Judah. Judah was, according to the Book of Genesis, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Judah. By extension, he is indirectly eponymous of the Kingdom of Judah, the land of Judea and the word Jew. According to the narrative in Genesis, Judah with Tamar is the patrilinear ancestor of the Davidic line. The Tribe of Judah figures prominently in the Deuteronomistic history, which most scholars agree was reduced to written form, although subject to exilic and post-exilic alterations and emendations, during the reign of the Judahist reformer Josiah from 641-609 BC. The Hebrew name for Judah, Yehudah, literally thanksgiving or praise, is the noun form of the root Y-D-H, to thank or to praise. His birth is recorded at Gen. 29:35; upon his birth, Leah exclaims, This time I will praise the L/ Yah, with the Hebrew word for I will praise, odeh sharing the same root as Yehudah. Judah is the fourth son of the patriarch Jacob and his first wife, Leah: his full brothers are Reuben, Simeon and Levi, and Issachar and Zebulun and one full sister Dinah. He has six half-brothers. Following his birth, Judah's next appearance is in Gen 37, when he and his brothers cast Joseph into a pit out of jealousy after Joseph approaches them, flaunting a coat of many colors, while they are working in the field. It is Judah who spots a caravan of Ishmaelites coming towards them, on its way to Egypt and suggests that Joseph be sold to the Ishmaelites rather than killed. Judah marries the daughter of Shua, a Canaanite. Judah and his wife have three children, Er, Onan, and Shelah. Er marries Tamar, but God kills him because he was wicked in the sight of the Lord. Tamar becomes Onan's wife in accordance with custom, but he too is killed after he refuses to father children for his older brother's childless widow, and spills his seed instead. Although Tamar should have married Shelah, the remaining brother, Judah did not consent, and in response Tamar deceives Judah into having intercourse with her by pretending to be a prostitute. When Judah discovers that Tamar is pregnant he prepares to have her killed, but recants and confesses when he finds out that he is the father. Tamar is the mother of twins, Perez and Zerah. The former is the patrilinear ancestor of the messiah, according to the Book of Ruth. Meanwhile, Joseph rises to a position of power in Egypt. Twenty years after being betrayed, he meets his brothers again without them recognizing him. The youngest brother, Benjamin, had remained in Canaan with Jacob, so Joseph takes Simeon hostage and insists that the brothers return with Benjamin. Judah offers himself to Jacob as surety for Benjamin's safety, and manages to persuade Jacob to let them take Benjamin to Egypt. When the brothers return, Joseph tests them by demanding the enslavement of Benjamin.