(3.) Son of Joanna, and father of Joseph in Christ’s maternal ancestry (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 [Hebrews 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, 27). He took a lead in the affairs of the family, and
“prevailed above his brethren” (Genesis 43:3-10; 44:14, 16-34; 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; 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
49:8-12).
- JUDAH, KINGDOM OF When the disruption took place at Shechem, at
first only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David. But very soon
after the tribe of Benjamin joined the tribe of Judah, and Jerusalem became
the capital of the new kingdom (Joshua 18:28), which was called the
kingdom of Judah. It was very small in extent, being only about the size of
the Scottish county of Perth.
For the first sixty years the kings of Judah aimed at re-establishing their
authority over the kingdom of the other ten tribes, so that there was a state
of perpetual war between them. For the next eighty years there was no
open war between them. For the most part they were in friendly alliance,
co-operating against their common enemies, especially against Damascus.
For about another century and a half Judah had a somewhat checkered
existence after the termination of the kingdom of Israel till its final
overthrow in the destruction of the temple (B.C. 588) by Nebuzar-adan,
who was captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s body-guard (2 Kings 25:8-21).