Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
Encyclopedia
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a constituent of the apocrypha
l scriptures connected with the Bible
. It is a pseudepigraphical work comprising the dying commands of the twelve sons of Jacob
. It is part of the Oscan Armenian Orthodox Bible of 1666. Fragments of similar writings were found at Qumran
, but opinions are divided as to whether these are the same texts. It is considered Apocalyptic literature
.
The Testaments were written in Greek, and reached their final form in the 2nd century CE. In the 13th century they were introduced into the West through the agency of Robert Grosseteste
, Bishop of Lincoln
, whose Latin translation of the work immediately became popular. He believed that it was a genuine work of the twelve sons of Jacob, and that the Christian interpolations were a genuine product of Jewish prophecy; he accused Jews of concealing the Testaments "on account of the prophecies of the Saviour contained in them."
With the critical methods of the 16th century, Grosseteste's view of the Testaments was rejected, and the book was disparaged as a mere Christian forgery for nearly four centuries. Presently, scholarly opinions are still divided as to whether the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is an originally Jewish document that has been retouched by Christians, or a Christian document written originally in Greek but based on some earlier Semitic-language material. Scholarship tends to focus on this book as a Christian work, whether or not it has a Jewish predecessor (Vorlage).
A copy of the testaments is published in The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden
.
Another theme that has been extensively discussed by Hollander is the role that Joseph plays in the ethics. He is often the example of an ethical man, and the deeds of the patriarchs are often weighed against those of Joseph.
, who studied and translated the Testaments in the beginning of the 20th century,
He writes that the Testaments help to "bridge the chasm that divides the ethics of the Old and New Testaments." To a modern reader, the main value of the Testaments, is not in the ranting variations on biblical text, but in their ethical teachings, as amplified by the following citations:
and Jewish tradition. Next he exhorts his listeners to emulate the one and to avoid the other. Most of the books conclude with prophetic visions.
, and the sinfulness of Reuben
in his having had sex
with Bilhah
, a concubine of his father. It is likely that the author wished to cover the topic of fornication
anyway, and assigned it for Reuben to discuss due to Reuben's relationship with Bilhah being recounted in the canonical Bible.
The Testament adds that Reuben spies Bilhah as she bathes in secret; and that when she later becomes drunk, Reuben rapes her. That trope derives from a reading of Genesis 49:4, "wanton as water", as "wanton in water", taken from the Book of Jubilees. This theme is also in 2 Samuel 11:2's account of David
and Bathsheba
.
The Testament portrays women as the cause of the downfall of the Watchers
, and of man in general (excepting Bilhah, in accordance with Jubilees). Joseph is on the other hand portrayed as the ideal, for his resistance against Potiphar's wife
.
. In the Genesis narrative, Simeon
is portrayed as having been bound in chains by Joseph
, and the author of the Testament argues that Simeon had wanted to kill Joseph due to jealousy, allowing the Testament to continue with a discourse about envy. The narrative of the Testament explains that it was Judah who had sold Joseph into slavery, and goes on to portray Joseph as the ideal of virtue and generosity.
The Testament 5:4-6 in an aside attacks Simeon's children for the sin of miscegenation
, Numbers 25. It does not mention the attack on Shechem, which in the Torah Simeon had mounted alongside brother Levi. Instead it posits that Simeon made war against Levi. Kugel concludes that the Testament agreed with Jubilees 30:23 in that the attack on Shechem was "righteous", and so the Testament suppressed the account to deny Simeon credit.
section. It is one of the longest of the Testaments, and is predominantly concerned with arrogance. Taking the theme of the Levite priesthood, the Testament explains how Levi
's descendants corrupted the office by their arrogant disregard for the proper regulations.
Chapter 2-8 involves Levi being taken to heaven and promised the priesthood forever, and then seven angels physically give him the insignia of the priesthood (as described in Exodus). This part parallels the beginning and end of a vision in the Aramaic Levi Document, whence the body of the vision is now lost; and is thought to preserve that part of the text.
In chapters 14-18 Levi cites a "book of Enoch", describing the sins of his descendants, with the promise that at the end there will be a glorious priest who will restore the righteousness of his office. The tropes of Levi's "Book" match those of the "Apocalypse of Weeks" in 1 Enoch.
The Testament has an account of the raid on Shechem. Its take is that Jacob proposed a marriage between Shechem and Dinah, sincerely offering Shechem the option of circumcision. Levi opposed the circumcision from the start. Unlike Jubilees and, if Kugel is right, the Testament of Simeon: to the Testament of Levi, intermarriage is lawful in principle between Israelites and converts. Shechem was excluded for its other crimes.
. These footnotes were found to be translated from a non-apocalyptic precursor of the text in Aramaic, partially preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls
. The find consisted of six fragments in two manuscripts from cave 4 (4Q213-214). A small related fragment was also found in cave 1 (1Q21). According to some sources, these scrolls were dated by the Oriental Institute
to between 100-200 BC using Radiocarbon dating
.
According to James Kugel at Bar-Ilan University
, Aramaic Levi is a composite of two documents. One source was "a wisdom apocalypse derived from the exegetical elaboration of Malachi 2:4-7". The other, based on the same exegesis, "described Levi's actual initiation into the priesthood by angels". The narrative frame is based from the Book of Jubilees. The compiler of Aramaic Levi added that the priests would be kings. It is a Hasmonean compilation, 133-100 BCE.
, monetary greed, and fornication
. It begins by portraying Judah
as idealistically courageous, involving bravery in front of wild beasts, as well as successful military expeditions, sometimes basing the narrative on acts that the canonical bible attributes to Jacob. However, it goes on to present a xenophobic
focus, criticising his marriage to a non-Israelite, as well as his sexual activity with Tamar, his daughter-in-law who at that time was pretending to be a prostitute.
The narrative argues that Judah had sex with Tamar and his wife due to drunkenness, and that he bribed his wife's father in order to be allowed to marry her. It then goes on to instruct that the role of a king is lesser than that of a priest, and that Levi is more important, clearly pointing to the theocratic
attitude of the author.
, which the text portrays as virtuous
. The narrative however begins by retelling the biblical tale of Leah
's purchase of Jacob
's nocturnal services by the giving of mandrake
s to Rachel
. Rachel is portrayed as virtuous for being more celibate than the randy Leah.
The remainder of the narrative portrays Issachar
himself as leading a godly and simple agricultural life. This is based on Genesis 49:14-15: Issachar had loved the land such that he "bent his shoulder to the burden" and became a tiller for hire. The same exegesis is at work in the Septuagint and Samaritan Targum of Genesis.
"The copy of the words of Zebulun, which he enjoyed on his sons before he died in the hundred and fourteenth year of his life, two years after the death of Joseph.
2 And he said to them:
Hearken to me, ye sons of Zebulun, attend to the words of your father.
3 I, Zebulun, was born a good gift to my parents.
4 For when I was born my father was increased very exceedingly, both in the flocks and herds, when with the straked rods he had his portion.
5 I am not conscious that I have sinned all my days, save in thought.
6 Nor yet do I remember that I have done any iniquity, except the sin of ignorance which I committed against Joseph; for I covenanted with my brethren, because they had all agreed that if any one should declare the secret, the secret, he should be slain."
Dan first explains his feelings of jealousy towards his brother Joseph. The spirit of anger tempted him towards murdering Joseph. Fortunately, the Lord did not deliver Joseph into Dan's hands.
Dan then goes on to explain how the spirit of anger works. It covers your eyes, and distorts your vision. Through this you do not recognise people for who they really are. In the case of Joseph, Dan speaks from experience. Furthermore, it disturbs the mind so that the Lord departs from it and Beliar inhabits it.
Therefore, Dan's children should keep the commandments of the Lord, and stay near to the Lord. Dan goes into more depth through a prediction about the future, including one SER (Sin-Exile-Return) and three LJ (Levi-Judah) passages. In this Dan talks of a saviour arrising from Levi and Judah that will set the souls free from Beliar.
Again, Dan reminds his sons to stay near to God, and also to his interceding angel, and the saviour of the Gentiles. If they listen to Dan's warning, then his children will be received by the saviour of the Gentiles and be saved.
The testament ends with an apparent gloss (inasmuch as one can speak of a gloss in a pseudepigraph), which points out that the prophecies of Dan did indeed happen.
among the Dead Sea Scrolls
taken from Cave 4 (4Q215).
It is regarding the subject of the two ways to live. The main appeal in Asher is to follow truth with singleness of face.
, and seems heavily to be based on Joseph
's resistance against Potiphar's wife
that the canonical bible portrays. The narrative contains a large expansion on the attempts of Potiphar's wife to seduce Joseph, portraying her as first threatening Joseph, then employing torture, then flattering Joseph, then plotting to kill her husband so that Joseph would be able to marry her without bigamy
, then using love potions, and finally threatening suicide.
concerning the coming of the Messiah
. From a Christian
perspective, a number of statements can be associated with events in the life of Jesus
. Many consider this significant since several of the books are thought to predate Jesus
. This opinion, first propagated by Bacon in his Opus Majus
, is hardly defended in modern scholarship, where all passages that clearly refer to Jesus, are either considered Christian interpolations (by those who consider the author to be Jewish) or Christian writings (by those who consider the author to be Christian).
For example, compare the following passages from the Testament of Levi:
with this passage from the Gospel of Matthew
called attention to the frequent use of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs by Paul and other writers of the New Testament. In particular:
Later scholarship has highly debated this issue.
Apocrypha
The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....
l scriptures connected with the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. It is a pseudepigraphical work comprising the dying commands of the twelve sons of Jacob
Jacob
Jacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
. It is part of the Oscan Armenian Orthodox Bible of 1666. Fragments of similar writings were found at Qumran
Qumran
Qumran is an archaeological site in the West Bank. It is located on a dry plateau about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli settlement and kibbutz of Kalia...
, but opinions are divided as to whether these are the same texts. It is considered Apocalyptic literature
Apocalyptic literature
Apocalyptic literature is a genre of prophetical writing that developed in post-Exilic Jewish culture and was popular among millennialist early Christians....
.
The Testaments were written in Greek, and reached their final form in the 2nd century CE. In the 13th century they were introduced into the West through the agency of Robert Grosseteste
Robert Grosseteste
Robert Grosseteste or Grossetete was an English statesman, scholastic philosopher, theologian and Bishop of Lincoln. He was born of humble parents at Stradbroke in Suffolk. A.C...
, Bishop of Lincoln
Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...
, whose Latin translation of the work immediately became popular. He believed that it was a genuine work of the twelve sons of Jacob, and that the Christian interpolations were a genuine product of Jewish prophecy; he accused Jews of concealing the Testaments "on account of the prophecies of the Saviour contained in them."
With the critical methods of the 16th century, Grosseteste's view of the Testaments was rejected, and the book was disparaged as a mere Christian forgery for nearly four centuries. Presently, scholarly opinions are still divided as to whether the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is an originally Jewish document that has been retouched by Christians, or a Christian document written originally in Greek but based on some earlier Semitic-language material. Scholarship tends to focus on this book as a Christian work, whether or not it has a Jewish predecessor (Vorlage).
A copy of the testaments is published in The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden
The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden
The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden is a collection of 17th Century and 18th Century English translations of some Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and New Testament Apocrypha which were assembled in the 1820s, and then republished with the current title in 1926.-History of the...
.
Ethics
Testaments are regarded as exhortatory writings; ethics therefore are fundamental to the text. The Testaments have many different ethical motifs, the foremost of which is adhering to God's commandments. In this regard, it is interesting to note that the ethics in the Testaments generally start out very precise; each testament discusses a certain vice or virtue. Usually this is then concluded with a very vague and general reference to God's law and commandments.Another theme that has been extensively discussed by Hollander is the role that Joseph plays in the ethics. He is often the example of an ethical man, and the deeds of the patriarchs are often weighed against those of Joseph.
Charles's View on Ethics
As argued by Robert Henry CharlesRobert Henry Charles
Robert Henry Charles was an English biblical scholar and theologian. He is known particularly for English translations of apocryphal and pseudepigraphal works, and editions including Jubilees , the Book of Enoch , and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs which have been widely used.He was...
, who studied and translated the Testaments in the beginning of the 20th century,
the main, the overwhelming value of the book lies ... in its ethical teaching, which has achieved a real immortality by influencing the thoughts and diction of the writers of the New Testament, and even those of our Lord.
He writes that the Testaments help to "bridge the chasm that divides the ethics of the Old and New Testaments." To a modern reader, the main value of the Testaments, is not in the ranting variations on biblical text, but in their ethical teachings, as amplified by the following citations:
- Love the Lord through all your life, and one another with a true heart
- Love yea one another from the heart; and if a man sin against thee, speak peacefully to him, and in thy soul hold not guile; and if he repent and confess, forgive him. But if he deny it, do not get into a passion with him, lest catching the poison from thee he take to swearing, and so then sin doubly …
- Love the Lord and your neighbor.
- Anger is blindness, and does not suffer to see any man with truth
- Hatred, therefore is evil; etc.
(from The Apocrypha in English. Edited by Rev. R. H. Charles.)
Summary
The work is divided into twelve books, each purporting to be the last exhortations of one of the twelve titular patriarchs. In each, the patriarch first narrates his own life, focusing on his strengths, virtues, or his sins, using biographical material from both the Hebrew BibleHebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
and Jewish tradition. Next he exhorts his listeners to emulate the one and to avoid the other. Most of the books conclude with prophetic visions.
Reuben
The Testament of Reuben is predominantly concerned with admonishing lustLust
Lust is an emotional force that is directly associated with the thinking or fantasizing about one's desire, usually in a sexual way.-Etymology:The word lust is phonetically similar to the ancient Roman lustrum, which literally meant "purification"...
, and the sinfulness of Reuben
Reuben (Bible)
According to the Book of Genesis, Reuben or Re'uven was the first and eldest son of Jacob with Leah. He was the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Reuben.-Etymology:...
in his having had sex
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
with Bilhah
Bilhah
In the Book of Genesis, Bilhah is Rachel's handmaid who becomes a wife of Jacob and bears him two sons, Dan and Naphtali....
, a concubine of his father. It is likely that the author wished to cover the topic of fornication
Fornication
Fornication typically refers to consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other. For many people, the term carries a moral or religious association, but the significance of sexual acts to which the term is applied varies between religions, societies and cultures. The...
anyway, and assigned it for Reuben to discuss due to Reuben's relationship with Bilhah being recounted in the canonical Bible.
The Testament adds that Reuben spies Bilhah as she bathes in secret; and that when she later becomes drunk, Reuben rapes her. That trope derives from a reading of Genesis 49:4, "wanton as water", as "wanton in water", taken from the Book of Jubilees. This theme is also in 2 Samuel 11:2's account of David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
and Bathsheba
Bathsheba
According to the Hebrew Bible, Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. She is most known for the Bible story in which King David seduced her....
.
The Testament portrays women as the cause of the downfall of the Watchers
Grigori
The Watchers is a term found in the Old Testament Book of Daniel, and later sources, which is connected to angels...
, and of man in general (excepting Bilhah, in accordance with Jubilees). Joseph is on the other hand portrayed as the ideal, for his resistance against Potiphar's wife
Potiphar's Wife
Potiphar's Wife is a 1931 British romance film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Nora Swinburne, Laurence Olivier and Guy Newall. It is also known as Her Strange Desire. It was based on a play by Edgar C...
.
Simeon
The Testament of Simeon is primarily a diatribe against envyEnvy
Envy is best defined as a resentful emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another's superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it."...
. In the Genesis narrative, Simeon
Simeon (Hebrew Bible)
According to the Book of Genesis, Simeon was, the second son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Simeon. However, some Biblical scholars view this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an etiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite...
is portrayed as having been bound in chains by Joseph
Joseph (Hebrew Bible)
Joseph is an important character in the Hebrew bible, where he connects the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan to the subsequent story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt....
, and the author of the Testament argues that Simeon had wanted to kill Joseph due to jealousy, allowing the Testament to continue with a discourse about envy. The narrative of the Testament explains that it was Judah who had sold Joseph into slavery, and goes on to portray Joseph as the ideal of virtue and generosity.
The Testament 5:4-6 in an aside attacks Simeon's children for the sin of miscegenation
Miscegenation
Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
, Numbers 25. It does not mention the attack on Shechem, which in the Torah Simeon had mounted alongside brother Levi. Instead it posits that Simeon made war against Levi. Kugel concludes that the Testament agreed with Jubilees 30:23 in that the attack on Shechem was "righteous", and so the Testament suppressed the account to deny Simeon credit.
Levi
The Testament of Levi is an apocalypticApocalyptic literature
Apocalyptic literature is a genre of prophetical writing that developed in post-Exilic Jewish culture and was popular among millennialist early Christians....
section. It is one of the longest of the Testaments, and is predominantly concerned with arrogance. Taking the theme of the Levite priesthood, the Testament explains how Levi
Levi
Levi/Levy was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi ; however Peake's commentary suggests this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite...
's descendants corrupted the office by their arrogant disregard for the proper regulations.
Chapter 2-8 involves Levi being taken to heaven and promised the priesthood forever, and then seven angels physically give him the insignia of the priesthood (as described in Exodus). This part parallels the beginning and end of a vision in the Aramaic Levi Document, whence the body of the vision is now lost; and is thought to preserve that part of the text.
In chapters 14-18 Levi cites a "book of Enoch", describing the sins of his descendants, with the promise that at the end there will be a glorious priest who will restore the righteousness of his office. The tropes of Levi's "Book" match those of the "Apocalypse of Weeks" in 1 Enoch.
The Testament has an account of the raid on Shechem. Its take is that Jacob proposed a marriage between Shechem and Dinah, sincerely offering Shechem the option of circumcision. Levi opposed the circumcision from the start. Unlike Jubilees and, if Kugel is right, the Testament of Simeon: to the Testament of Levi, intermarriage is lawful in principle between Israelites and converts. Shechem was excluded for its other crimes.
Aramaic Levi Document
One way in which this testament is distinguished from the others is by additional footnotes in a Greek version of the manuscript from Mount AthosMount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
. These footnotes were found to be translated from a non-apocalyptic precursor of the text in Aramaic, partially preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dead Sea scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...
. The find consisted of six fragments in two manuscripts from cave 4 (4Q213-214). A small related fragment was also found in cave 1 (1Q21). According to some sources, these scrolls were dated by the Oriental Institute
Oriental Institute
Oriental Institute may refer to a number of institutes of Oriental studies:United States* Oriental Institute, Chicago, part of the University of ChicagoEngland* Oriental Institute, Oxford, part of the University of Oxford...
to between 100-200 BC using Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...
.
According to James Kugel at Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University is a university in Ramat Gan of the Tel Aviv District, Israel.Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is now Israel's second-largest academic institution. It has nearly 26,800 students and 1,350 faculty members...
, Aramaic Levi is a composite of two documents. One source was "a wisdom apocalypse derived from the exegetical elaboration of Malachi 2:4-7". The other, based on the same exegesis, "described Levi's actual initiation into the priesthood by angels". The narrative frame is based from the Book of Jubilees. The compiler of Aramaic Levi added that the priests would be kings. It is a Hasmonean compilation, 133-100 BCE.
Judah
The Testament of Judah is primarily concerned with courageCourage
Courage is the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation...
, monetary greed, and fornication
Fornication
Fornication typically refers to consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other. For many people, the term carries a moral or religious association, but the significance of sexual acts to which the term is applied varies between religions, societies and cultures. The...
. It begins by portraying Judah
Judah (Biblical figure)
Judah was, according to the Book of Genesis, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Judah. Biblical scholars, such as J. A...
as idealistically courageous, involving bravery in front of wild beasts, as well as successful military expeditions, sometimes basing the narrative on acts that the canonical bible attributes to Jacob. However, it goes on to present a xenophobic
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
focus, criticising his marriage to a non-Israelite, as well as his sexual activity with Tamar, his daughter-in-law who at that time was pretending to be a prostitute.
The narrative argues that Judah had sex with Tamar and his wife due to drunkenness, and that he bribed his wife's father in order to be allowed to marry her. It then goes on to instruct that the role of a king is lesser than that of a priest, and that Levi is more important, clearly pointing to the theocratic
Theocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
attitude of the author.
Issachar
The Testament of Issachar predominantly concerns asceticismAsceticism
Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals...
, which the text portrays as virtuous
Virtue
Virtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a positive trait or quality subjectively deemed to be morally excellent and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being....
. The narrative however begins by retelling the biblical tale of Leah
Leah
Leah , as described in the Hebrew Bible, is the first of the two concurrent wives of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob and mother of six of sons whose descendants became the Twelve Tribes of Israel, along with at least one daughter, Dinah. She is the daughter of Laban and the older sister of Rachel, whom...
's purchase of Jacob
Jacob
Jacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
's nocturnal services by the giving of mandrake
Mandrake (plant)
Mandrake is the common name for members of the plant genus Mandragora, particularly the species Mandragora officinarum, belonging to the nightshades family...
s to Rachel
Rachel
Rachel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, is a prophet and the favorite wife of Jacob, one of the three Biblical Patriarchs, and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. She was the daughter of Laban and the younger sister of Leah, Jacob's first wife...
. Rachel is portrayed as virtuous for being more celibate than the randy Leah.
The remainder of the narrative portrays Issachar
Issachar
Issachar/Yissachar was, according to the Book of Genesis, a son of Jacob and Leah , and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Issachar; however some Biblical scholars view this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite...
himself as leading a godly and simple agricultural life. This is based on Genesis 49:14-15: Issachar had loved the land such that he "bent his shoulder to the burden" and became a tiller for hire. The same exegesis is at work in the Septuagint and Samaritan Targum of Genesis.
Zebulun
Zebulun was the sixth son of Leah and Jacob. He is described as an inventor and philanthropist and the text relates what he learned as a result of the plot against Joseph."The copy of the words of Zebulun, which he enjoyed on his sons before he died in the hundred and fourteenth year of his life, two years after the death of Joseph.
2 And he said to them:
Hearken to me, ye sons of Zebulun, attend to the words of your father.
3 I, Zebulun, was born a good gift to my parents.
4 For when I was born my father was increased very exceedingly, both in the flocks and herds, when with the straked rods he had his portion.
5 I am not conscious that I have sinned all my days, save in thought.
6 Nor yet do I remember that I have done any iniquity, except the sin of ignorance which I committed against Joseph; for I covenanted with my brethren, because they had all agreed that if any one should declare the secret, the secret, he should be slain."
Dan
The Testament of Dan treats the topics of anger and lying. The main vice, however, is anger.Dan first explains his feelings of jealousy towards his brother Joseph. The spirit of anger tempted him towards murdering Joseph. Fortunately, the Lord did not deliver Joseph into Dan's hands.
Dan then goes on to explain how the spirit of anger works. It covers your eyes, and distorts your vision. Through this you do not recognise people for who they really are. In the case of Joseph, Dan speaks from experience. Furthermore, it disturbs the mind so that the Lord departs from it and Beliar inhabits it.
Therefore, Dan's children should keep the commandments of the Lord, and stay near to the Lord. Dan goes into more depth through a prediction about the future, including one SER (Sin-Exile-Return) and three LJ (Levi-Judah) passages. In this Dan talks of a saviour arrising from Levi and Judah that will set the souls free from Beliar.
Again, Dan reminds his sons to stay near to God, and also to his interceding angel, and the saviour of the Gentiles. If they listen to Dan's warning, then his children will be received by the saviour of the Gentiles and be saved.
The testament ends with an apparent gloss (inasmuch as one can speak of a gloss in a pseudepigraph), which points out that the prophecies of Dan did indeed happen.
Naphtali
A copy of the Testament of Naphtali was discovered at QumranQumran
Qumran is an archaeological site in the West Bank. It is located on a dry plateau about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli settlement and kibbutz of Kalia...
among the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dead Sea scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...
taken from Cave 4 (4Q215).
Asher
The Testament of Asher is the shortest of the twelve and unlike the others does not begin with a deathbed scene.It is regarding the subject of the two ways to live. The main appeal in Asher is to follow truth with singleness of face.
Joseph
The Testament of Joseph primarily concerns ChastityChastity
Chastity refers to the sexual behavior of a man or woman acceptable to the moral standards and guidelines of a culture, civilization, or religion....
, and seems heavily to be based on Joseph
Joseph (Hebrew Bible)
Joseph is an important character in the Hebrew bible, where he connects the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan to the subsequent story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt....
's resistance against Potiphar's wife
Potiphar's Wife
Potiphar's Wife is a 1931 British romance film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Nora Swinburne, Laurence Olivier and Guy Newall. It is also known as Her Strange Desire. It was based on a play by Edgar C...
that the canonical bible portrays. The narrative contains a large expansion on the attempts of Potiphar's wife to seduce Joseph, portraying her as first threatening Joseph, then employing torture, then flattering Joseph, then plotting to kill her husband so that Joseph would be able to marry her without bigamy
Bigamy
In cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other...
, then using love potions, and finally threatening suicide.
Prophecy
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs contain a substantial amount of prophecyProphecy
Prophecy is a process in which one or more messages that have been communicated to a prophet are then communicated to others. Such messages typically involve divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of conditioned events to come as well as testimonies or repeated revelations that the...
concerning the coming of the Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
. From a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
perspective, a number of statements can be associated with events in the life of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. Many consider this significant since several of the books are thought to predate Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. This opinion, first propagated by Bacon in his Opus Majus
Opus Majus
The Opus Majus is the most important work of Roger Bacon. It was written in Medieval Latin, at the request of Pope Clement IV, to explain the work that Bacon had undertaken. The 840-page treatise ranges over all aspects of natural science, from grammar and logic to mathematics, physics, and...
, is hardly defended in modern scholarship, where all passages that clearly refer to Jesus, are either considered Christian interpolations (by those who consider the author to be Jewish) or Christian writings (by those who consider the author to be Christian).
For example, compare the following passages from the Testament of Levi:
The heavens shall be opened, and from the temple of glory shall come upon him sanctification, with the Father's voice as from Abraham to Isaac. And the glory of the Most High shall be uttered over him, and the spirit of understanding and sanctification shall rest upon him in the water.(Levi 5:21-22)
with this passage from the Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."
Use of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs in the New Testament
RH CharlesRobert Henry Charles
Robert Henry Charles was an English biblical scholar and theologian. He is known particularly for English translations of apocryphal and pseudepigraphal works, and editions including Jubilees , the Book of Enoch , and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs which have been widely used.He was...
called attention to the frequent use of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs by Paul and other writers of the New Testament. In particular:
- I Thess. ii. 16 is a quotation of Test. Patr., Levi, 6:10;
- Rom. 12:19 is taken from Gad, 6:10;
- Rom. 12:21 is taken from Benjamin, 6:3;
- II Cor. 12:10 is a quote from Gad, 5:7;
- Ephes. 5:6 appeared first in Naphtali, 3:1.
Later scholarship has highly debated this issue.
Works cited
- Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs in the 1911 Encyclopædia BritannicaEncyclopædia BritannicaThe Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
- Robert Henry CharlesRobert Henry CharlesRobert Henry Charles was an English biblical scholar and theologian. He is known particularly for English translations of apocryphal and pseudepigraphal works, and editions including Jubilees , the Book of Enoch , and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs which have been widely used.He was...
. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, with introduction, notes, and indices. London. Adam and Charles Black. 1908.