he
Dead Sea, had become acquainted with the diverse races which were found
there, and consequently there had been frequent intermarriages between
the Hebrews and these peoples. Some critics have argued from this that
the chronicler had this fact in his mind when he assigned a Canaanite
wife, Shuah, to the father of the tribe himself. He relates how Judah,
having separated from his brethren, "turned in to a certain Adullamite,
whose name was Hiram," and that here he became acquainted with Shuah,
by whom he had three sons. With Tamar, the widow of the eldest of the
latter, he had accidental intercourse, and two children, Perez and
Zerah, the ancestors of numerous families, were born of that union.*

* Gen. xxxviii., where there is a detailed account of
Judah's unions.

Edomites, Arabs, and Midianites were associated with this semi-Canaanite
stock--for example, Kain, Caleb, Othniel, Kenaz, Shobal, Ephah, and
Jerahmeel, but the Kenites took the first place among them, and played
an important part in the history of the conquest of Canaan. It is
related how one of their subdivisions, of which Caleb was the eponymous
hero, had driven from Hebron the three sons of Anak--Sheshai, Ahiman,
and Talmai--and had then promised his daughter Achsah in marriage to
him who should capture Debir; this turned out to be his youngest brother
Othniel, who captured the city, and at the same time obtained a
wife. Hobab, another Kenite, who is represented to have been the
brother-in-law of Moses, occupied a position to the south of Arad, in
Idumsean territory.* These heterogeneous elements existed alongside each
other for a long time without intermingling; they combined, however, now
and again to act against a common foe, for we know that the people
of Judah aided the tribe of Simeon in the reduction of the city of
Zephath;** but they followed an independent course for the most part,
and their isolation prevented their obtaining, for a lengthened period,
any extension of territory.

* The father-in-law of Moses is called Jethro in Exod. iii.
1, iv. 19, but Raguel in Exod. ii. 18-22. Hobab is the son
of Raguel, Numb. x. 29.

** Judges i. 17, where Zephath is the better reading, and
not Arad, as has been suggested.

They failed, as at first, in their attempts to subjugate the province of
Arad, and in their efforts to capture the fortresses which guarded
the caravan routes between Ashdod and the mouth of the J