Category:Judah

Judah is a biblical figure who was a son of Jacob and Leah. He was the patriarch of one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the Tribe of Judah.

- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Judah - (1.) The patriarch Judah, son of Jacob (Luke 3:33; Hebrews 7:14). In Luke 1:39; Hebrews 7:14; Revelation 5:5; Revelation 7:5, the word refers to the Tribe of Judah. (2.) The father of Simeon in Christ's maternal ancestry (Luke 3:30). (3.) Son of Joanna, and father of Joseph in Christ's maternal ancestry (Luke 3:26), probably identical with Abiud (Matthew 1:13), and with Obadiah (1 Chronicles 3:21). (4.) One of the Lord's "brethren" (Mark 6:3).

Judah - Praise, the fourth son of Jacob by Leah. The name originated in Leah's words of praise to the Lord on account of his birth: "Now will I praise [Heb. odeh ] Jehovah, and she called his name Yehudah" (Genesis 29:35). It was Judah that interposed in behalf of Joseph, so that his life was spared (Genesis 37:26, Genesis 37:27). He took a lead in the affairs of the family, and "prevailed above his brethren" (Genesis 43:3; Genesis 44:14, 16-34; Genesis 46:28; 1 Chronicles 5:2). Soon after the sale of Joseph to the Ishmaelites, Judah went to reside at Adullam, where he married a woman of Canaan. (See ONAN and TAMAR.) After the death of his wife Shuah, he returned to his father's house, and there exercised much influence over the patriarch, taking a principal part in the events which led to the whole family at length going down into Egypt. We hear nothing more of him till he received his father's blessing (Genesis 49:8).

Judah - Upon Jordan - The Authorized Version, following the Vulgate, has this rendering in Joshua 19:34. It has been suggested that, following the Masoretic punctuation, the expression should read thus, "and Judah; the Jordan was toward the sun-rising." The sixty cities (Havothjair, Numbers 32:41) on the east of Jordan were reckoned as belonging to Judah, because Jair, their founder, was a Manassite only on his mother's side, but on his father's side of the Tribe of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:5, 1 Chronicles 2:21).

See also: Tribe of Judah Kingdom of Judah