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Summary
- Revelation 5:5 is the one verse in the King James Bible that calls Jesus “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”, together with “the Root of David”.
- The title goes back to Jacob’s blessing in Genesis 49:9, where “Judah is a lion’s whelp”, a lion cub that grows to lie down “as an old lion”.
- Rashi read the young lion as David and “until Shiloh come” as the coming of the King Messiah; Hippolytus of Rome read the lion as Christ.
- Lions marked the kings who came from Judah: Solomon, David’s son, set figures of lions beside his throne and on its six steps (1 Kings 10:19–20).
- When John looks for the Lion in Revelation 5:6, he sees “a Lamb as it had been slain”: the Lion prevailed by his death.
- Ethiopia’s emperors traced their line to Solomon, and Haile Selassie’s title included “Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah”.
- According to Prince Ermias of Ethiopia’s royal family, Rastafari, which grew in Jamaica from the 1930s, sees Haile Selassie as the Lion of Judah, while Ethiopian Orthodox Christians give the title to Christ.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- The Holy Bible, King James Version: Genesis 29:32–35; 37:26–27; 38:24–26; 44:1–2, 44:12, 44:16–17, 44:33; 49:8–10, 49:28; 1 Kings 10:1–13, 10:18–20; Isaiah 11:6, 11:10; 65:25; Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8; John 1:29; Hebrews 7:14; 1 Peter 5:8; Revelation 3:21; 5:1–7, 5:9, 5:12; 22:16, via BibleGateway; phrase search for “lion of the tribe” in the King James Version, BibleGateway.
- Rashi on Genesis 49:9 and 49:10, translated by M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann, Pentateuch with Rashi’s Commentary (London, 1929–1934), Sefaria.
- Hippolytus of Rome, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist 6–9, translated by J. H. MacMahon, Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 5, New Advent.
- J. P. Kirsch, “St. Hippolytus of Rome”, The Catholic Encyclopedia vol. 7 (New York: Robert Appleton, 1910), New Advent.
- Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie, “The Lion of Judah”, lecture at the Hebraic Section of the United States Library of Congress, published by the Crown Council of Ethiopia, 2010, ethiopiancrown.org.
Response
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Rochelle
Thank you for all this research! The Lord shows me something about lions and I need to diligent to search out the matter. The Lord bless you!
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