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jude Summary and Overview

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jude in Easton's Bible Dictionary

= Judas. Among the apostles there were two who bore this name, (1) Judas (Jude 1:1; Matt. 13:55; John 14:22; Acts 1:13), called also Lebbaeus or Thaddaeus (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18); and (2) Judas Iscariot (Matt. 10:4; Mark 3:19). He who is called "the brother of James" (Luke 6:16), may be the same with the Judas surnamed Lebbaeus. The only thing recorded regarding him is in John 14:22.

jude in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

J UDE L EBBAEUS , T HADDAEUS . Jude calls himself "servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of see JAMES " , namely, the apostle James "the Lord's brother" (a title which James omits in humility, as he was strictly only cousin of Christ), bishop of Jerusalem (compare <480119> Galatians 1:19). Similarly Jude was both an apostle and brother of our Lord. All Christ's brethren were not apostles, only James and Jude, sons of Alphaeus or Clopas and Mary. James being better known, Jude designates himself "brother of James." Like Paul in epistles to Philippians, Thessalonians, and Philemon, Jude omits his apostleship. A forger would have been sure to head the epistle with the designation "apostle." Jude is distinguished from Judas Iscariot by the names Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus, i.e. courageous,from Hebrew leeb "heart," thad "breast," or hodah "praise"(Adai is the name in Syriac): <401003> Matthew 10:3; <410318> Mark 3:18. Luke and John writing later, when no confusion with Judas Iscariot was likely, call him "Judas." The only notice of him is in <431422> John 14:22, where, not understanding Jesus' promise (<431421> John 14:21), Judas (not Iscariot) asked "Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us and not unto the world?" His position in the last group of four among the twelve implies, like his question, low views at that time of the spirituality of Messiah's kingdom. Eusebius tells that Abgarus, king of Edessa, being sick sent begging Jesus to come and heal him; the Lord replied, praising his faith because, though he had not seen, he believed, and promising when He should ascend to send one of His disciples to heal and give him life. Thomas then was inspired to send Thaddaeus. Such a message may have been sent verbally, and its substance afterward written (compare Matt, 15:22; 2 Kings 5). Hegesippus (Eusebius, E. H. iii. 20) states that when the emperor Domitian inquired after David's posterity, grandsons of Jude "the Lord's brother" were brought before him; they stated their possessions were 39 acres, and that they paid him taxes thereout and lived by labour, pointing as a proof to their hard hands. They added, Christ's kingdom is not of this world, but heavenly, and will be manifested when He shall come again in glory. JUDE, EPISTLE OF Authenticity. Eusebius (H. E. iii. 25) reckons it among the disputed (antilegomena ) scriptures, but recognized by the majority. The doubts about it arose probably from the reference to the mysterious conflict of Michael the archangel with Satan concerning Moses' body, nowhere else mentioned in Scripture, but found in the apocryphal Book of Enoch. So Jerome, Catalog. Scriptor. Ecclesiastes 4. Its being addressed generally, and to no particular church, also retarded its recognition as canonical; also its identity in the main with 2 Peter 2. If Jude indeed quotes the passage from the Book of Enoch he thereby stamps with inspired approval that passage, not the whole book, just as Paul sanctions particular sentiments from Aratus, Epimenides, and Menander (<441728> Acts 17:28; <560112> Titus 1:12; <461533> 1 Corinthians 15:33). But as Jude differs a little from the Book of see ENOCH ,written probably by a Jew thoroughly imbued with Daniel's sacred writings, it is likely he rather sanctions the current tradition of the Jews as to Enoch's prophecies, just as Paul names the Egyptian magicians "Jannes and Jambres," though the Old Testament does not. Jude, under the Spirit, took the one gem out of the mass of earthy matter surrounding it, and set it in the gold of inspiration. So Jude alsostamps as true the tradition as to the archangel Michael's dispute with Satan concerning Moses' body (<650109> Jude 1:9; compare <053406> Deuteronomy 34:6). As John (second and third Epistles) calls himself "the elder," so James and Jude call themselves "servants of Jesus Christ."Clemens Alex. (Adumbr. 1007) says, "Jude through reverential awe did not call himself brother, but servant, of Jesus Christ, and brother of James." He cites Jude 1:as Scripture (ver. 8,17: Strom. 3:2, section 11; and ver. 5 in Paedagog. 3:8, section 44). Tertullian (de Cultu Faem. 3) cites the epistle as that of the apostle Jude. The Muratori Fragm., A.D. 170, asserts its canonicity (Routh Reliq. Sacr. 1:306). Origen (comm. on <401355> Matthew 13:55) says "Jude the Lord's brother wrote an epistle of few lines, but full of the strong words of heavenly grace." Also he quotes ver. 6 (comm. on <402223> Matthew 22:23) and ver. 1 (comm. on <401810> Matthew 18:10). Jerome (Catalog. Scriptor. Ecclesiastes) reckons it among the Scriptures. The oldest manuscripts of the Peshito Syriac omit it, but Ephraem Syrus recognizes it. It was circulated in the E. and W. in the second century. To whom addressed. The references to Old Testament history (<650105> Jude 1:5,7) and to Jewish tradition (<650114> Jude 1:14 ff) render it probable Jude addressed Jewish Christians primarily, then all Christians (ver. 1). The kindred epistle, 2 Peter, is similarly addressed. The persons stigmatized were heretics in doctrine, "denying the only Lord God and our Saviour Jesus Christ," and libertines in practice. Hence Jude urges his readers "earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints." Insubordination, self seeking, and licentiousness, resulting from antinomian teachings, are the evils stigmatized, against which Jude gives the only safeguards, namely, that believers should "build themselves in their most holy faith, and pray in the Holy Spirit." These evils, combined with mocking scepticism, shall characterize the days immediately before the Lord's coming to judgment, as when Enoch warned the ungodly just on the eve of the flood. As Peter wrote his first epistle (see <600513> 1 Peter 5:13) and probably his second also at Babylon it is not unlikely that Jude too addressed primarily the Jewish Christians in and about Mesopotamian Babylon (a place of much resort of the Jews), or else the Christian Jews dispersed in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, whom Peter, his model, addresses. For Jerome (Annot. in Mt.) says that Jude preached in Mesopotamia; and his epistle of 25 verses contains no less than eleven passages from 2 Peter. Probably <650104> Jude 1:4witnesses to the fulfillment of Peter's prophecy, "there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained (Greek ‘forewritten,' i.e. announced beforehand, namely, by Peter's written prophecy) to this condemnation, ungodly men, denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ."Compare <610201> 2 Peter 2:1, "there shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." Also <650117> Jude 1:17,18 quote <610303> 2 Peter 3:3," remember the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus; how they told you that there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts." As Peter confirms Paul's inspiration (<610315> 2 Peter 3:15,16), so Jude confirms Peter's. The distinction between Jude and Peter is that Jude portrays adversaries of Christianity and heretics in general, Peter heretical teachers in particular. Time and place of writing. If the time were after the fall of Jerusalem (A.D. 70), some think Jude would have scarcely omitted allusion to an event which uprooted the whole Jewish polity. But John in his epistles, certainly written after the destruction of Jerusalem, makes no allusion to it. The tone is that of a writer in Israel; the title "brother of James" best suits a region where James was well known as the bishop of its metropolis. Jude 1:17,18 imply some time had elapsed since the date of the second epistle of Peter, written probably A.D. 68 or 69; if so, our epistle was written after the destruction of Jerusalem. <650117> JUDGES Moses was the nation's judge after Israel left Egypt. At Jethro's suggestion, just before the giving of the Sinaitic law (Exodus 18; Deuteronomy 1:9, etc.), he appointed captains, rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, namely, the recognized heads of tribes or of chief houses in them, to judge at all seasons small matters, reserving the great ones for himself to decide, upon the principles which he should learn from God. These would number 78,600. But the elders (chosen from the elders who headed Israel in seeking freedom, and from the officers, the reluctant instruments of Egyptian tyranny: <020316> Exodus 3:16; 5:6, etc.), appointed <041116> Numbers 11:16, etc., were only seventy (the same number as had gone up with Moses unto the Lord in the mountain, Exodus 24), endued <050109>by God with the Spirit as Moses' council. This council fell into desuetude under the judges and kings; but after the monarchy the Sanhedrin was modeled on this prototype, Regard to locality modified the genealogical principle of selection upon Israel's entrance into Canaan (<051618> Deuteronomy 16:18). The Levites, as the ultimate sources under God of jurisprudence, taught the people the law, to enable the judges and those judged to understand the right principle of decisions (<051708> Deuteronomy 17:8-13). The "judges" are mentioned <062401> Joshua 24:1. Their sacro-sanctity is marked by their bearing the designation "gods," as exercising some of God's delegated power: <198201> Psalm 82:1,6; <022106> Exodus 21:6, Hebrew "gods" for "‘judges,"God being the source of all justice. The qualifications of a judge are given (<021821> Exodus 18:21), "able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness"; "not wresting judgment, not respecting persons, neither taking a gift" (so universal a practice with Eastern judges), <051619> Deuteronomy 16:19; "not respecting the person of the poor, nor honouring the person of the mighty" (<031915> Leviticus 19:15); "not afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's" (<050117> Deuteronomy 1:17). Especially compare Jehoshaphat's charge to his judges (<141906> 2 Chronicles 19:6,7). Judging was the only royal function, under the theocracy, which was committed to man, and being moreover in the hands of the people's natural leaders it held a very high place in popular estimation. The place of judgment was the open space before the gate, the place of public resort (<196912> Psalm 69:12; <200815> Proverbs 8:15). The higher order of judges were called "princes," the lower "elders"(<070814> Judges 8:14; <020214> Exodus 2:14; representing the Hebrew nasiy' , sar , nadiyb , nagid ; nasiy' expressing high birth, nadiyb princely qualities, nagid prominent station, sar active official authority). In <070814> Judges 8:14 the elders of Succoth are 77, i.e. 70, the number of Jacob's family with which Succoth was connected (<013317> Genesis 33:17; 46:27), with the sacred seven added (<022409> Exodus 24:9). The custody, in the sanctuary, of the standard weights and measures made an appeal to the priesthood in disputes a necessity; and in final appeals the high priest, as chief legal authority, decided difficult cases before the time of the kings (<051708> Deuteronomy 17:8,12). The Hebrew shophetim , "judges", correspond to the suffetes, the chief magistrates of Phoenician colonies. None of the nation's deliverers called "judges" (<070216> Judges 2:16-19; <441320> Acts 13:20) were of a priest's family; Eli was not a deliverer or saviour (<310121> Obadiah 1:21; <070309> Judges 3:9,15). Their main office was to judge or rulerighteously ("feed" or tend, <131706> 1 Chronicles 17:6) in deciding cases (<070405> Judges 4:5; 10:2; <090715> 1 Samuel 7:15; 8:3), this function of the priesthood being in abeyance after the time of Joshua; their delivering Israel was an act of Jehovah's "righteousness" or faithfulness to His covenant, consequent upon the people's penitently turning to Him (<070511> Judges 5:11; <234508> Isaiah 45:8). These extraordinary judges, raised by God, the temporal as well as spiritual King of Israel, as His vicegerents, between Joshua and the kings were 13: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Abimelech (an usurper), Tola, Jair Jephtha, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon (Bedan <091211> 1 Samuel 12:11), Samson. (On the dates see CHRONOLOGY ). "Saving" Israel is applied to them frequently (<070309> Judges 3:9 margin, Judges 31; <070615> Judges 6:15; 7:7; 11:1, margin); the Lord "raised them up" (<070216> Judges 2:16) at intervals, as need required, by causing His Spirit to come upon them (<070310> Judges 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 13:25); Barak was called by a prophetess, Deborah (Judges 4); His providence overruled the people's choice in Jephthah's case. The judges ruled more continuously from Gideon's time; his sons are regarded as his natural successors (<070901> Judges 9:1-3); so Samuel's sons (<090801> 1 Samuel 8:1; 7:15), he ruled until his death; so too Eli (<070418> Judges 4:18). Afterward, the king was expected to hear causes in person, and therefore should write and read continually a copy of the law (<101501> 2 Samuel 15:1-4; <051718> Deuteronomy 17:18,19). David probably delegated some of the judicial office to the 6,000 Levites, and especially Chenaniah and his sons (<132304> 1 Chronicles 23:4; 26:29). Solomon was most famed for his judgments (<110309> 1 Kings 3:9,16; <197201> Psalm 72:1-4; <110205> 1 Kings 2:5,6,33,34,46). Two examples of forms of procedure occur: a civil case (<080402> Ruth 4:2), in which Boaz calls in ten elders to witness the redemption by him of the kinsman's right from the one whose claim was first, and whom he summoned to appear"in the gate," the usual place of judgment; and a criminal one (<112108> 1 Kings 21:8-14), where the eiders and nobles judge, on the testimony of witnesses, in the presence of the people. So in the case of the manslayer (<062004> Joshua 20:4-6; <051912> Deuteronomy 19:12; <043524> Numbers 35:24,25). Fees were not allowed judges (<091203> 1 Samuel 12:3), but were regarded as bribery. Professed advocates were unknown in early times; but voluntary pleading for the defenseless was esteemed meritorious (<181621> Job 16:21; <203109> Proverbs 31:9; <230117> Isaiah 1:17). JUDGES, BOOK OFThe time comprised extends from Joshua to Eli. Divisions: (1) Introduction (Judges 1-3:6). Judges 1, Israel's relations to Canaan, geographical and political, what the several tribes and houses achieved, or otherwise, in conquering the land; Judges 2-3:6, Israel's relations religiously to the Lord, this second portion tells us the reason of Israel's failure to drive out the Canaanite remnant and of their falling under oppressors, namely, apostasy; Jehovah leaving those nations in order to prove Israel whether they would obey Him. Hengstenberg suggests that Judges 1 presents the events before Joshua's death, Judges 2 the death itself and the events following it. The general lessons of the book are summed up in <070211> Judges 2:11 ff, namely, Israel's high calling and yet apostasy, Jehovah's chastening, and then raising up of judges because of His own pity for their groanings; then Israel's relapse into idolatry upon each judge's death. (2) <070307> Judges 3:7-16. The opening formula (<070307> Judges 3:7) is resumed from <070211> Judges 2:11, "the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord," etc. Political events are subordinated to spiritual. Of the 13 judges, the account of six (Ehud, Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Abimelech, Jephthah, Samson) is full, that of the remaining seven very brief. In Gideon's case alone his sons'history is detailed, because it illustrates the great lesson of the book. His sin in making the ephod issued in his family's slaughter by Abimelech with the men of Shechem's aid, these in turn mutually punishing one another. Abimelech's was the first effort to substitute an earthly king for the Lord of the theocracy, Samson's history illustrates Israel's, whom he represents, strength and weakness, strength in separation to Jehovah, utter weakness when the consecration became severed, as Samson's locks, by lust. Othniel is the only representative of Judah; the greater number of judges belonged to northern and eastern Israel. (3) Judges 17-21. The appendix. It records: (1) Micah's idolatry in Mount Ephraim, and the Danite adoption of it in Laish, the conquest of which is narrated. A time "when there was no king in Israel" (<071901> Judges 19:1), before Samson's days (compare <071325> Judges 13:25 margin with <071812> Judges 18:12); also before Jabin, 150 years after Joshua, had established a strong Canaanite kingdom in the N., when Dan could not have taken Laish; perhaps shortly after Joshua's death (<071830> Judges 18:30). A comparison of <071801> Judges 18:1 with <070134> Judges 1:34; <061947> Joshua 19:47, implies that this history occurred at the earliest part of the judges' period. The Danites set up Micah's graven image,and Jonathan's sons were its "priests until the day of the captivity of the land," i.e. the removal of the ark by the Philistines (compare <197859> Psalm 78:59-64; <240712> Jeremiah 7:12-14; <131634> 1 Chronicles 16:34,35). Jehovah's giving up His glory (the ark) into captivity was a virtual giving over of Israel to captivity, i.e. to their enemy's power; for the sanctuary was the land's "kernel and essence" (Hengstenberg), and the completeness of Israel's prostration under the Philistines appears in <091319> 1 Samuel 13:19-23. No mention of the judges occurs in this appendix. The appendix records (2) Gibeah's awful wickedness and Benjamin's countenancing it, and Israel's unitedly punishing almost to extermination the sinning tribe. The unanimity of the tribes implies an early date; also the mention of Aaron's grandson Phinehas (compare <072028> Judges 20:28 with <062213> Joshua 22:13; 24:33). These two histories appended depict the spirit of the age morally and religiously. H ISTORIC T RUTH . The comparison with the heroic age of Greece is unwarrantable. Though the judges were heroes, it was an age preceded by the Mosaic legislation and the due settlement of the people by Joshua in their inheritance; not an age of lawless semi barbarism. Jahn (Hebrew Commonwealth) truly says the Book of Judges is a record of the exceptional diseases of the body politic, while the years of health are passed over in silence. The ability to write a description of the Succoth elders, 77 men, on the part of a young man taken at random implies it was no age of ignorance; contrast the Homeric age, in which only dubious traces of the existence of writing occur (<070814> Judges 8:14, margin). Israel's servitudes occupy 111 years, the time of peaceful independence 319 years (i.e. taking the whole period as 430). Hence, the oft recurring phrase, "the land had rest ... years" (<070311> Judges 3:11,30; 5:31; 8:28). Hence too in the millennial future restoration of Israel Isaiah (1:26) announces from God, "I will restore thy judges as at the first," as in Israel's most peaceable days: Joshua, the judges, and Samuel (compare <233201> Isaiah 32:1; <401928> Matthew 19:28). The chequered history of Israel at this period is too modest to be the work of a forger to glorify Israel. The mention of the Canaanite chariots accords with the Egyptian accounts which make the Cheta chariots their main strength. A hieroglyphic inscription of Rameses II mentions Astert as the Cheta or Hittite divinity, so <070211> Judges 2:11-13. The Shasous in Egyptian monuments resemble in habits theMidianites and Amalekites (Judges 6-8). Philistine power increases in Judges and 1 Samuel parallel with Egypt's decline in the monuments. The usages, mutilation (<070106> Judges 1:6,7), blood feuds (<070819> Judges 8:19), the intermixture of ruling people and subject tribes (<070119> Judges 1:19-36), the hiding of the oppressed in caves (<070602> Judges 6:2), earrings worn by men (<070824> Judges 8:24-26), women peeping through the lattice (<070528> Judges 5:28), fables (<070907> Judges 9:7), riddles (<071412> Judges 14:12) to be solved at a forfeit, all accord with oriental usage, and occur so naturally and incidentally as to exclude suspicion of design. D ESIGN . The aim is not to give a continuous history of the period between Joshua and Samuel, but to illustrate in striking particular deliverances the divine principle of dealing with Israel laid down in <070216> Judges 2:16-19. The judges imperfectly realize the ideal. Each only delivered one part of Israel: Shamgar the region toward Philistia; Deborah and Barak northern Israel was in Shiloh" (awful perversity! in the face of divine light close to them) imply that the book was written after the Philistine capture of the ark, and after its return and setting up at, Nob in Saul's reign (1 Samuel 21); it remained at Shiloh only until its capture at Eli's death (<090103> 1 Samuel 1:3; 3:21; 4:3), in David's reign the tabernacle was at Gibeon (<131639> 1 Chronicles 16:39; 21:29). The connection of Judges with Joshua, of which it is the sequel, appears in the reference to Joshua's death, <070206> Judges 2:6-9 (compare the same words from which Judges draws them, <062428> Joshua 24:28-31), which verses resume the narrative suspended from <070101> Judges 1:1, "now after the death of Joshua," by Judges 1-2:5. Also compare passages common to both: <070110> Judges 1:10-15,20,21,27,29, with <061514> Joshua 15:14-19,13,63; 17:12; 16:10; Judges 18, with <061947> Joshua 19:47. Again the Spirit links Judges with the books of Samuel and Kings which follow; thus 1:28,30,33,35 accords with the tributary condition subsequently of the Canaanite remnant under Solomon (<110918> 1 Kings 9:18-22). So <070116> Judges 1:16 accounts for Saul's and David's subsequent kindness to the Kenites (<091506> 1 Samuel 15:6; 30:29). Chap. 9 records Abimelech's mode of death, alluded to <101121> 2 Samuel 11:21.