<Li> The wilderness--the barren region immediately next to the Dead Sea, and below sea level; it was wild, and barely inhabitable, to the extent that animals and people which were made unwelcome elsewhere, such as bears, leopards, and outlaws, made it their home . In biblical times, this region was further subdivided into three sections--the wilderness of En Gedi (1 Samuel 24: 1), the wilderness of Judah (Judges 1: 16), and the wilderness of Maon (1 Samuel 23: 24). </Li> <Li> The hill country--the elevated plateau situated between the Shephelah and the wilderness, with rocky slopes but very fertile soil . This region was used for the production of grain, olives, grapes, and other fruit, and hence produced oil and wine . </Li> <P> According to the Torah, the tribe consisted of descendants of Judah, the fourth son of Jacob and of Leah . Some Biblical scholars view this as an etiological myth created in hindsight to explain the tribe's name and connect it to the other tribes in the Israelite confederation . With Leah as a matriarch, Biblical scholars regard the tribe as having been believed by the text's authors to have been part of the original Israelite confederation . </P> <P> Like the other tribes of the kingdom of Judah, the tribe of Judah is entirely absent from the ancient Song of Deborah, rather than present but described as unwilling to assist in the battle between Israelites and their enemy . Traditionally, this has been explained as being due to the southern kingdom being too far away to be involved in the battle, but Israel Finkelstein et al. claim the alternative explanation that the southern kingdom was simply an insignificant rural backwater at the time the poem was written . </P>

What is the tribe of judah in the bible