Bible Figure
Judah
biblical figure; fourth son of Jacob and Leah; brother of Joseph
Judah was the fourth son of Jacob and Leah and the ancestor of the tribe that bore his name. His story includes serious moral failures as well as later signs of responsibility and self-sacrifice. Judah became especially important because Jacob's blessing associated kingship with his line, from which David and, in the New Testament genealogies, Jesus descended.
Biography
Judah was born to Jacob and Leah and grew up among the twelve sons who became ancestors of Israel's tribes. He participated in the brothers' hostility toward Joseph and proposed selling Joseph rather than killing him. Genesis 38 records Judah's relationship with Tamar, through whom Perez and Zerah were born. Later, during the famine narrative, Judah emerges in a more responsible role. He guarantees Benjamin's safety to Jacob and, before Joseph in Egypt, offers himself in Benjamin's place rather than return home without him. Jacob's final blessing gives Judah a position of prominence among the brothers and associates his descendants with enduring rule. The tribe of Judah later became the leading tribe of the southern kingdom and the line of Davidic kings.
Biblical Significance
Judah is significant both personally and genealogically. His development from a brother involved in Joseph's betrayal to a man willing to substitute himself for Benjamin is one of Genesis' notable character developments. More broadly, the royal promise attached to Judah's line becomes central to biblical expectations of the Davidic king. The New Testament genealogies place Jesus within this Judah-David line.