Leah and Jacob's 4th Son, Judah From Which Jews Come From: And Jacob's Prophecy For Us

 Nadene Goldfoot                                              

Judah the 4th son of Jacob and Leah, is best known as the one who persuaded his brothers to sell their own brother, Joseph to passing Ishmaelites rather than leave him to die in a pit (Gen 37).  They were all so jealous of Joseph as their father, Jacob, had given him special attention by making him the coat of many colors, and the older ones were never given such special treatment.  Joseph was the son of Rachel, who probably also got special treatment since she had been the 1st love to Jacob, so the boys saw Joseph as a half brother.  

Despite the seniority of  Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, he received Jacob's patriarchal blessing (Gen 49:8)  He had saved his brother's life.  Killing was not his first thought to solve a problem.  

When Judah heard Jacob's rebuke of his brothers,  he drew back, afraid that Jacob might chastise him over the affair of Tamar.  So Jacob called him soothingly,  "Judah, YOU are not like them.  YOU, your brothers shall acknowledge!" 

 Judah's oldest son was Er and Er's wife was Tamar.  Judah's 2nd son was Onan, and Tamar had married Onan, too. When Onan died, Judah had refused to allow Tamar to also marry his 3rd son, Shelah, as well.  Judah was breaking tradition by refusing her right to marry Shelah, and she was still a young woman!  So she got even with Judah by dressing up as a prostitute and seduced Judah!  The result was that she conceived twins by Judah.  This story adds reason why the custom was that a son was to marry his deceased brother's wife.   

The famous biblical commentator, RASHI commented in the Midrash that Judah would be the source of all Jewish leadership and royalty of the Davidic dynasty and Messiah.  Now, Rashi (1040-1105) born in France, had a good head start to make such a comment.  The 10 tribes had been lost to the Jews ever since 721 BCE, almost 2,000 years by his time already.  

Jacob had a good prophecy for Judah who was the 4th son, like a middle son who usually has the most problems in a family.  Jacob said, "You, your brothers shall acknowledge;   your hand will be at your enemies nape (of the neck).  Your father's sons will prostrate themselves to you.                                              

A lion cub is Judah;  from the prey, my son, you elevated yourself.  He crouches, lies down like a lion, and like an awesome lion, who dares rouse him?  

The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a scholar from among his descendants until Shiloh arrives and his will be an assemblage of nations.  (By saying "Shiloh", this is saying "Messiah"-Rashi explained that) .  Shiloh was the 1st religious center of the Israelite religion after the conquest of Canaan under Joshua, an Ephraimite, the tribe that had much power as well.  It was 25 miles North of Jerusalem in the mountains of Ephraim.  The Ark and Tabernacle were kept there during the period of the Judges, serving as the central national shrine and object of pilgrimage, especially during the long priesthood of Eli.  The town and the Tabernacle were destroyed by the Philistines after the battle of Aphek in about 1050 BCE when the Ark was captured.  Shilioh then became insignificant.  It was settled form the Hellenistic Period down to the 12th century CE.  The site was excavated by a Danish expedition in 1926-28.  The word, until, does not mean that Judah's ascendency will end with the coming of Messiah.  to the contrary, the sense of the verse is that once Messiah begins to reign, Judah's blessing of kingship will become fully realized (Sh'lah) for all the nations will acknowledge him and pay homage to him.  

He will tie his donkey to the vine.  To the vine branch his donkey's foal;  he will launder his garments in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes.  Red eyed from wine, and white toothed from milk. 

So admired will you be by all your brothers that Jews will not say, "I am a Reubenite or a Simeonite, but  "I am a Yehudi, Judahite, Jew.   (Midrash)

The first census Moses took found Judah with 74,,000 and the last census after the 40 years counted 76,500, an increase of 1,900 men.  

The area received by the tribe of Judah was one of the largest in Canaan and it eventually absorbed also the inheritance of Simeon in the Negev.  David belonged to this tribe and his accession signaled its assuming a leading position over other tribes.  When the kingdom split after the death of Solomon in 920 BCE, Judah supported his son, Rehoboam as king,  who was predominant and did become king for the southern kingdom of Judah.                      

Solomon Souza street art featuring a lion, in Jerusalem’s Machane Yehuda market. Photo by Yehoshua Halevi.  The lion has come to represent Israel-being the Jewish State.  Here, the ancient adage of when the lion lies down with the lamb, there will be peace.  ("The lamb with the lion" – often a paraphrase from Isaiah, and more closely quoted as "the lion and lamb", "a child will lead them", and the like – are an artistic and symbolic device, most generally related to peace. The symbol is used in both Christianity and Judaism to represent the Messianic Age.)

The hills of Judah, which came to be called Judaea by the Roman invasion,   was the mountainous region of central Israel.  Fertile and populous in biblical days, they had become neglected and suffered severely from soil erosion.  Modern resettlement of the area began in 1894 with the returning Jews from Russia and elsewhere in the 1st Aliyah and their newly created foundation of MOTSZA,  but from 1948 to 1967, only a small area of the Judean Hills (the Jerusalem Corridor) and some of the foothills  was incorporated into "Israel."  The rest of it was given by the British to the Kingdom of Jordan.  Since the Six Day War of 1967, the entire area has been under Israeli rule.  

The Jerusalem corridor (Hebrew: פרוזדור ירושלים‎, Prozdor Yerushalayim) is a geographical district of hundreds of thousands of dunams between Jerusalem and the Shephelah in Israel. Its northern border is the old road to Jerusalem; its southern border, the Elah Valley; and its western border, Sha'ar HaGai/Bab el-Wad and the road to Beit Shemesh. The largest towns in the Jerusalem corridor are Beit Shemesh, Mevasseret Zion, Abu Ghosh, Tzur Hadassah and Kiryat Ye'arim.

Some researchers figure Jacob was born in 1566 BCE, others saying the Exodus started from 1579-1578 BCE.  We know that Abraham was from the 2nd millennium BCE, and that the family was Abraham, son Isaac, and his son, Jacob.  

Resource:

Tanakh, The Stone Edition

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_corridor