See also
| Husband: | Judah + of JUDAH (1652- ) | |
| Wife: | Tamar + of JUDAH (1652- ) | |
| Children: | Blascon + (1530- ) | |
| Parez + of JUDAH (1525- ) | ||
| Name: | Judah + of JUDAH | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Father: | Jacob + of JUDAH (1680- ) | |
| Mother: | Leah + of HARAN (1678- ) | |
| Birth | 1652 B.C. | |
| Name: | Tamar + of JUDAH | |
| Sex: | Female | |
| Father: | - | |
| Mother: | - | |
| Birth | 1652 B.C. | |
| Name: | Blascon + | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Birth | 1530 B.C. | |
| Name: | Parez + of JUDAH | |
| Sex: | Male | |
| Birth | 1525 B.C. | |
Judah/Yehuda was, according to the Book of Genesis, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Judah. Biblical scholars, such as J. A. Emerton view the narrative of Judah as a postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite confederation.[1]
In Genesis chapter 38, Judah married the daughter of Shua the Canaanite.[2][3] The passage goes on to state that Judah and his wife had three children between them - Er, Onan, and Shelah - and that the first married Tamar; after Er died without any children, Tamar became Onan's wife in accordance with custom, but he too died without children. The narrative continues by stating that Judah decided that marriage to Tamar was cursed to be fatal, and so avoided letting Shelah marry her; this would have left Tamar unable to have children, so she managed to trick Judah into cohabiting with her, by pretending to be a prostitute. When Judah discovered that Tamar was pregnant, he intended to have her burnt, but when he discovered that he was the father, he recanted and confessed [4] that he had used a prostitute; she was pregnant with twins, and they were Pharez and Zerah, the fourth and fifth sons of Judah. (Genesis 38:1-30)
[edit] Selling JosephIn the Torah's Joseph narrative, when his brothers are jealous of Joseph and contemplate murdering him, Judah suggests that the brothers should sell Joseph to some passing Ishmaelites;[5] it is unclear from the narrative whether Judah's motives were to save Joseph, or to harm him but keep him alive but does clearly state that he sold him for 20 pieces of silver saying "how can we profit from selling our brother's blood?" The narrative goes on to state that the brothers dipped Joseph's coat in fresh goat's blood, and showed it to Jacob, after Joseph had gone, so that he would think that Joseph was dead; according to some classical rabbinical sources, Jacob suspected that Judah had killed Joseph,[6] especially, according to the Midrash Tanhuma, when Judah was the one who had brought the blood stained coat to Jacob.[7]
The children of Jacob sell their brother Joseph by Konstantin Flavitsky, 1855. Judah was the one who suggested that Joseph be sold, rather than killed.Since rabbinical sources held Judah to have been the leader of his brothers, these sources also hold him responsible for this deception, even if it was not Judah himself who brought the coat to Jacob.[7] 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.[8] These sources argue that Judah's brothers, after witnessing Jacob's grief at the loss of Joseph, deposed and excommunicated Judah, as the brothers held Judah entirely responsible, since they would have brought Joseph home if Judah had asked them to do so.[9] 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.[10]
[edit] Protecting BenjaminThe Biblical Joseph narrative eventually describes Joseph as meeting his brothers again, while he is in a position of power, and without his brothers recognising him; in this latter part of the narrative, Benjamin initially remains in Canaan, and so Joseph takes Simeon hostage, and insists that the brothers return with their younger brother (Benjamin) to prove they aren't spies.[11] The narrative goes on to state that Judah offers himself to Jacob as surety for Benjamin's safety, and manages to persuade him to let them take Benjamin to Egypt; according to classical rabbinical literature, because Judah had proposed that he should bear any blame forever, this ultimately led to his bones being rolled around his coffin without cease, while it was being carried during the Exodus, until Moses interceded with God, by arguing that Judah's confession (in regard to cohabiting with Tamar) had led to Reuben confessing his own incest.[7]
When, in the Joseph narrative, the brothers return with Benjamin to Joseph, Joseph tests whether the brothers have reformed by tricking them into a situation where he can demand the enslavement of Benjamin.[12] The narrative describes Judah as making an impassioned plea against enslaving Benjamin, ultimately making Joseph recant and reveal his identity;[13] the Genesis Rabbah, and particularly the midrashic book of Jasher, expand on this by describing Judah's plea as much more extensive than given in the Torah, and more vehement.[14][15]
The classical rabbinical literature goes on to argue that Judah reacted violently to the threat against Benjamin, shouting so loudly that Hushim, who was then in Canaan, was able to hear Judah ask him to travel to Egypt, to help Judah destroy it;[7] 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.[16] These rabbinical sources argue that Judah had Naphtali enumerate the districts of Egypt, and after finding out that there were 12 (historically, there were actually 20 in Lower Egypt and 22 in Upper Egypt), he decided to destroy three himself, and have his brothers destroy one of the remaining districts each;[7] the threat of destroying Egypt was, according to these sources, what really motivated Joseph to reveal himself to his brothers.[7]
[edit] CriticismLiterary critics have focused on the relationship between the Judah story in chapter 38, and the Joseph 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).[17] Emerton regards the connections as evidence for including chapter 38 in the J corpus, and suggests that the J writer dovetailed the Joseph and Judah traditions.[18] Derek Kidner points out that the insertion of chapter 38 “creates suspense for the reader ,”[19] but Robert Alter goes further and suggests it is a result of the “brilliant splicing of sources by a literary artist.” He notes that the same verb “identify” will play “a crucial thematic role in the dénouement of the Joseph story when he confronts his brothers in Egypt, he recognizing them, they failing to recognize him."[20] 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."[21]
J. A. 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 that Dillman and Noth 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” by Thomas L. Thompson.[23]
[edit] Jewish traditionThe text of the Torah argues that the name of Judah, meaning to praise, refers to Leah's intent to praise Yahweh, on account of having achieved four children, and derived from odeh, meaning I will give praise. In classical rabbinical literature, the name is interpreted as a combination of Yahweh and a dalet (the letter d); in Gematria, the dalet has the numerical value 4, which these rabbinical sources argue refers to Judah being Jacob's fourth son.[24] 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 [7] that the tribe of Judah was not purely Israelite, but contained a large admixture of non-Israelites, with a number of Kenizzite groups, the Jerahmeelites, and the Kenites, merging into the tribe at various points.[7]
[edit] Classical rabbinical viewsClassical rabbinical sources refer to the passage "... a ruler came from Judah", from 1 Chronicles 5:2, to imply that Judah was the leader of his brothers, terming him the king.[25][26] This passage also describes Judah as the strongest of his brothers in which rabbinical literature portray him as having had extraordinary physical strength, able to shout for over 400 parasangs, 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.[27]
Classical rabbinical sources also allude to a war between the Canaanites and Judah's family (not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible), as a result of their destruction of Shechem in revenge for the rape of Dinah;[28][29][30][31][32] Judah features heavily as a protagonist in accounts of this war. In these accounts Judah kills Jashub, king of Tappuah, in hand-to-hand combat, after first having deposed Jashub from his horse by throwing an extremely heavy stone (60 shekels in weight) at him from a large distance away (the Midrash Wayissau states 177? cubits, while other sources have only 30 cubits);[7] 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.[7] 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;[7] nevertheless, Judah killed several members of Jashub's army (42 men according to the midrashic Book of Jasher, but 1000 men according to the Testament of Judah).[7]
[edit] Dating JudahAccording to Classical rabbinical literature, Judah was born on the 15th of Sivan;[7] classical sources differ on the date of death, with the Book of Jubilees advocating a death at age 119, 18 years before Levi,[33] but the midrashic Book of Jasher advocating a death at the age of 129.[34] The marriage of Judah and births of his children are described in a passage widely regarded as an abrupt change to the surrounding narrative.[35] 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,[36] and the context together with the passage itself requires the birth of the grandson of Judah and of his son's wife,[37] and the birth of that son,[38] 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 the Jahwist source, while the immediately surrounding narrative is from the Elohist.[7