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.
One of the 12 tribes of Israel.
Geographical Territory
The frontiers of Judah are well defined in Joshua 15, which describes the inheritance of the tribe after the Conquest. Second Kings 23:8 describes Judah as extending from Geba to Beersheba: Geba is about 8 miles (13 kilometers) north of Jerusalem, and Beersheba about 40 miles (64 kilometers) south. Judah thus held a strip of mountain land on the central spine of southern Palestine, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from north to south and 20 miles (32 kilometers) from east to west. Of this 1,000 square miles, half was desert (on the south and east); the rest was stony and not well watered. The central ridge, upon which are situated Jerusalem, Hebron, and Beersheba, rises to over 3,000 feet (914 meters) in places before tapering off into the desert in the south. Along this ridge, connecting these towns, runs the chief road. To the east, the ridge drops steeply to the Dead Sea, nearly 5,000 feet (1,524 meters) below. To the west it drops less sharply to the “lowlands,” actually a plateau some 1,000 feet (305 meters) high, before descending to the Philistine plain, which stretches to the sea.
Judah proper (Jerusalem was a later addition) was remote and secure in its hills. Its true center and capital was Hebron, 3,500 feet (1,067 meters) up. Only on the north was it vulnerable to attackers marching south along the ridge road. However, three great valleys led up from the western lowlands into the hills: the valley of Ajalon, the valley of Sorek, and the valley of Elah. Battles would rage up and down these valleys from the days of Joshua to the time of David and long afterward. The few roads to the east (the one from Jerusalem to Jericho is the best known) were not so important, although it was by this “back door” that Joshua had invaded the hill country (Jos 10:9). Judah was thus geographically well out of the mainstream of Israelite life, since only the territory of Simeon lay to the south.
The area occupied by Judah falls easily into three natural regions: the central mountain ridge, fairly densely settled, especially on its western side, where rainfall and dew were greatest; the eastern slopes, almost uninhabited and mostly desert; and the southern pastoral region round Beersheba, where the mountains fall away into dry prairie, with sparse settlement throughout.
Economic Life
To Israel, Palestine was a land flowing with milk and honey (Nm 13:27). Half of Judah might be desert, but the rest had reasonably good soil, and on the western slopes the rain was usually adequate. Wheat, barley, olives, figs, and especially vineyards, grew freely. The land might be stony, but stones could be collected and used for walls and buildings. Not as rich as the great northern valleys like Jezreel, Judah was still good mixed farming country, although it required hard work. Sheep and goats were plentiful, and that meant wool and milk. Cattle were probably rarer; Judah was not cattle country like Bashan (Nm 32:1). Wool meant cloth, and hide meant leather. In those days the hills were forested, which meant fuel and building materials. Clay for pottery was readily available for domestic utensils. Copper came from Edom in the south, and iron from Philistia in the west; these could be obtained by bartering agricultural produce. Whether they realized it or not, God had dealt graciously with the people of Judah in giving them adequate resources. Nonetheless, the climate was bracing: a cold, wet winter, with snow and hail at times, and a long, rainless summer, with low humidity and cool nights. This brought heavy dews on the eastern slopes (Jgs 6:38), and precious rainwater was conserved in rock-hewn cisterns (Jer 2:13). Permanent streams of any size did not exist in Judah, but springs or “wells” were abundant, from Jerusalem to Beersheba. It was not until Judah got caught up into the economic life of Solomon’s trading empire that its simple pattern of life changed; even then, the change in the hills of Judah was far less than elsewhere. Judah had no seaport of its own and controlled no rich caravan routes. It had no coveted raw materials, like the copper of Edom or the cedars of Lebanon; no luxury goods for trade, like the purple dye of Phoenicia or the gold of Ophir; no lush land to tempt the greed of others. In God’s mercy Judah’s temptations were few. Its faith was also less liable to be corrupted: comparatively few Canaanites had ever settled in this area, while the Conquest had been more thorough in the south than in the north.
History and Significance
The earliest blessings on Judah are recorded in Genesis 49:8–12 and Deuteronomy 33:7. After the exodus, the tribe of Judah took first place in the desert camping arrangement (Nm 2:3). Caleb, one of the two faithful spies, was a tribal chieftain of Judah (13:6). In Joshua’s invasion of Palestine, the highlands allotted to Judah were the first to be cleared of Canaanites, after the initial fighting around Jericho and Ai (Jos 6; 8). The book of Joshua is a summary account of the whole campaign.
After Joshua’s death, Simeon and Judah continued the fight against the Canaanites and marched together against the hill country of the south, led by Caleb and Othniel. Although God’s gift to Judah had been the whole land westward as far as the sea, Judah failed to take anything but the hills. The plain was controlled by iron-protected chariots and fortress cities. The king of Jerusalem was killed and Jerusalem was burned (Jgs 1:8), but the Jebusites continued to occupy the area until David’s day (v 21). The men of Judah, like other Israelites, might burn Canaanite towns, but they did not usually occupy the old sites themselves. Under the judges, the tribe of Judah was still isolated, though Othniel was of Judah (ch 3). In the great battle against Sisera, Judah is not even mentioned (ch 5). This tribal isolation was soon lost, first through Philistine invasions from the west, and then through David’s capture of Jerusalem and the placing of the national and religious capital there. Although in Judges 15:11 the men of Judah are prepared even to hand over Samson to the Philistines, with Samuel as judge, everything changes. The ark returns (1 Sm 7:1); lost territory is regained (v 14). Indeed, Samuel’s sons act as judges in Beersheba (8:2), although they are corrupt.
David finally breaks the power of the Philistines in a series of victories and rules as king first in Hebron, Judah’s chief town (2 Sm 2:1–4). When he is crowned king of all Israel, however, he moves the capital to the newly conquered Jerusalem, on the northern frontier of the tribe of Judah (5:6–10). Here the ark was to be brought (ch 6), and here Solomon was to build the temple (7:13). All God’s promises will henceforth cluster around Jerusalem, the temple, and David’s line. Most important, the Messiah would come from Judah (Gn 49:10).
The division between the northern and southern tribes had begun in David’s lifetime, after Absalom’s revolt (2 Sm 20:1); after Solomon’s death, the rift became complete (1 Kgs 12:16). Henceforth for 200 years, until the fall of the northern kingdom in 722 BC, there were two little kingdoms side by side: a larger one in the north and east, called Israel (the “ten tribes” of 1 Kgs 11:35), and a smaller one in the south, called Judah. With this, the history of Judah as a tribe virtually comes to an end, for although still called by the old tribal name, this little kingdom was really a “Greater Judah.” It now contained not only the old tribe of Judah but also the newly conquered Jebusite territory of Jerusalem, some of the old Philistine country, and the tribes of Benjamin and Simeon, as well as many Levites (2 Chr 11:14) and other “loyalists” from the north. Indeed, from now on, “tribe” had far less meaning than before; it was more important where a person lived than of what tribe the person was, although, within the family, tribal origins continued to be remembered. For 250 more years the little kingdom of Judah persisted alone. Even after the exile it was the tiny province of Judah that emerged under Nehemiah (Neh 1:2–3), and Judea still remained as a district in NT days (Lk 3:1). In fact, the vast majority of later Jews were of the tribe of Judah, as the very name “Jew” shows. But the chief glory of the tribe of Judah, now as ever, was that the house of David sprang from it. When Jesus Christ was born, he was to be of David’s line and Judah’s tribe. So it is that in Revelation 7:5, when 12,000 are sealed from each tribe, Judah has pride of place in the list, as it had in Numbers (Nm 2:3) so long before.
See also Judah (Person) #1.
Aquifer Open Bible Dictionary © 2026 Mission Mutual, an adaptation of the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.