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