Reference: Judah, Tribe of
Easton
Judah and his three surviving sons went down with Jacob into Egypt (Ge 46:12; Ex 1:2). At the time of the Exodus, when we meet with the family of Judah again, they have increased to the number of 74,000 males (Nu 1:26-27). Its number increased in the wilderness (Nu 26:22). Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, represented the tribe as one of the spies (). This tribe marched at the van on the east of the tabernacle (Nu 2:3-9; 10:14), its standard, as is supposed, being a lion's whelp. Under Caleb, during the wars of conquest, they conquered that portion of the country which was afterwards assigned to them as their inheritance. This was the only case in which any tribe had its inheritance thus determined (Jos 14:6-15; 15:13-19).
The inheritance of the tribe of Judah was at first fully one-third of the whole country west of Jordan, in all about 2,300 square miles (Jos 15). But there was a second distribution, when Simeon received an allotment, about 1,000 square miles, out of the portion of Judah (Jos 19:9). That which remained to Judah was still very large in proportion to the inheritance of the other tribes. The boundaries of the territory are described in Jos 15:20-63.
This territory given to Judah was divided into four sections. (1.) The south (Heb negeb), the undulating pasture-ground between the hills and the desert to the south (Jos 15:21.) This extent of pasture-land became famous as the favourite camping-ground of the old patriarchs. (2.) The "valley" (Jos 15:33) or lowland (Heb shephelah), a broad strip lying between the central highlands and the Mediterranean. This tract was the garden as well as the granary of the tribe. (3.) The "hill-country," or the mountains of Judah, an elevated plateau stretching from below Hebron northward to Jerusalem. "The towns and villages were generally perched on the tops of hills or on rocky slopes. The resources of the soil were great. The country was rich in corn, wine, oil, and fruit; and the daring shepherds were able to lead their flocks far out over the neighbouring plains and through the mountains." The number of towns in this district was thirty-eight (Jos 15:48-60). (4.) The "wilderness," the sunken district next the Dead Sea (Jos 15:61), "averaging 10 miles in breadth, a wild, barren, uninhabitable region, fit only to afford scanty pasturage for sheep and goats, and a secure home for leopards, bears, wild goats, and outlaws" (1Sa 17:34; 22:1; Mr 1:13). It was divided into the "wilderness of En-gedi" (1Sa 24:1), the "wilderness of Judah" (Jg 1:16; Mt 3:1), between the Hebron mountain range and the Dead Sea, the "wilderness of Maon" (1Sa 23:24). It contained only six cities.
Nine of the cities of Judah were assigned to the priests (Jos 21:9-19).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.
Of the children of Judah, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war; those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Judah, were sixty-four thousand six hundred.
Those who encamp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah, according to their divisions: and the prince of the children of Judah shall be Nahshon the son of Amminadab. His division, and those who were numbered of them, were seventy-four thousand six hundred. read more. Those who encamp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar: and the prince of the children of Issachar shall be Nethanel the son of Zuar. His division, and those who were numbered of it, were fifty-four thousand four hundred. The tribe of Zebulun: and the prince of the children of Zebulun shall be Eliab the son of Helon. His division, and those who were numbered of it, were fifty-seven thousand four hundred. All who were numbered of the camp of Judah were one hundred eighty-six thousand four hundred, according to their divisions. They shall set out first.
First, the standard of the camp of the children of Judah went forward according to their armies. Nahshon the son of Amminadab was over his army.
These are the families of Judah according to those who were numbered of them, seventy-six thousand five hundred.
Then the children of Judah drew near to Joshua in Gilgal. Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, "You know the thing that Yahweh spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning you in Kadesh Barnea. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of Yahweh sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. I brought him word again as it was in my heart. read more. Nevertheless, my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed Yahweh my God. Moses swore on that day, saying, 'Surely the land where you walked shall be an inheritance to you and to your children forever, because you have wholly followed Yahweh my God.' "Now, behold, Yahweh has kept me alive, as he spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that Yahweh spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. Now, behold, I am eighty-five years old, today. As yet I am as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now for war, to go out and to come in. Now therefore give me this hill country, of which Yahweh spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and great and fortified cities. It may be that Yahweh will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as Yahweh spoke." Joshua blessed him; and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day; because he wholly followed Yahweh, the God of Israel. Now the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba, after the greatest man among the Anakim. The land had rest from war.
To Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a portion among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of Yahweh to Joshua, even Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (the same is Hebron). Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak: Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the children of Anak. read more. He went up against the inhabitants of Debir: now the name of Debir before was Kiriath Sepher. Caleb said, "He who strikes Kiriath Sepher, and takes it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter as wife." Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter as wife. It happened, when she came, that she had him ask her father fore a field. She got off of her donkey, and Caleb said, "What do you want?" She said, "Give me a blessing. Because you have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water." He gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Judah according to their families. The farthest cities of the tribe of the children of Judah toward the border of Edom in the South were Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,
The farthest cities of the tribe of the children of Judah toward the border of Edom in the South were Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur, Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah, read more. Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan, Ziph, Telem, Bealoth, Hazor Hadattah, Kerioth Hezron (the same is Hazor), Amam, Shema, Moladah, Hazar Gaddah, Heshmon, Beth Pelet, Hazar Shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah, Baalah, Iim, Ezem, Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah, Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah, Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon. All the cities are twenty-nine, with their villages. In the lowland, Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,
In the lowland, Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah, Zanoah, En Gannim, Tappuah, Enam, read more. Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah, Shaaraim, Adithaim and Gederah (or Gederothaim); fourteen cities with their villages. Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal Gad, Dilean, Mizpeh, Joktheel, Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon, Cabbon, Lahmam, Chitlish, Gederoth, Beth Dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah; sixteen cities with their villages. Libnah, Ether, Ashan, Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib, Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah; nine cities with their villages. Ekron, with its towns and its villages; from Ekron even to the sea, all that were by the side of Ashdod, with their villages. Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages; to the brook of Egypt, and the great sea with its coastline. In the hill country, Shamir, Jattir, Socoh,
In the hill country, Shamir, Jattir, Socoh, Dannah, Kiriath Sannah (which is Debir),
Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim, Goshen, Holon, and Giloh; eleven cities with their villages.
Goshen, Holon, and Giloh; eleven cities with their villages. Arab, Dumah, Eshan,
Janim, Beth Tappuah, Aphekah, Humtah, Kiriath Arba (the same is Hebron), and Zior; nine cities with their villages.
Humtah, Kiriath Arba (the same is Hebron), and Zior; nine cities with their villages. Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Jutah,
Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah, Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah; ten cities with their villages.
Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah; ten cities with their villages. Halhul, Beth Zur, Gedor,
Halhul, Beth Zur, Gedor, Maarath, Beth Anoth, and Eltekon; six cities with their villages.
Maarath, Beth Anoth, and Eltekon; six cities with their villages. Kiriath Baal (the same is Kiriath Jearim), and Rabbah; two cities with their villages.
Kiriath Baal (the same is Kiriath Jearim), and Rabbah; two cities with their villages. In the wilderness, Beth Arabah, Middin, Secacah,
In the wilderness, Beth Arabah, Middin, Secacah, Nibshan, the City of Salt, and En Gedi; six cities with their villages. read more. As for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the children of Judah couldn't drive them out; but the Jebusites live with the children of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.
Out of the part of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon; for the portion of the children of Judah was too much for them. Therefore the children of Simeon had inheritance in the midst of their inheritance.
They gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are mentioned by name: and they were for the children of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for theirs was the first lot. read more. They gave them Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (the same is Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its suburbs around it. But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession. To the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah with its suburbs, Jattir with its suburbs, Eshtemoa with its suburbs, Holon with its suburbs, Debir with its suburbs, Ain with its suburbs, Juttah with its suburbs, and Beth Shemesh with its suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes. Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba with its suburbs, Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs; four cities. All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs.
The children of the Kenite, Moses' brother-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.
David said to Saul, "Your servant was keeping his father's sheep; and when a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb out of the flock,
David therefore departed there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him.
They arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah on the south of the desert.
It happened, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, "Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi."
In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
He was there in the wilderness forty days tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals; and the angels were serving him.