JUDAH. 475 
JUCKATAG'HERI, a town of Hindcoftan, in the 
Carnatic : five miles eaft of Muglee. 
JUCK/ING, adj. With fowlers, belonging to the fea- 
fon of going to the haunts of partridges, to liften for the 
calling of the cock bird. Scott. 
JUC'LEZ, a town of Turkeftan: forty-five miles fouth- 
well of Turkeftan. 
JUCUN'DITY, f [jucunditas, jucundus, Lat.J Pleafant- 
nefs ; agreeablenefs.—The new or unexpected jueundities, 
which prefent themfelves, will have activity enough to 
excite the earthieft foul, and raife a fmile from the rnoft 
compofed tempers. Brown. 
JU'DA, the fame as Judah, or Judea. Mattk. ii. 
JU'DAH, one of the twelve Hebrew patriarchs, was the 
fourth fon of Jacob by Leah, and born during his father’s 
fervitude to Laban, about the year 1750 B.C. He was the 
perfon who, when the death of Jofeph had been deter¬ 
mined upon by the reft of his brethren, perfuaded them 
rather to fell him to the Midianites, by which means he 
faved his life. He was the guarantee to their father for 
Benjamin’s fafe return, when his confent was obtained 
that he might accompany his other brethren into Egypt; 
and when Benjamin was threatened with flavery, in con- 
fequence of Jofeph’s cup being found in his fack, it was 
Judah who delivered that exquifitely-affefting piece of na¬ 
tural eloquence, which may challenge a comparifon with 
the fineft productions of antiquity, and which was imme¬ 
diately followed by Jofeph’s difcovery of himfelf to his 
brethren. The prophetic blefling which Jacob bellowed 
upon this fon, has given rife to much difcuffion in the 
learned world 5 and on one paffage in it more labour has 
been bellowed than perhaps on any paffage in the Bible. 
This blefling is comprifed in Genefis xlix. 8-12. and is 
fuftkiently clear in the prediction which it contains of a 
fuperiority in rank and power which the decendants of 
Judah were to acquire over thole of his other brethren, 
and of the fertility of the country which fhould be the 
portion of their inheritance. The difputed paffage, 
as given in our common verfion, is, “ The feeptre fhall 
not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between 
his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him fhall the gather¬ 
ing of the people be.” By the generality of the Chrif- 
tian interpreters, at leaf! fince the days of Origen, it has 
been confidered to hold out a prediction, that in the 
tribe of Judah fupreme legiflative power fhould exift till 
the coming of the Meffiah, fuppoied to be meant by the 
word Shiloh, to whofe obedience the nations would be 
brought; and much learning and ingenuity have been 
employed to confirm this fenfe of the paffage, and to 
jhow its fulfilment in the aftual circumftances of the 
tribe of Judah, previous to, and at the time of, the com¬ 
ing of Chrilt. Others, on the contrary, find no veflige of 
the Meffiah in this’ paffage, and have formed a variety 
of opinions concerning the meaning of the word Shiloh, 
a fummary of which may be feen in Geddes’s Critical 
Remarks on the Hebrew Scriptures. He thus renders 
the paffage : “ A feeptred chief fhall not fail to Judah, 
nor a leader of his own offspring, until there, come peace¬ 
ful profperity, and to him the nations be obedient:” refer¬ 
ring the word Shiloh either to the peaceful enjoyment of 
the land of Canaan, mentioned Join. xi. 23, and xviii. 1. 
when the land relied from war, and the tabernacle was fet 
up at Shiloh-, or to the Hill more peaceful reign of Solo¬ 
mon, when the government was fully eflablifhed in the 
tribe of Judah, and the promifes made to Abraham, Ifaac, 
and Jacob, with refpeCt to territory, accomplifhed. The 
fenfe which he has given to the paffage appears to be at¬ 
tended with the feweft difficulties; but whether it be the 
snofl juft and natural, it does not belong to our province 
to decide. The accomplifliment of the other parts of the 
prediction is clearly difcernible in the fubfequent fortunes 
of the decendants of Judah. The inheritance which fell 
to them comprifed the rnoft foutherly dillrifts of Canaan, 
and was bounded on the eaft bv the Dead Sea, on the 
north by the lot of the tribe of Benjamin* on the weft by 
thofe of the tribes of Dan and Simeon, which lay between 
it and the Mediterranean, and on the fouth it extended to 
the mountain of Seir, or Edom, which were the frontiers 
between it and Idumaea. This land was beautifully di- 
verfified into hills and valleys, and produced great plenty 
of corn, wine, oil, fruits, and abundance of cattle. This 
tribe was alfo the rnoft populous of all the twelve, and its 
inhabitants the llouteft and rnoft valiant. It was, more¬ 
over, the chief and royal tribe, from the death of Saul 
to the extinction of monarchy among the defendants of 
Jacob. When the ten tribes revolted from the houfe of 
David, Judah and Benjamin remained attached to it, and 
conftituted a kingdom, under the denomination of Judah, 
as juft hinted ; which maintained its independence, and 
frequently gave proof of its fuperiority, in the contefts 
which took place between it and the tribes forming the 
kingdom of I fra el. After the deftruclion of the latter, the 
kingdom of Judah Hill lubfilted till the time of the Baby- 
lonifh captivity ; and, on the return from Babylon, this 
tribe lived according to its laws under its own chiefs; and 
the remnants of the other tribes, which were not difperfed 
into far-diftant regions, became abforbed in it, and known 
only afterwards by the common name of Jews. Thefe 
circumftances afford a happy illuftration of the prophetic 
bleffing which Jacob bellowed on his fon Judah. Genefis 
xxix-xlix. 
JU'DAH HAK'KADOSH, or the Saint, a learned 
rabbi, and prince, or patriarch, of the jews, in the fecond 
century, was the fon of Simeon the Juft, thethird patriarch, 
and born in Tzipori, or Sephoris, in Galilee, about the 
year 120. On the death of his father he fucceeded to his 
dignity, and prefided over the grand academy of Tiberias 
for forty-five years, under the reigns of Antoninus Pius, 
M. Aurelius, and Commodus, who, though they were 
great enemies to the Chriftians, were very favourable to 
the Jews. He acquired a high reputation for fanftity and 
learning, and his memory is held in fuch refpeft: by the 
Jews, that they compare him with the Meffiah. -Among 
the other extravagant ftories which they relate concerning 
him, they affert, that he made the emperor Marcus An¬ 
toninus a profelyte to Judaifm, and that it was by his or¬ 
der that Judah compiled the Mi/hna. The hiftory of that 
work is briefly this : The left of the Pharifees, after the de- 
ftruftion of Jerufalem, prevailing over the reft, the ftudy 
of traditions became the chief objeft of attention 
in all the Jewilh fchools. The number of thefe traditions 
had, in a long courfe of time, fo greatly increafed, that 
the doftors, whofe principal employment it was to illuftrate 
them by new explanations, found it neceffary to affift 
their recolleftion, by committing them to writing, under 
diftinft heads. At the fame time, their difciples took mi¬ 
nutes of the explanations of their preceptors, many of 
which were preferved, and grew up into voluminous com¬ 
mentaries. The confufion which arofe from thefe caufes, 
was now become lo troublefome, that, notwithftanding 
what rabbi Hillel the Elder had before done in arranging 
the traditions, Judah found it neceffary to attempt a new 
digell of the oral law, and of the commentaries of their 
moll famous doftors. This arduous undertaking is laid 
to have employed him forty years, and was completed, 
according to the tellimony of the Jews, about the dole of 
the fecond century. It comprehends the laws, inftitutions, 
and rules of life, which, befides the ancient Hebrew Scrip¬ 
tures, the Jews fuppoied themfelves bound to obferve. 
Of this work, William Surenhulius publifhed a valuable 
edition at Amlterdam, in 1698, in fix volumes folio, ia 
Hebrew and Latin, with the commentaries of Maimonides, 
Barthenora,&c. and numerous illullrativeengravings. Nct- 
withftanding the obfeurities, inconfiftencies, and abfurdi- 
ties, with which this colleftion abounds, it foon obtained 
credit among the Jews as a facrcd book, and its authority 
was fubmitted to in all their academies. The great repu¬ 
tation which rabbi Judah acquired by this performance 
elevated him to fuch a height of pride, as was very irre- 
condleable with the character of a Hint, He even indul¬ 
ged 
