on their history that they did not appreciate Jehovah as their King. They eventually violated his commands, including the sabbath laws, and suffered the loss of the blessings he arranged for them. Their failure brought reproach on God before the nations of the world and hindered them from realizing the excellence of his theocratic government.—2 Chron. 36:20, 21.

There are allusions to a symbolic meaning of the Jubilee arrangement in the Christian Greek Scriptures. Jesus Christ said he came to “preach a release to the captives.” He said: “Lord of the sabbath is what the Son of man is,” and shortly thereafter on a sabbath day he restored a man’s withered hand to a sound condition. The apostle Paul points forward to the time when “the creation itself also will be set free from enslavement to corruption and have the glorious freedom of the children of God.”—Luke 4:16-18; Matt. 12:8-13; Rom. 8:20, 21; see SABBATH YEAR.

JUCAL

(Juʹcal) [abbreviated form of Jehucal, meaning Jehovah is able, mighty].

“Son of Shelemiah”; one of the princes of Judah who asked that the prophet Jeremiah be executed for weakening the hands of the warriors.—Jer. 38:1-4.

JUDAH

(Juʹdah) [lauded; (object of) laudation].

1. Jacob’s fourth son by his wife Leah. (Gen. 29:35; 1 Chron. 2:1) After spending about nine years of his life at Haran in Paddan-aram, Judah was taken with all of Jacob’s household to Canaan. (Compare Genesis 29:4, 5, 32-35; 30:9-12, 16-28; 31:17, 18, 41.) Subsequently he resided with his father at Succoth and then at Shechem. After his sister Dinah was violated by Hamor’s son, and Simeon and Levi had avenged her by killing all the males of Shechem, Judah evidently shared in plundering the city.—Gen. 33:17, 18; 34:1, 2, 25-29.

RELATIONSHIP TO JOSEPH

In the course of time, because Jacob favored him, Joseph came to be hated by Judah and his other half brothers. Their hatred intensified after Joseph related two dreams that pointed to his becoming their superior. Therefore, when Jacob sent Joseph to check on his half brothers as they cared for the flocks, upon seeing him from a distance, they plotted to kill him. But at the suggestion of Reuben, who had in mind saving Joseph’s life, they pitched him into a dry waterpit.—Gen. 37:2-24.

Thereafter, as a caravan of Ishmaelites came to view, Judah, apparently in Reuben’s absence, convinced the others that, rather than murdering Joseph, it would be better to sell him to the passing merchants. (Gen. 37:25-27) Despite Joseph’s plea for compassion, they sold him for twenty silver pieces. (Gen. 37:28; 42:21) Although the indications are that Judah’s main concern was to save Joseph’s life and the sale itself afterward proved to be a blessing for all concerned, Judah, like the others, was guilty of a grave sin that long burdened his conscience. (Gen. 42:21, 22; 44:16; 45:4, 5; 50:15-21) (Under the Mosaic law later given to the Israelites, this offense carried the death penalty. [Ex. 21:16]) Afterward Judah also joined the others in deceiving Jacob into thinking that Joseph had been killed by a wild beast. (Gen. 37:31-33) Judah was then about twenty years old.

JUDAH’S FAMILY

It seems that after this incident Judah left his brothers. He took up tenting near Hirah the Adullamite, and apparently a friendly relationship developed between them. During this time Judah married the daughter of the Canaanite Shua. By her he had three sons, Er, Onan and Shelah. The youngest, Shelah, was born at Achzib.—Gen. 38:1-5.

Later, Judah selected Tamar as a wife for his firstborn Er. But on account of his badness, Er was executed by Jehovah. Judah then instructed his second son, Onan, to perform brother-in-law marriage. But Onan, although having relations with Tamar, “wasted his semen on the ground so as not to give offspring to his brother.” For this Jehovah also slew him. Judah then recommended that Tamar return to her father’s house and wait until Shelah matured. Yet, even after Shelah had grown up, Judah, seemingly reasoning that his youngest son might die, did not give him in marriage to Tamar.—Gen. 38:6-11, 14.

Therefore, subsequent to Judah’s becoming a widower, Tamar, on learning that her father-in-law was going to Timnah, disguised herself as a prostitute and then seated herself at the entrance of Enaim on the road Judah would be traversing. Not recognizing his daughter-in-law and assuming her to be a prostitute, Judah had relations with her. When it later came to light that Tamar was pregnant, Judah demanded that she be burned as a harlot. But, upon the presentation of the evidence that he himself had made her pregnant, Judah exclaimed: “She is more righteous than I am, for the reason that I did not give her to Shelah my son.” Thus unwittingly Judah had taken the place of Shelah in fathering legal offspring. Some six months later Tamar gave birth to the twins Perez and Zerah. Judah had no further relations with her.—Gen. 38:12-30.

TO EGYPT FOR FOOD

Sometime later reports reached famine-stricken Canaan that food was available in Egypt. Consequently, at Jacob’s direction, ten of his sons, including Judah, went there for food. At this time their half-brother Joseph was serving as Egypt’s food administrator. Whereas Joseph immediately knew them, they did not recognize him. Joseph accused them of being spies and warned them not to return without Benjamin, whom they mentioned in professing their innocence to being spies. Joseph also had one of his half brothers, Simeon, bound and held as a hostage.—Gen. 42:1-25.

Understandably, Jacob, presuming that he had lost both Joseph and Simeon, was unwilling to let Benjamin accompany his other sons to Egypt. Reuben’s emotional statement that Jacob could put his own two sons to death if he did not return Benjamin carried insufficient weight, perhaps because he had proved himself to be unreliable by violating his father’s concubine. (Gen. 35:22) Finally Judah succeeded in getting his father’s consent by promising to be surety for Benjamin.—Gen. 42:36-38; 43:8-14.

Homeward bound, after having bought cereals in Egypt, Jacob’s sons were overtaken by Joseph’s steward and accused of theft (actually a ruse by Joseph). When the supposedly stolen item was found in Benjamin’s bag, the men returned and entered Joseph’s house. It was Judah who then answered the charge and eloquently and earnestly pleaded in behalf of Benjamin and for the sake of his father, requesting that he be constituted a slave in Benjamin’s stead. So moved was Joseph by Judah’s sincere plea that he could no longer control his emotions. Thereafter, alone with his brothers, Joseph identified himself. After pardoning them for having sold him into slavery, Joseph instructed his half brothers to get Jacob and then return to Egypt, as the famine was to continue for five more years.—Gen. 44:1–45:13.

Later, as Jacob and his entire household neared Egypt, Jacob “sent Judah in advance of him to Joseph to impart information ahead of him to Goshen.”—Gen. 46:28.

SUPERIOR AMONG HIS BROTHERS

By his concern for his aged father and his noble effort to preserve Benjamin’s freedom at the cost of his own, Judah proved himself to be superior among his brothers. (1 Chron. 5:2) No longer was he the Judah who in his youth had shared in plundering the Shechemites and was party to wronging his half-brother Joseph, and then deceiving his own father. His fine qualities of leadership entitled Judah, as one of the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel, to receive a superior prophetic blessing from his dying father. (Gen. 49:8-12) Its fulfillment is considered below.

2. The tribe that sprang from Judah. About 216 years after Judah came to Egypt with Jacob’s household the tribe’s able-bodied men from twenty years old upward had increased to 74,600, a number greater than that of any other of the twelve tribes. (Num. 1:26, 27) At the end of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness Judah’s registered males had increased by 1,900.—Num. 26:22.

It was under the direction of Judean Bezalel and his Danite assistant Oholiab that the tabernacle and its furnishings and utensils were constructed. (Ex. 35:30-35) After its erection, Judah, along with the tribes of Issachar and Zebulun, encamped on the E side of the sanctuary.—Num. 2:3-8.

EARLY EVIDENCE OF LEADERSHIP

Jacob’s prophetic blessing had assigned a leading role to Judah (Gen. 49:8; compare 1 Chronicles 5:2), and its fulfillment is confirmed even by the early history of the tribe. Under the leadership of its chieftain Nahshon, Judah led the march through the wilderness. (Num. 2:3-9; 10:12-14) Also, this tribe produced Caleb, one of the two faithful spies who were privileged to reenter the Promised Land. Though advanced in years, Caleb had an active share in conquering the land allotted to Judah. The tribe itself was divinely designated to take the lead in the fight against the Canaanites, and did so in association with the Simeonites. (Num. 13:6, 30; 14:6-10, 38; Josh. 14:6-14; 15:13-20; Judg. 1:1-20; compare Deuteronomy 33:7.) Later, Judah, again on the basis of divine authorization, led the punitive military action against Benjamin.—Judg. 20:18.

JUDAH’S INHERITANCE

The territory allotted to the tribe of Judah was bounded by Benjamite territory on the N (Josh. 18:11), the Salt Sea (Dead Sea) on the E (Josh. 15:5), and the Great Sea (Mediterranean) on the W. (Josh. 15:12) The S boundary appears to have extended in a southwesterly direction from the southernmost point of the Dead Sea to the ascent of Akrabbim; proceeding from there it continued over to Zin, ran northward near Kadesh-barnea and finally crossed over to the Mediterranean by way of Hezron, Addar, Karka, Azmon and the torrent valley of Egypt. (Josh. 15:1-4) The portion of this territory centering primarily around Beer-sheba was assigned to the Simeonites. (Josh. 19:1-9) The Kenites, a non-Israelite family related to Moses by marriage, also began residing in Judean territory.—Judg. 1:16.

Several distinct natural regions were within the assigned boundaries of ancient Judah. The Negeb, much of which is a plateau between 1,500 and 2,000 feet (c. 450 and 600 meters) above sea level, lies to the S. Along the Mediterranean stretches the plain of Philistia, with its sand dunes that sometimes penetrate the shore for as much as four miles (6 kilometers). In early times this rolling plain was a region of vineyards, olive groves and grainfields. (Judg. 15:5) Just E of it rises a hilly area, cleft by numerous valleys, that attains an altitude of about 1,500 feet (c. 450 meters) above sea level in the S. This is the Shephelah (“lowland”), a region anciently covered with sycamore trees. (1 Ki. 10:27) It is a lowland when compared with the mountainous region of Judah lying farther to the E and having elevations varying from about 2,000 to more than 3,300 feet (600 to more than 1,000 meters) above sea level. The barren hills occupying the eastern slope of the Judean mountains constitute the wilderness of Judah.

Under the leadership of Joshua the power of the Canaanites had apparently been broken in the territory given to Judah. However, since evidently no garrisons were established, the original inhabitants appear to have returned to such cities as Hebron and Debir, probably while the Israelites were warring elsewhere. Therefore, these places had to be recaptured. (Compare Joshua 12:7, 10, 13; Judges 1:10-15.) But the inhabitants of the low plain, with their well-equipped chariotry, were not dispossessed. This doubtless included the Philistines of Gath and Ashdod.—Josh. 13:2, 3; Judg. 1:18, 19.

FROM THE JUDGES TO SAUL

During the turbulent period of the Judges, Judah, like the other tribes, repeatedly fell victim to idolatry. Therefore, Jehovah allowed surrounding nations, particularly the Ammonites and the Philistines, to make inroads on the territory of Judah. (Judg. 10:6-9) In Samson’s day, not only had the Judeans lost all control over the Philistine cities of Gaza, Ekron and Ashkelon, but the Philistines had actually become their overlords. (Judg. 15:9-12) Apparently not until Samuel’s time was Judean territory recovered from the Philistines.—1 Sam. 7:10-14.

After Saul of the tribe of Benjamin was anointed by Samuel as Israel’s first king, the Judeans fought loyally under his leadership. (1 Sam. 11:5-11; 15:3, 4) Most frequent were the battles against the Philistines (1 Sam. 14:52), who again seem to have gotten the upper hand over the Israelites. (1 Sam. 13:19-22) But gradually their power was reduced. With Jehovah’s help, Saul and his son Jonathan gained victories over them in the area extending from Michmash to Aijalon. (1 Sam. 13:23–14:23, 31) When the Philistines later invaded Judah, they again suffered defeat after the young Judean shepherd David killed their champion Goliath. (1 Sam. 17:4, 48-53) Subsequently King Saul placed David, who had earlier been anointed as Israel’s future king, over the Israelite warriors. In this capacity David loyally supported Saul and gained further victories over the Philistines. (1 Sam. 18:5-7) At this time the tribe of Judah was like a “lion cub,” not yet having attained regal power in the person of David.—Gen. 49:9.

When Saul came to view David as a threat to his kingship and outlawed him, David still remained loyal to Saul as Jehovah’s anointed. Never did he side with the enemies of Israel nor did he personally harm Saul or allow others to do so. (1 Sam. 20:30, 31; 24:4-22; 26:8-11; 27:8-11; 30:26-31) Instead, David fought against Israel’s enemies. On one occasion David saved the Judean city of Keilah from the Philistines.—1 Sam. 23:2-5.

FULFILLMENT OF JACOB’S PROPHETIC BLESSING IN DAVID

Finally God’s due time came for the transfer of royal power from the tribe of Benjamin to the tribe of Judah. At Hebron, after Saul’s death, the men of Judah anointed David as king. But the other tribes stuck with the house of Saul and made his son Ish-bosheth kin over them. Repeated clashes occurred between these two kingdoms until the strongest supporter of Ish-bosheth, Abner, defected to David. Not long thereafter Ish-bosheth was murdered.—2 Sam. 2:1-4, 8, 9; 3:1–4:12.

When David subsequently gained the kingship over all Israel, the ‘sons of Jacob,’ that is, all the tribes of Israel, lauded Judah and prostrated themselves to his representative as ruler. Therefore, David was also able to move against Jerusalem though it was basically in Benjamite territory and, after capturing the stronghold of Zion, to make it his capital. For the most part David conducted himself in a commendable way. So through him, the tribe of Judah was lauded for such qualities as justice and righteousness, and also for its services to the nation, including the maintenance of national security, as Jacob had