In the Joseph story in Genesis 37-50, Judah emerges as the leader among the sons of Jacob. At the climax of the story in Genesis 44:18-34, Judah serves as spokesman for the sons of Jacob. He gives an impassioned speech before Joseph, offering to take Benjamin's place as a slave in Egypt. In his book on Joseph, John Lennox has called it "one of the greatest and most moving speeches in all literature."
Judah's speech showed Joseph that his brothers had come to repentance. When given every incentive to abandon Benjamin in Egypt, they refused to do so. It was then the right time for Joseph to reveal himself to his brothers.
The tribe of Judah would prove to be a leader among the tribes of Israel. One example is in the conquest of Canaan. When it came time for land to be allotted to the tribes, Caleb stepped forward and asked for Hebron, a place he had visited over 45 years before and had believed ever since that God could help him take (Jos 14:6-15).
His request was granted, and he did indeed take the lead in capturing his allotted portion of land (Jos 15:13-19). In this he was aided by his younger brother Othniel, who led in taking Kiriath-sepher, which was apparently a special challenge.
Kiriath-sepher means "city of the book." A midrash based on this name proposes that Othniel was also one who captured wisdom from God's book. Nechama Price, in her book Tribal Blueprints, explains that according to this tradition, Othniel was "able to learn 1700 Torah secrets that were forgotten during the mourning period for Moshe." It is also proposed that the descendants of Jethro moved to the territory of Judah (Jdg 1:16) to learn this wisdom.
At any rate, Othniel went on to be a judge of Israel who delivered the nation from a Mesopotamian oppressor (Jdg 3:7-11).
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