This tribe sprang from Judah, the son of Jacob. When the Israelites departed from Egypt, it already exhibited the elements of its future distinction in a larger population than any of the other tribes possessed. It numbered 74,000 adult males, being nearly 12,000 more than Dan, the next in point of numbers, and 34,100 more than Ephraim, which in the end contested with it the superiority among the tribes. During the sojourn in the wilderness, Judah neither gained, like some tribes, nor lost like others. Its numbers had increased to 76,500 being 12,100 more than Issachar, which had become next to it in population (Num 1:27). In the first distribution of lands, the tribe of Judah received the southernmost part of Palestine, to the extent of fully one-third of the whole country to be distributed among the nine and a half tribes for which provision was to be made. This oversight was discovered and rectified at the time of the second distribution, which was founded on an actual survey of the country, when Simeon and Dan received allotments out of the territory which had before been wholly assigned to Judah (Jos 19:9). That which remained was still very large, and more proportioned to the future greatness than the actual wants of the tribe. When Judah became a kingdom, the original extent of territory assigned to the tribe was more than restored or compensated, for it must have included the domains of Simeon, and we know that Benjamin was included in it.
The history of the Judges contains fewer facts respecting this important tribe than might be expected. It seems however to have been usually considered that the birthright which Reuben forfeited had passed to Judah under the blessing of Jacob; and a sanction was given to this impression when, after the death of Joshua, the divine oracle nominated Judah to take precedence of the other tribes in the war against the Canaanites (Jdg 1:2). It does not appear that any tribe was disposed to dispute the superior claim of Judah on its own account, except Ephraim, although in doing this Ephraim had the support of other tribes. Ephraim appears to have rested its claims to the leadership of the tribes upon the ground that the house of Joseph, whose interest it represented, had received the birthright, or double portion of the eldest, by the adoption of the two sons of Joseph, who became the founders of two tribes in Israel. The existence of the sacerdotal establishment at Shiloh, in Ephraim, was doubtless also alleged by the tribe as a ground of superiority over Judah. When, therefore, Judah assumed the scepter in the person of David, and when the sacerdotal establishment was removed to Jerusalem, Ephraim could not brook the eclipse it had sustained, and took the first opportunity of erecting a separate throne, and of forming separate establishments for worship and sacrifice. Perhaps the separation of the kingdoms may thus be traced to the rivalry of the two tribes. After that separation the rivalry was between the two kingdoms; but it was still popularly considered as representing the ancient rivalry of these great tribes; for the prophet, in foretelling the repose of a coming time, describes it by saying, ’The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim’ (Isa 11:13).
By: Emil G. Hirsch, George A. Barton
Territory of Judah. —Biblical Data:
The tribe of Judah is said to have been descended from the patriarch Judah, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah (Gen. xxix. 35). In the Book of Numbers it is represented as sharing with the other tribes, without distinctive fortunes, the experiences of the Exodus and of the sojourn in the wilderness. The clans which then composed the tribe are said to have been the Shelanites, Perizzites, Zerahites, Hezronites, and Hamulites (Num. xxvi. 19-22). In Josh. xv. Judah is said to have received a large inheritance which stretched right across the land from Jericho westward to the Mediterranean and from Jerusalem southward to the desert. The territory is said to have extended south as far as Kadeshbarnea (verse 3), which lay about fifty miles south of Beer-sheba (see Trumbull, "Kadesh Barnea," New York, 1884), and west as far as Gaza, Ashdod, and Ekron (verses 42-47). From the Book of Judges (i. 16) it is learned that the Kenites united with Judah so as to become, probably, a clan of the tribe. To these clans the two Kenizzite clans of Caleb and Othniel appear to have been added (ib. i. 12-15, 20; Josh. xiv. 6-15, xv. 13-19). Closely connected with Caleb was Jerahmeel, who is said to have been Caleb's brother (I Chron. ii. 42). In I Sam. xxvii. 10, xxx. 29, the Jerahmeelites appear to be a part of the tribe of Judah; they are therefore to be regarded as another clan of the tribe.
After the settlement in Canaan, Judah seems to have stood apart from the other tribes. It is not mentioned in the song of Deborah (Judges v.); and in the accounts of the kingdom of Saul it is regularly reckoned separately from the other tribes (comp. I Sam. xi. 8, xvii. 52, xviii. 16). Upon the death of Saul, David erected the tribe of Judah into a separate kingdom (II Sam. ii. 1 et seq.). As the house of Saul under the weak Ish-bosheth maintained its supremacy over the remaining tribes but seven and one-half years, Judah was after that time reunited to Israel under her own king, David. This union continued for eighty years, through the reigns of David and Solomon. For the further history of the tribe see Judah, Kingdom of.
Joined by Clan of Caleb. —Critical View:
Possibly the tribe of Judah is mentioned in the El-Amarna tablets (comp. Jastrow in "Jour. Bib. Lit." xii. 61 et seq.); but, if so, the reference is too obscure to increase present knowledge. In the judgment of critics the stories of the patriarch Judah are not real biography, but are narratives of an eponymous hero, or portions of the history of the tribe. These being taken in this way, it is gathered that the clan of Judah was at first weaker than the clans of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi; that when Judah entered Palestine it first gained a foothold at Adullam and Timnah (Gen. xxxviii. 1, 12), places which were probably on the eastern side of the Judean ridge. This Timnah is not to be confused with the Timnah of the Shephelah (Judges xiv. 1). An alliance was soon made with the clans of the Perizzites and Zerahites, who had the palm-tree for their totem, and were therefore said to be children of Tamar (Gen. xxxviii. 13-30). Later the Kenizzite clans of Caleb and Othniel were amalgamated with the tribe. These clans were, perhaps, of Edomitish origin, since Kenaz is counted among the descendants of Esau (Gen. xxxvi. 11). These two clans occupied the region around Hebron, Carmel, and Kirjath-sepher, or Debir. Gradually the Jerahmeelites were also incorporated in the tribe of Judah. Their habitat appears to have been in the Negeb (I Sam. xxvii. 10), and as Jerahmeel is said to be Caleb's brother, perhaps they also were of Edomitish origin. A branch of the Kenites from the Sinaitic peninsula added another element to Judah's complex character (see Kenites). This large admixture of foreign blood in the tribe of Judah is probably the reason why the Judahites were so loosely connected with the other tribes of Israel. A consciousness existed on both sides that Judah stood apart in origin and in sentiment.
The prophets of Judah framed the Deuteronomic law which led to Josiah's reform. This reform accentuated the uniqueness of Israel's religion; and it was this that held the inhabitants of the Judean kingdom together in exile, that revived their state, and that made them the world's teachers of monotheism. But the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom were absorbed by the people among whom they were scattered, because their religion lacked this uniqueness. It was this uniqueness, furthermore, which caused the name of the tribe of Judah to be perpetuated in one of the great religions of the world.
Bibliography:
Stade, Gesch. des Volkes Israel, i. 157-160, Berlin, 1889;
Luther, in Stade's Zeitschrift, xxi. 55-60;
Barton, Semitic Origins, pp. 271-286, New York, 1902. On the history of the kingdom of Judah, see the histories of Israel, by Stade, Wellhausen, Kittel, H. P. Smith, etc.