From Judah would come a succession of kings. The sceptre is the symbol of kingly authority.
Calvin takes it to mean ‘his son’, that is, the ultimate son. The Septuagint followed a different Hebrew reading, and rendered the verse ‘until the things laid up in store come into his possession’ (Leupold), but most say it is ‘the man of peace’.
Calvin considers carefully the fulfilment of this prophecy. He admits that at times the rule of Judah was not clearly visible, but says this is consistent with other Scripture. He quotes Ezekiel: ‘”Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. 27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him” (Ezekiel 21:26-27). It may seem at first sight that the prophecy of Jacob had failed when the tribe of Judah was stripped of its royal ornament. But we conclude hence, that God was not bound always to exhibit the visible glory of the kingdom on high. Otherwise those other promises which predict the restoration of the throne, which was cast down and broken, were false. Behold the days come in which I will “raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof, and I will raise up its ruins” (Amos 9:11) … Whence we infer, that the kingdom was not so confirmed as always to shine with equal brightness; but that, though, for a time, it might lie fallen and defaced, it should afterwards recover its lost splendour.’ For this reason, Christ’s lineage is carefully traced in the New Testament from Judah and David.