This is one of the shortest books in the Bible, so provides a nice contrast to Isaiah!
Jude is another form of the name Judas, which was a fairly common name at the time. Obviously Judas Iscariot is the most infamous bearer of the name, but another of the twelve was called Judas (Luke 6:16, Acts 1:13), as was one of the Lord's brothers (Matt 13:55, Mark 6:3).
Jesus' brother is thought to be the most likely candidate for being the author of this short letter. This is further supported by Jude identifying himself as the brother of James in v1.
Interestingly, neither James nor Jude referred to themselves as Jesus' brother, though others did (Matt 13:55, John 7:3-10, Acts 1:14, 1 Cor 9:5, Gal 1:19). They sought no special privilege form this familial relationship, seeing themselves more as servants of the Lord.
The letter is dated variously between 65 and 80 AD, depending largely whether one sees 2 Peter as being dependent upon Jude, or vice versa.
The primary purpose of the letter was to counter false teaching that was leading to immoral behaviour. Jude warns the church to be on its guard, both against the teaching and the teachers.
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