JUDAII, TRIBE AND POSSESSIONS OF. At the Exodus, the tribe of Judah numbered 74,600 adult males, being 1,9oo more than the largest of the other tribes, and 19oo more than Ephraim and Manasseh together (Num. i.) When the Israelites were marshalled in the wilderness by the command of God, the tribe of Judah had as signed to it the post of honour, on the east side of the tabernacle ; and was made chief of the first of the four grand divisions of the host. In marching, Judah always led the van (Num. ii. 3, 9 ; x. I4)• It is a singular fact, that the two tribes which afterwards became the chief in Israel, were those whose spies brought back a true report of Canaan to Moses in Paran. The spies were Caleb of Judah, and Joshua of Ephraim (Num. xhi. 6, S, 3o ; xiv. 6). The faithfulness of Caleb was not left without its reward. The sin of Achan at the taking of Jericho left a stain upon the tribe, and brought calamity on the whole host (Josh. vii.) Judah was the first tribe which received its allotted possessions west of the Jordan, and its territory is described with more accuracy and greater detail than that of any other. It is re markable, too, that this territory included fully one-third of the whole land. The boundaries are very minutely given by Joshua, and the principal towns are all named (chap. xv.) Its eastern boundary was tbe Dead Sea and the Arabah, and its western the Mediterranean (vers. 5, 12). On the north the border ran from the mouth of the Jordan, by Jericho, Jerusalem, Kirjath-jearim, Bethshemesh, Ekron, and Jabneel, to the coast. The southern border cannot now be so accurately defined, because the region through which it ran is to a great extent unexplored, and the sites of the places named are unknown. It is said to begin at the shore of the Salt Sea, and from the bay that looks southward ;' but it is clear from what follows that the line ran due south from that point, through the Arabah, as far as Kadesh-barnea (35 miles), where it turned westward, and extended apparently in nearly a strail;:ht line to the River of Egypt, now iVady-el-Arzslz, 50 miles south-west from Gaza (vers. 2-4). The country thus defined WaS 65 miles long, and averaged about so in breadth.
But while this large tract was nominally allotted to Judah, the portion of it available for actual settle ment was comparatively small, not amounting to above one-third of the whole. On the east, extend ing along the Dead Sea and the Arabah, from north to south, was the Wilderness' (-1,1`M, Josh. xv. 6), averaging 15 miles in breadth, a wild, barren, uninhabitable region, fit only to afford scanty pas turage for sheep and goats, and a secure home for leopards, bears, wild-goats, and outlaws (I Sam. xvit. 34 ; Mark i. 13 ; Sam. xxii. r, seq.) Dif ferent sections of it were called by different names, as, Wilderness of Engedi' (I Sam. xxiv. r) ; ' Wilderness of Judah ' (judg. 16) ; Wilderness of Maon ' (I Sam. xxiii. 24 ; see art. DESERT). It was the training-ground of the shepherd-warriors of Israel, where David and his mighty men' were braced and trained for those feats of daring courage which so highly distinguished them. [BETHLEHEM; DAvio.] On the west of Judah's allotted territory was the Plain of Philistia, called the Shephelah, or low country,' in the Bible (Josh. xv. 33, etc.) It extended from Joppa to Gaza, and embraced the whole of that noble plain which constituted far the richest portion of the land. The people of Judah were properly mountaineers, accustomed to light guerilla warfare ; and they could not withstand in the open plain the shock of the Philistines' war chariots, and the heavy panoply of their mailed champions. The Shephelah was thus worse than useless to Judah, for it involved the tribe in in creasing and devastating wars. They never com pletely conquered, nor attempted to colonize it. The real possessions of Judah, therefore, con sisted only of the central mountain range, the hill country, with its terraced slopes and peaks all clothed in the rich foliage of the vine ; and its long winding glens, running down between rocky ridges into the Shephelah, their sides covered with olives and figs, and their winter brooks running through corn-fields below ; and its southern declivities breaking into undulating downs, and broad steppes of pasture-land, out towards Beer-sheba.