, On Christian Doctrine III: "a lion stands for Christ in the place where it is said, 'The lion of the tribe of Judah hath prevailed;' and again, stands for the devil".
Warrant
Scriptural because Apocalypse 5:5 names "the lion of the tribe of Juda" from Jacob's blessing of Juda in Genesis 49:9, as the serpent of Genesis is named "that old serpent" at Apocalypse 12:9. St Cyprian (Epistle LXII) and St Hippolytus (On Christ and Antichrist) read Genesis 49:9 of the Passion and Resurrection, and St Victorinus of Pettau quotes it on Apocalypse 5:5. Checked in the Greek: the Septuagint of Genesis 49:9 has skymnos leontos Iouda ... anapeson ekoimethes hos leon ... tis egerei auton, lying down thou didst sleep as a lion ... who shall raise him; ekoimethes is the New Testament's word for the sleep of death and egeiro its word for rising from the dead. Apocalypse 5:5 has ho leon ho ek tes phyles Iouda. St Peter's hos leon oryomenos, as a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8), is the Septuagint's phrase for the lions of Psalms 21:14, hos leon ho harpazon kai oryomenos, and of Ezechiel 22:25, hos leontes oryomenoi ... psychas katesthiontes, devouring souls. Dunk found the entry from the verses where lion and devour stand together; there are eleven in the Douay, from Numbers 23:24 to 1 Peter 5:8.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2853.
The verses
Genesis 49:9 · Psalms 21:14 · Psalms 21:22 · Apocalypse 5:5 · Apocalypse 5:6 · 1 Peter 5:8
