Judah (Bible)

Judah/Yehuda (Hebrew: יְהוּדָה, Standard "Yəhuda" Tiberian "] The narrative continues by stating that Judah decided that marriage to Tamar was cursed to be fatal, and so avoided letting Shelah marry her; [] but when he discovered that he was the father, he recanted and confessed that he had used a prostitute; [] A number of scholars have proposed that the deaths of Er and Onan reflect the dying out of two clans; [J. A. Emerton, "Judah And Tamar"] [Cheyne and Black, "Encyclopedia Biblica"] "Onan" may represent an Edomite clan named "Onam", [Cheyne and Black, "Encyclopedia Biblica"] who are mentioned in an Edomite genealogy in Genesis, [Genesis 36:23] while "Er" appears from a genealogy in the Book of Chronicles ["1 Chronicles 4:21"] to have later been subsumed by the "Shelah" clan. [J. A. Emerton, "Judah And Tamar"] [Cheyne and Black, "Encyclopedia Biblica"]

Some scholars have argued that the narrative secondarily aims to either assert the institution of levirate marriage, or present an aetiological myth for its origin, since it highlights cases of marriage for pleasure not for having children (Onan), of refusal to perform the marriage (Jacob, on behalf of Shelah), and of levirate activities with men related to the dead husband other than fraternally; [J. A. Emerton, "Judah And Tamar"] Emerton regards the evidence for this as inconclusive, though according to classical rabbinical writers this is the origin of levirate marriage. ["Genesis Rabbah" 85:6] A number of scholars, particularly in recent decades (as of 1980), have proposed that the narrative reflects an anachronistic interest in the biblical account of king David, with the character of Tamar being the same; [J. A. Emerton, "Judah And Tamar"] ["Encyclopedia Brittanica", "Tamar", 1911 edition] the proposals partly being due to the scenes of the narrative - Adullam, Chezib, and Timnah - overlapping. [J. A. Emerton, "Judah And Tamar"] ["Encyclopedia Brittanica", "Tamar", 1911 edition]

The Book of Chronicles mentions that "... a ruler came from Judah ...", [, ] 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. ["Sefer haYashar" (midrashic), "Vayiggash"] ["Genesis Rabbah" 93:7]

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; ["Jewish Encyclopedia"] 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. ["Sefer haYashar"] 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; ["Jewish Encyclopedia"] the threat of destroying Egypt was, according to these sources, what really motivated Joseph to reveal himself to his brothers. [ibid]

See also

*Tribe of Judah
*Kingdom of Judah

Notes

Publications

* Winckler, "Geschichte Israels" (Berlin, 1895)
* Ed. Meyer, "Die Israeliten und ihre Nachbarstämme" (Halle, 1906)
* Haupt, in "Studien ... Welthausen gewidmet" (Giessen, 1914)