Judah | |
|---|---|
יְהוּדָה | |
 Portrait of Judah fromJudah and Tamar (1840) byHorace Vernet | |
| Born | c. 1600 BCE |
| Died | |
| Resting place | 32°01′51″N34°53′15″E / 32.030797°N 34.887616°E /32.030797; 34.887616 |
| Spouse | Aliyath |
| Children | |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | See list
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Judah (Hebrew:יְהוּדָה,Modern: Yəhūda,Tiberian: Yŭhūḏā)[1] was, according to theBook of Genesis, the fourth of the six sons ofJacob andLeah and the founder of theTribe of Judah of theIsraelites. By extension, he is indirectly theeponym of theKingdom of Judah, the land ofJudea, and the wordJew.
According to the narrative in Genesis, Judah alongsideTamar is a patrilineal ancestor of theDavidic line. The Tribe of Judah features prominently inDeuteronomistic history, which most scholars agree was reduced to written form, although subject toexilic andpost-exilic alterations and emendations, during the reign of the Judahist reformerJosiah from 641 to 609 BCE.[2]
The Hebrew name for Judah,Yehuda (יהודה), literally "thanksgiving" or "praise," is the noun form of the root Y-H-D (יהד), "to thank" or "to praise."[3] His birth is recorded atGen. 29:35; upon his birth, Leah exclaims, "This time I will praise theLORD/YHWH," with the Hebrew word for "I will praise,"odeh (אודה) sharing the same root asYehuda. Alternatively,Edward Lipiński connectedHebrewyĕhūdā withArabicwhd /wahda "cleft, ravine".[4]
Judah is the fourth son of the patriarchJacob and his first wife,Leah: his full brothers areReuben,Simeon andLevi (all older), andIssachar andZebulun (younger), and he has one full sister,Dinah. Through his father, he also has six half-brothers:Dan andNaphtali (whose mother isBilhah),Gad andAsher (whose mother isZilpah), andJoseph andBenjamin (whose mother isRachel).
Following his birth, Judah's next appearance is inGen 37, when he and his brothers castJoseph into a pit out of jealousy after Joseph approaches them, flaunting acoat of many colors, while they are working in the field. It is Judah who spots a caravan ofIshmaelites coming towards them on its way to Egypt and suggests that Joseph be sold to the Ishmaelites rather than killed, after his brother Reuben suggests they do not kill him to begin with. (Gen. 37:26-28, "What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? ... Let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our flesh.")
Judah marries the daughter ofShuah, aCanaanite. InGenesis chapter 38, Judah and his wife have three children,Er,Onan, andShelah. Er marriesTamar, but God kills him because he was wicked in His sight (Gen. 38:7). Tamar becomes Onan's wifein accordance with custom, but he too is killed after he refuses to father children for his older brother's childless widow, andspills his seed instead.[5] Although Tamar should have married Shelah, the remaining brother, Judah did not consent, and in response Tamar deceives Judah into having intercourse with her by pretending to be aprostitute. When Judah discovers that Tamar is pregnant he prepares to have her killed, but recants and confesses when he finds out that he is the father (Gen. 38:24-26).[6] Tamar is the mother of twins,Perez (Peretz) andZerah (Gen. 38:27-30). The former is the patrilinear ancestor of themessiah, according to the Book of Ruth (4:18-22).
Meanwhile, Joseph rises to a position of power in Egypt. Twenty years after being betrayed, he meets his brothers again without them recognizing him. The youngest brother, Benjamin, had remained inCanaan with Jacob, so Joseph takesSimeon hostage and insists that the brothers return with Benjamin.[7] Judah offers himself to Jacob assurety for Benjamin's safety, and manages to persuade Jacob to let them take Benjamin toEgypt. When the brothers return, Joseph tests them by demanding theenslavement ofBenjamin.[8] Judah pleads for Benjamin's life, and Joseph reveals his true identity.[9] Before he dies, Jacobblesses Judah as his lead heir, stating that his other sons "shall bow down before you" and that he shall hold "the ruler's staff."[10]
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Literary critics have focused on the relationship between the Judah story in chapter 38, and theJoseph story in chapters 37 and 39.Victor Hamilton notes some "intentional literary parallels" between the chapters, such as the exhortation to "identify" (38:25-26 and 37:32-33).[11]J. A. Emerton,Regius Professor of Hebrew at theUniversity of Cambridge, regards the connections as evidence for including chapter 38 in theJ corpus, and suggests that the J writer dovetailed the Joseph and Judah traditions.[12]Derek Kidner points out that the insertion of chapter 38 "creates suspense for the reader",[13] butRobert Alter goes further and suggests it is a result of the "brilliant splicing of sources by a literary artist". He notes that the same verbidentify will play "a crucial thematic role in thedénouement of the Joseph story when he confronts his brothers in Egypt, he recognizing them, they failing to recognize him".[14] Similarly,J. P. Fokkelman notes that the "extra attention" for Judah in chapter 38, "sets him up for his major role as the brothers' spokesman in Genesis 44".[15]
Other than Joseph (and perhapsBenjamin), Judah receives the most favorable treatment in Genesis among Jacob's sons, which according to biblical historians is a reflection on the historical primacy that the tribe of Judah possessed throughout much of Israel's history, including as the source of theDavidic line.[16] Although Judah is only the fourth son ofLeah, he is expressly depicted in Genesis as assuming a leadership role among the 10 eldest brothers, including speaking up against killing Joseph, negotiating with his father regarding Joseph's demand that Benjamin be brought down to Egypt, and pleading with Joseph after the latter secrets the silver cup into Benjamin's bag.[17]
Judah's position is further enhanced through the downfall of his older brothers: Reuben, the eldest, cedes his birthright through sexual misconduct with Jacob's concubineBilhah (Gen. 35:22), and the bloody revenge taken by Simeon and Levi following therape of Dinah (Gen. chap. 34)[16] disqualifies them as leaders.[17] The eternal legacy of these events are foreshadowed in the deathbedblessing of Jacob (Gen. 49:1-33), which has been attributed according to thedocumentary hypothesis to the pro-JudahYahwist source.[18] In Jacob's blessing, Reuben has "not the excellency" to lead "because thou went up to thy father's bed, then defiled [it]"; meanwhile, Simeon and Levi are condemned as "cruel" and "weapons of violence [are] their kinship." (Gen. 49.:3-7.) On the other hand, Judah is praised as "a lion's whelp" whose brothers "shall bow down before thee", and "the sceptre shall not depart from Judah" (Genesis 49:10), the latter a clear reference to the aspirations of theunited monarchy.[19]
Hebraist Gary Rendsburg argues that the original Biblical audience would have noticed the parallels between Judah and Tamar on the one hand and David and Bathsheba on the other.[20] In particular, Rendsburg notes the similarity between Bathsheba (בַּת-שֱבַע, bat-šɛbaʿ, ‘Bathsheba) and Judah's wife the daughter of Shua', whose name is not given (בַּת-שוּעַ, bat…šua, the daughter of … Shua).[20]
Archaeologist and scholar Israel Finkelstein argues that these and other pro-Judah narrative strands likely originated after the demise of theKingdom of Israel in the eighth century BCE: "[I]t was only after the fall of Israel that Judah grew into a fully developed state with the necessary complement of professional priests and trained scribes able to undertake such a task. When Judah suddenly faced the non-Israelite world on its own, it needed a defining and motivating text. That text was the historical core of the Bible, composed in Jerusalem in the course of the seventh century BCE. And because Judah was the birthplace of ancient Israel's central scripture, it is hardly surprising that the biblical text repeatedly stresses Judah's special status from the very beginnings of Israel's history.... [In Genesis], it was Judah, among all of Jacob's sons, whose destiny was to rule over all the other tribes in Israel."[21]
Emerton notes that it is "widely agreed" that the story of Judah and Tamar "reflects a period after the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan".[22] He also suggests the possibility that it contains "aetiological motifs concerned with the eponymous ancestors of the clans of Judah".[23] Emerton notes thatDillman andNoth considered the account of the deaths of Er and Onan to "reflect the dying out of two clans of Judah bearing their names, or at least of their failure to maintain a separate existence". However, this view was "trenchantly criticized" byThomas L. Thompson.[23]
Along with the account ofLot andhis daughters (Genesis 19:30–38), Tamar and Judah is one of two instances of "sperm stealing" in the Bible, in which a woman seduces a male relative under false pretenses in order to become pregnant.[24]
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The text of theTorah argues that the name ofJudah, meaningto thank oradmit, refers to Leah's intent to thankHashem, on account of having achieved four children, and derived fromodeh, meaningI will give thanks. Inclassical rabbinical literature, the name is interpreted as a combination ofYahweh and adalet (the letterd); inGematria, the dalet has the numerical value4, which these rabbinical sources argue refers to Judah being Jacob's fourth son.[25] Since Leah was matriarch, Jewish scholars think the text's authors believed the tribe was part of the original Israelite confederation; however, it is worthy of note[26] that the tribe of Judah was not purely Israelite, but contained a large admixture of non-Israelites, with a number ofKenizzite groups, theJerahmeelites, and theKenites, merging into the tribe at various points.[26]
Classical rabbinical sources refer to the passage "... a ruler came from Judah", from1 Chronicles 5:2, to imply that Judah was the leader of his brothers, terming himthe king.[27][28] This passage also describes Judah as thestrongest of his brothers in which rabbinical literature portray him as having had extraordinary physical strength, able to shout for over 400parasangs, able to crush iron into dust by his mouth, and with hair that stiffened so much, when he became angry, that it pierced his clothes.[29]
Classical rabbinical sources also allude to a war between theCanaanites and Judah's family (not mentioned in theHebrew Bible), as a result of their destruction ofShechem in revenge for the rape ofDinah;[30][31][32][33][34] Judah features heavily as a protagonist in accounts of this war. In these accounts Judah killsJashub, king ofTappuah, in hand-to-hand combat, after first having deposed Jashub from his horse by throwing an extremely heavy stone (60shekels in weight) at him from a large distance away (theMidrash Wayissau states 177⅓ cubits, while other sources have only 30cubits);[26] the accounts say that Judah was able to achieve this even though he was himself under attack, from arrows which Jashub was shooting at him with both hands.[26] The accounts go on to state that while Judah was trying to remove Jashub's armour from his corpse, nine assistants of Jashub fell upon him in combat, but after Judah killed one, he scared away the others;[26] nevertheless, Judah killed several members of Jashub's army (42 men according to themidrashicBook of Jasher, but 1000 men according to theTestament of Judah).[26]
According to some classical sources, Jacob suspected that Judah had killed Joseph,[35] especially, according to theMidrash Tanhuma, when Judah was the one who had brought the blood stained coat to Jacob.[26]
Since rabbinical sources held Judah to have been the leader of his brothers, these sources also hold that the other nine brothers blamed him to be responsible for this deception, even if it was not Judah himself who brought the coat to Jacob.[26] Even if Judah had been trying to save Joseph, the classical rabbinical sources still regard him negatively for it; these sources argue that, as the leader of the brothers, Judah should have made more effort and carried Joseph home to Jacob on his (Judah's) own shoulders.[36] These sources argue that Judah's brothers, after witnessing Jacob's grief at the loss of Joseph, deposed andexcommunicated Judah, as the brothers held Judah entirely responsible, since they would have brought Joseph home if Judah had asked them to do so.[37] Divine punishment, according to such classical sources, was also inflicted on Judah in punishment; the death of Er and Onan, and of his wife, are portrayed in by such classical rabbis as being acts of divine retribution.[38]
When Benjamin was held in bondage following the accusation of stealing Joseph's cup, Judah offered himself among his brethren as a bondman in replace of him, but Joseph was strict that the punishment is only applied to the one who was guilty, not to the innocent ones.[39]
According to classical rabbinical literature, because Judah had proposed that he should take any blameforever, this ultimately led to his bones being rolled around his coffin without cease, while it was being carried duringthe Exodus, untilMoses interceded with God, by arguing that Judah's confession (in regard to cohabiting with Tamar) had led toReuben confessing his own incest.[26] Apparently, Judah learned a lesson from his experience with Tamar that he must be responsible for those around him and this eventually prepares him for his future reconciliatory encounter with Joseph.[40]
Genesis Rabbah, and particularly the midrashicbook of Jasher, expand on this by describing Judah's plea[clarification needed] as much more extensive than given in the Torah, and more vehement.[41][42]
The classical rabbinical literature argues that Judah reacted violently to the threat against Benjamin, shouting so loudly thatHushim, who was then in Canaan, was able to hear Judah ask him to travel toEgypt, to help Judah destroy it;[26] some sources have Judah angrily picking up an extremely heavy stone (400 shekels in weight), throwing it into the air, then grinding it to dust with his feet once it had landed.[43] These rabbinical sources argue that Judah hadNaphtali enumerate thedistricts of Egypt, and after finding out that there were 12 (historically, there were actually 20 inLower Egypt and 22 inUpper Egypt), he decided to destroy three himself and have his brothers destroy one of the remaining districts each;[26] the threat of destroying Egypt was, according to these sources, what really motivated Joseph to reveal himself to his brothers.[26]
Before his death, Judah told his children about his bravery and heroism in the wars against the kings ofCanaan and the family of Esau, also confessed his shortcomings caused bywine that led him astray in his relationship with Bathshua and Tamar.[44] Judah admonished his sons not to love gold, and not to look upon the beauty of women, for through these things, the sons of Judah will fall into misery. In his last words, he reminded them to observe the whole law of the Lord.[44]
According toClassical rabbinical literature, Judah was born on 15Sivan (early June);[26] classical sources differ on the date of death, with theBook of Jubilees advocating a death at age 119, 18 years beforeLevi,[45] but themidrashic Book of Jasher advocating a death at the age of 129.[46]
The marriage of Judah and births of his children are described in a passage widely regarded as an abrupt change to the surrounding narrative.[47] The passage is often regarded as presenting a significant chronological issue, as the surrounding context appears to constrain the events of the passage to happening within 22 years,[48] and the context together with the passage itself requires the birth of the grandson of Judah and of his son's wife,[49] and the birth of that son[50] to have happened within this time (to be consistent, this requires an average of less than 8 years gap per generation). According to textual scholars, the reason for the abrupt interruption this passage causes to the surrounding narrative, and the chronological anomaly it seems to present, is that it derives from theJahwist source, while the immediately surrounding narrative is from theElohist.[26][51][52]
| Judah | Daughter of Shuah | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Er | Tamar | Onan | Shelah | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Perez andZerah | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Local Muslim andSamaritan traditions placed the tomb of Judah (Nabi Huda ibn Sayyidna Ya'qub, "the prophet Judah, son of our lord Jacob") atal-Yahudiya, present-dayYehud.[53][54] Today, it is a destination of Jewish pilgrimage.[54]
Another local tradition, held byDruze and Muslims, places the tomb of Judah in "Nabi Yehuda", a maqam located nearHorvat Omrit in theHula Valley.[55][56][57]
Media related toJudah son of Jacob at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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