{"id":2150,"date":"2019-05-28T14:02:34","date_gmt":"2019-05-28T12:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buch.jehovah-shammah.de\/?p=2150"},"modified":"2019-05-28T14:02:49","modified_gmt":"2019-05-28T12:02:49","slug":"outside-the-bible-commentary-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/buch.jehovah-shammah.de\/index.php\/2019\/05\/28\/outside-the-bible-commentary-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Outside the Bible Commentary – 20"},"content":{"rendered":"

6:1 Most mss. read: \u201cafter seven months,\u201d but some have \u201cseven days,\u201d which seems more likely.
\nstanding on [the shore of] the sea of Jamnia Biblical Jamnia (Jabneh) is not itself on the sea, but it had an associated seaport, called in Heb. yabneh yam. It seems odd that our text should specify the name of this port since it has no particular significance in context.
\n6:2. without sailors or a captain, and the ship was inscribed \u201cship of Jacob\u201d Some mss. have \u201cfull of salt fish,\u201d and to some it might seem altogether fitting that the Good Ship Jacob should be carrying herring. But as M. Gaster pointed out long ago, this is another case of double translation, the result of a reading error: the original Heb. had belo\u2019 mallahim (\u201cwithout sailors,\u201d in Heb. letters bl\u2019 mlhym), which the scribe first misread as male\u2019 meluhim \u201cfull of salted [things],\u201d (in Heb. only the first letter is different), then corrected the text without erasing his error.
\n6:4. flew off from us Charles conjectured that Heb. va-yit\u2019allem mimmenu was mistaken for va-yit\u2019alah mimmenu, rendered as \u201cflew off from us.\u201d
\n6:6. Joseph fled on a dinghy The significance of this assertion is unclear. If it is an allusion to the conquest of the northern tribes by the Assyrians and their subsequent exile from the land, then surely it was not \u201cJoseph\u201d alone who was separated from Levi and Judah, but all the other tribes. This seems to parallel the inconsistency seen earlier (above on 5:6), where \u201cJoseph\u201d apparently symbolizes all the northern tribes while the other tribes are nonetheless present. Some have therefore concluded that both are a polemical jab aimed at the Samaritans (who lived in the north during Second Temple times and identified themselves with Joseph).
\non ten planks Some mss.: \u201cnine planks,\u201d which makes sense if Judah and Levi are together on one plank and Joseph has gone off in a dinghy, leaving nine other brothers to be accounted for. But \u201cten\u201d would be correct if the puzzling words \u201cAnd Joseph fled in a dinghy\u201d were in fact not part of the original text.
\n6:8\u201310 These verses do not fit with the foregoing ones: verse 7 ends with the assertion that \u201cwe were all scattered to the ends [of the earth],\u201d and yet in this section the brothers are still bobbing in the middle of the sea, and eventually all of them, save for Joseph, reach land together. In addition, one must ask how Levi acquired sack-cloth in the middle of the sea. It would seem that Gk. periball\u014d is the source of the confusion. This word can mean \u201csurround,\u201d hence also to be surrounded by (i.e., to put on) an article of clothing; but it can also mean to be \u201ccast about.\u201d The latter seems much more likely in context: Levi, while being cast about, prayed to God on everyone\u2019s behalf. A Greek scribe, mistaking this word for \u201cdressed,\u201d then supplied an article of clothing\u2014sackcloth\u2014as the appropriate garb for a penitential prayer.
\n6:9. and the hull reached shore The ship had been destroyed (6:5), but its hull apparently remained intact; perhaps the \u201cnine\/ten planks\u201d were sticking out from different parts of it.
\nin peace That is, \u201csafely\u201d (Heb. beshalom). \u201cJacob our father\u201d comes back: the ultimate happy ending, all the tribes reunited with their ancestor after the ingathering of the exiles.
\n7:1. after Israel has suffered many things It is clear that Jacob here is reacting only to Naphtali\u2019s second vision in chapter 6 (plus, perhaps, v. 5:8, the separate mini-vision); he has nothing to say about Levi\u2019s and Judah\u2019s elevation. Perhaps that first vision was not part of the original text, but added in the Levi-Judah stage of the text\u2019s development (see \u201cIntroduction\u201d). Having thus given his one-sentence reaction, Jacob then moves on to another subject entirely, his suspicion that Joseph is still alive.
\n7:2. Then my father said to me Here the time frame switches radically: for a brief moment we are back in the biblical story of Joseph and his brothers. The reason for this interlude is unclear, since it breaks the continuity of Naphtali\u2019s vision. God \u201calways numbers\u201d Joseph with the other brothers\u2014perhaps an allusion to Gen. 42:13, though this verse is not spoken by God.
\n8:1. I have shown you later times Now we are back with Naphtali\u2019s vision of the ultimate ingathering of the exiles. The \u201clater times\u201d (Heb. aharit ha-yamim, translated elsewhere as \u201cthe last times\u201d) is not necessarily the eschaton, i.e., the \u201ctime of the end.\u201d
\n8:2. order your sons to be united with Levi and Judah On these Levi-Judah sentiments, see above on 7:1. (This verse ends with a Christian interpolation, which continues on in the next verse as well.)
\n8:4. If you do that which is good \u2026 wild beasts will be afraid of you The wild beasts are a bit of an anticlimax after the Devil; some mss. omit \u201cthe Devil will flee from you\u201d (since \u201cDevil\u201d is in any case inconsistent with the Testaments\u2019 usual \u201cBeliar\u201d). The mention of wild beasts, both here and in v. 6, seems intended to echo the blessing of Noah in Gen. 9:2 (or, in v. 6, the reversal thereof), as well as to evoke the consequence of Israel\u2019s disobedience as mentioned in Lev. 26:22.
\n8:5. if a man raises a child properly A somewhat confusing comparison in Greek. The idea is that, if a man raises a child properly, then \u201che has a good remembrance\u201d (in the sense of a good zekher, a good name), so that every time the child mentions his late father, it will be in praise of him. Likewise, for anyone who begets \u201ca good deed there is a good remembrance (zekher) before God.\u201d This works better in Heb., where ma\u2019aseh means both \u201cdeed\u201d and \u201coffspring.\u201d Thus, the man \u201cbegets a ma\u2019aseh\u201d in the two senses.
\n8:7. For the Torah\u2019s commandments are twofold That is to say, they can not only earn you merits, but also cost you demerits if you fail to perform them properly.
\n8:8. There is a time \u2026 and a time Here Naphtali returns to the theme of a great, divine order in life; the author consciously evokes the great list of opposite times in Eccles. 3:1\u201311.
\n8:9. For the two are commandments Both cohabitation and prayer are divine commandments.
\nbut if they are not done in their orderliness Gk. taxis, here can mean either \u201corder\u201d itself or proper proportion and measure.
\n8:10. So be wise in God An odd formulation. Though unattested in any ms., perhaps something like \u201cbe sages (hakhamim) in God\u2019s Torah\u201d might be supposed, leading easily into the next clause.
\nand the laws of all activities Implying something like the Rabbinic concept of halakhah, the proper application of biblical law\u2014a major concern among all sects in Second Temple Judaism.
\n9:2. And after eating and drinking with them in good humor Not said of all Jacob\u2019s sons, but Naphtali, as a righteous man, deserves a gentle death.<\/full><\/p>\n

The Testament of Gad<\/p>\n

1:1 Gad\u2019s besetting sin is hatred, in particular his hatred of Joseph, as he will recount. For that reason, one verse from the Torah served as a leit-motiv for this entire testament: \u201cYou shall not hate your brother in your heart [that is, you shall not keep your hatred concealed in your heart; instead] you shall openly reprove your fellow, and you shall bear no sin because of him [or it]\u201d (Lev. 19:17). Gad hated Joseph but never reproved him; his failure to confront Joseph is what did him in. For, in fact, he had good reason to be angry at Joseph, as he now recounts.
\n1:3. I used to guard the flocks at night The hardest time to guard, since this is when the beasts of prey are about.
\nI would run after it \u2026 and whirl it around \u2026 and throw it two stadia away about 1300 feet or 400 meters. All this presages not only Gad\u2019s physical size and strength (see also Gen. Rab. 95:4), but his quick temper.
\n1:4. Joseph was shepherding with us As reported in Gen. 37:2, which refers specifically to Jacob\u2019s shepherding with \u201cthe sons of Bilhah and Zilpah\u201d; Gad was a son of Zilpah (Gen. 30:10\u201311).
\nand being [still] tender [of age] Without the brackets, the sentence would simply mean that Joseph was of delicate health\u2014certainly possible. But some mss. have \u201cand being young,\u201d and that seems to be the sense here, since Heb. rakh alone means both \u201ctender\u201d and \u201cyoung\u201d (see 1 Chron. 22:5); the Greek translator mistook the word as being in the former sense rather than latter. After all, Joseph was indeed younger than all his brothers (Gen. 37:3).
\n1:5. and he made him lie down near to him Until he recovered.
\nbecause he loved him Gen. 37:3.
\n1:6. the sons of Zilpah and Bilhah are slaying the best [of the flock] and eating them Testament of Gad here reflects an old midrash (cf. Gen. Rab. 84:7) that seeks to explain Gen. 37:2, \u201cand Joseph brought an evil report of them [the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah] to their father.\u201d If the previous clause mentioned that they had all been shepherding together, it was only logical to presume that the \u201cevil report\u201d concerned the manner of the other sons\u2019 shepherding. Moreover, while an \u201cevil report\u201d could be understood as a report about some evil that was being done, this midrash preferred to construe the phrase as meaning the report itself was evil, that is defective and misleading. Before getting to what was wrong with this report, however, T. Gad specifies that Joseph\u2019s report had added: \u201ccontrary to the opinion of Judah and Reuben.\u201d This is added because, although Gen. 37:2 had mentioned only some of the brothers (the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah), in the next scene, Reuben and Judah are among the shepherds\u2014so they must also have been there as well.
\n1:7. he had seen that I \u2026 slaughtered the lamb \u2026 And [that was what] he said to our father Not the whole story, with its extenuating circumstances (since then, Jacob could hardly blame them for doing what they did), but merely the fact that he saw his brothers eating one of the lambs instead of guarding them. But if Joseph truly had seen the whole incident (as our present text implies, since it starts off: \u201cFor he had seen that I saved a lamb\u201d) but nonetheless omitted telling the circumstances to Jacob, then he is truly evil\u2014which of course no interpreter would wish to imply. Most likely, then, this story has been garbled in transmission: the first sentence should not start \u201cFor he had seen\u201d but simply \u201cFor I had saved a lamb \u2026 and he had seen that we were eating it.\u201d
\n1:8. And I was outraged at Joseph Certainly a natural reaction! Gad had been wrongly accused. But the point was that he maintained that outrage \u201cuntil the day that he [Joseph] was sold\u201d as a slave and was taken down to Egypt. Perhaps if Gad had spoken up and reproved his brother, in keeping with Lev. 19:17, the misunderstanding would have been clarified and his anger would have cooled.
\n1:9. the Spirit of hatred was deep inside me Burrowing away as wicked angels do.
\nand I did not want to see Joseph \u2026 with my ears Certainly the author must have meant that Gad wished neither to see him in person nor hear of him second-hand.
\nfor he had [not] reproved us to our faces, [saying] that except for Judah we were [all] eating the sheep Although all the mss. omit the word \u201cnot,\u201d this is an obvious error. What Gad hated Joseph for was that he had not \u201creproved us to our faces,\u201d as commanded in Lev. 19:17 (a crucial verse for this testament); had he done so, the whole misunderstanding would have been cleared up. Instead, he simply told their father behind their backs.
\n2:1. not a single drop of merciful feeling Lit., \u201cthere was not any liver of mercy in me.\u201d This phrase is omitted or emended (to: \u201cthere was no mercy\u201d) in some mss.; elsewhere in the Testaments (including T. Gad), the liver (Heb. kabed) is the seat of anger, so the assertion here makes little sense. Perhaps the original read: \u201cthere was neither respect (kabod instead of kabed) nor mercy in me.\u201d
\n2:2. I hated him even more for his dreams Gen. 37:8.
\nas an ox licks up the grass of the field An image borrowed from Num. 22:4.
\n2:3. That is why Judah and I sold him to the Ishmaelites Some mss. read \u201cSimeon and I,\u201d but that is unlikely, not only because Simeon\u2019s own testament says that he was away at the time and that it was Judah who made the sale (T. Sim. 2:9), but because that is what the biblical account says: \u201cThen Judah said to his brothers, \u2018What profit is it if we kill our brother and hide his blood? Come let us sell him to the Ishmaelites.\u2019 And his brothers heeded him\u201d (Gen. 37:26\u201327). According to the midrash embedded in T. Gad, the \u201cbrothers\u201d who heeded him consisted principally of Gad\u2014it is he and Judah who did the actual selling. They sold Joseph \u201cfor thirty pieces of gold, and having hidden ten\u201d of them, \u201cthe rest we showed to our brothers\u201d and shared them with them. In Gen. 37:28, Joseph is sold for twenty pieces of silver; by the time the Torah was translated into Greek, however, this was an insufficient price for a slave, so the text was changed to \u201ctwenty pieces of gold.\u201d It is possible that T. Gad augmented this to \u201cthirty pieces of gold\u201d because that was then a more reasonable (or more honorable) price; but if so, then the discrepancy between that and the price reported in the (Greek) version of Gen. 37:28 had to be explained: Simeon and Gad pocketed the ten pieces and told their brothers they had received only twenty.
\n2:4. through greed, we were altogether determined to kill him A strange assertion: if Judah and Gad were \u201caltogether determined\u201d to kill Joseph, why didn\u2019t they\u2014and what did greed have to do with it? What is more, the biblical text makes it clear that Judah was not determined to kill Joseph\u2014it was his suggestion (in part motivated by greed) that Joseph not be killed but sold instead (Gen. 37:26\u201327). Perhaps, then, the underlying text said something like \u201cAnd thus, through greed, we sold him to the Ishmaelites, although I was completely determined to kill him.\u201d
\n2:5. saved him from my hand A Hebraism meaning \u201cfrom me\u201d; for the same expression, see T. Reub. 4:10, T. Sim. 2:8, T. Dan 1:9.
\nlest I commit an outrage in Israel A quote from Josh. 7:15, cf. Gen. 34:7.
\n3:1. to perform righteousness See above on T. Dan 6:10; which is to say, to keep \u201cthe whole Torah of the Most High.\u201d Doing so will protect from the Spirit of hatred, for it \u201cis evil in all the deeds of men\u201d: that is, wherever this Spirit enters into human affairs, evil is always the result.
\n3:2. the hater will despise Here \u201chater\u201d represents Heb. sone, better understood as \u201cenemy.\u201d The sense is thus: whatever you do vis-\u00e0-vis an enemy, he will find fault with it.
\nif he fears the LORD and wishes justice In the sense of \u201cpursues justice\u201d (Deut. 16:20).
\n4:1\u20133 This passage bears a striking resemblance to the interpretation of Lev. 19:17 found in the Damascus Covenant and other Qumran texts. Here, personified hatred \u201cdoes not wish to hear the words of His commandments concerning love of neighbor\u201d (Lev. 19:18, immediately following the interdiction of hating one\u2019s brother).
\nFor if a brother should stumble, it wishes to announce it immediately to everyone Hatred does not take the matter up with the stumbler, but tells it to everyone else, including the authorities, urging that he be put on trial for it and punished and put to death. Cf. CD 9:6\u20138: \u201cIf,\u201d having discovered that his fellow had sinned in some matter, a person \u201cwas silent about it from day to day, but then, when he was angry at him, spoke against him [in the community assembly]\u2014even if it was a capital case,\u201d that is, even if the sin was punishable by death, \u201chis [the offender\u2019s] punishment is to be applied to him [the person who reported it to the assembly], insofar as he did not uphold God\u2019s commandment which had told him, \u2018You shall surely reprove your fellow and [thus] you shall bear no sin because of him\u2019 (Lev. 19:17).\u201d
\nif he should be a slave Since the slave is his master\u2019s property, the master does not need to take him to court as in the previous example; he can punish him on his own initiative. But then Hatred will incite the slave against his master, or may even arrange to have the master kill the slave (which of course is illegal).
\n4:5. he The jealous hater.
\nalways falls ill Sick with jealousy.
\n4:6. so also does hatred seek to kill the living Personified hatred throughout the preceding verses may well be a shorthand reference to the Spirit of hatred, as is made explicit in the next verse.
\n4:7\u20135:1. the Spirit of hatred cooperates with Satan \u2026 Hatred is evil Cf. Jubilees, where Satan is also known as the \u201cAngel of Loathing\u201d (sar ha-mastemah).
\nturns light into darkness, says that sweet is bitter Cf. Isa. 5:20.
\n5:3. Righteousness casts out hatred Once again, Gk. dikaiosun\u0113 (\u201crighteousness\u201d) here may mean \u201ckeeping the Torah\u201d (see above on T. Levi 13:5), just as in 4:7 \u201cGod\u2019s Torah\u201d and love do the opposite of hatred and Satan. Such righteousness \u201ccasts out\u201d hatred like some evil Spirit: Gk. ekballein is the verb regularly used for getting rid of devils (e.g., Mark 3:15; Matt. 10:8, etc.). So here too, \u201chatred\u201d seems to mean the diabolical Spirit of hatred, who is to be cast out of the human being.
\nhumility annihilates hatred Not just casting it out of the victim\u2019s soul, but actually destroying it.
\nFor someone who is righteous and humble \u2026 is reproved not by someone else As enjoined by Lev. 19:17 (see above on 1:1).
\nbut by his own heart \u2026 because the LORD is watching over his disposition This is his yetzer, used in its bib. Heb. meaning of \u201cdisposition\u201d (see on T. Dan 4:1\u20132); the person\u2019s \u201cheart\u201d (part of his inner disposition), will turn the righteous and humble person back to the proper path without his needing to be reproved by some outsider, since God is watching over him (Heb. shamar al, which is used only in the positive sense of \u201cguard\u201d).
\n5:4. He speaks ill of no man Behind that man\u2019s back, even if it is someone he might hate, \u201csince the fear of the Most High conquers hatred.\u201d By contrast, slander inevitably accompanies hatred. \u201cHe who hides his hatred has lying lips\u201d (Prov. 10:18), that is, the hater is hypocritical in the presence of his enemy; as soon as the enemy is gone, however, he speaks ill of him, so that \u201che who slanders is a fool\u201d (continuation of Prov. 10:18).
\n5:7. true repentance [that is done] in accord with God[\u2018s will] destroys ignorance It was only after Gad had repented of his sins that he began to understand how harmful hatred is. Repentance was a central value of Rabbinic Judaism, though it was far less of a focus of Judaism in earlier periods. A crucial biblical verse in the service of this idea was Ezek. 18:23, \u201cHave I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the LORD God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?\u201d
\n5:9\u201311. a disease of the liver In ancient Greek medicine, the liver, because it produces bile, was associated with an aggressive temperament, termed choleric.
\nwere it not for the prayers of my father Jacob, my spirit might almost have left me Modeled on T. Reub. 1:7, 4:4; cf. T. Jud. 19:2. Why \u201calmost\u201d? This seems to represent a translator\u2019s confusion of the two senses of kim\u2019at in bib. Heb., \u201calmost\u201d (Gen. 26:10; Prov. 5:14) and \u201cat once, immediately\u201d (Ps. 81:15). The latter seems to fit better here; indeed, T. Gad seems to parallel Ps. 94:17, \u201cIf the LORD were not my help, my soul would at once have gone to dwell in the underworld.\u201d
\nFor by very same things by which a person transgresses Gad\u2019s punishment was thus altogether appropriate, a case of \u201cmeasure for measure\u201d (see above on T. Reub. 1:7, T. Zeb. 6:1\u20136); cf. especially Wisdom of Solomon, where this is a major theme.
\nmercilessly punished Gk. says \u201cmercilessly judged,\u201d but this is Heb. sh-p-t, which often means \u201cpunish\u201d (Exod. 6:6; 7:4; Obad. 21; Ezra 7:3, 8, etc.)
\nsuffering for eleven months Did Gad hate Joseph for only eleven months? This seems unlikely, since the brothers had hated Joseph from the beginning of his story (Gen. 37:4) and had hated him more after his dreams (Gen. 37:8). Perhaps a comparable number is meant\u2014i.e., eleven months of suffering corresponding to eleven years of hatred\u2014such as the correspondence between the forty days of the spies\u2019 absence and the forty years of wandering in the wilderness (Num. 14:34).
\n6:1. love each one of you his brother and banish hate from your hearts As per Lev. 19:17.
\nloving one another In keeping with the next verse, Lev. 19:18, manifesting this love \u201cin action and in speech and in the soul\u2019s thinking.\u201d
\n6:2. I would speak peacefully with Joseph Hiding my hatred in my heart, as forbidden in Lev. 19:17; but that only made things worse, since \u201cwhen I went out, the Spirit of hatred darkened my thought.\u201d
\n6:3. when someone sins against you, speak to him That is, reprove him (Lev. 19:17) \u201cin peace\u201d\u2014you should reprove him in such a way that \u201cyou will bear no sin because of him\u201d (Lev. 19:17).
\n6:4. lest he swear [an oath] The swearing involved the taking of a false or vain oath (\u201cI swear I never did that!\u201d); this is strictly forbidden in the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:7; Deut. 5:11) and was considered a grievous sin in Second Temple times and afterward. If the person being reproved should swear in this manner, says Gad, the fault will be yours, in fact, \u201cyou will have sinned doubly,\u201d first in not properly following the provisions of Lev. 19:17 (interpreted here as: \u201cyou shall surely reprove your fellow, but in such a way as to not bear a sin because of it [your reproving]),\u201d and second because, in so doing, you caused him to commit another sin.
\n6:5. In a fight, do not let someone else hear your secret This seems clearly modeled on Prov. 25:9\u201310: \u201cFight your fight with your fellow, and do not reveal another\u2019s secret; lest the hearer despise you, and your defamation never return.\u201d The wording of these verses is somewhat opaque, but the meaning is clear: Settle any dispute you might have with your neighbor between the two of you, without involving any outsider\u2014that is, do not reveal any of the details concerning your opponent (\u201canother\u2019s secret\u201d) to someone else (or: don\u2019t reveal your [secret] dispute to another); after all, the third party who hears of it may judge you to be at fault, and in any case, what you say about him (\u201cyour defamation [of him]\u201d) once let loose, \u201cwill never return,\u201d that is, you lose control of it as soon as you utter it.
\nUnderstood in this way, the proverb does indeed fit the present context of T. Gad\u2019s reflections on Lev. 19:17, particularly the necessity of reproving one\u2019s fellow man-to-man rather than hating him and letting deceit \u201chold sway in your soul,\u201d concealing your hatred from him while slandering him before others. It seems altogether possible that the original Hebrew text actually cited Prov. 25:9\u201310 here, but that the words became garbled in transmission.
\nhe may stab you in the back that is, he may retaliate by doing something even worse (the \u201cgreat sin\u201d just mentioned), slandering you behind your back or even \u201cmeddl[ing] in your affairs\u201d to your detriment.
\n6:6. someone who denies may [still] repent and commit no further offense toward you Despite his denials, the message has gotten through. (Cf. Sir. 19:13 Heb.: \u201cReprove a friend, lest he do it; and if he has [already] done it, so that he not repeat.\u201d)
\n6:7. But if he is without any shame \u2026 leave it to God to establish justice Gk. ekdikein usually means to \u201cavenge,\u201d but here it is used in the sense of leaving it to God to set things aright; in Ben Sira\u2019s treatment of Lev. 19:17, he similarly urges \u201cReprove a friend before you have grown angry, and [then] leave a place to the Torah of the Most High\u201d (Sir. 19:17).
\n7:2. And if he is exalted even more In the previous verse, you prayed for his continued success; but now, he does not just continue, but rises even higher!
\noffer a hymn to the LORD This is the M. Heb. idiom amar shirah, \u201cto give thanks [to God]\u201d; the expression means giving thanks through any form of speech, and not necessarily by singing. Note that this idiom sometimes appears in the semi-Hellenized form, amar himnon (\u201csay a hymn\u201d), the same Greek word as used here: Midr. Ps. 1:1, 2:1 (end).
\n7:3. Seek out the LORD\u2019s judgments, and [He will not] abandon [you] and you will be at ease The text has evidently become corrupt here; see the discussion in Charles, 158 and Hollander-de Jonge, 332. \u201cSeek out\u201d here is evidently Heb. darash in the sense of \u201cstudy.\u201d The rest seems to be based on the two different senses of bib. Heb. hin[n]iah, the first meaning to \u201cabandon, leave off\u201d (Gen. 39:16 etc.), the other to \u201ccause to rest, put at ease\u201d (Deut. 25:19 etc.). For a similar play on this ambiguous Heb. root: 1 En. 107:3.
\n7:4. becomes rich out of evil doings, as my uncle Esau did This assertion is apparently based on Gen. 36:6: Esau took \u201call the property he had acquired in Canaan and he went to [some] land out of fear for [Heb. mippenei] his brother Jacob.\u201d Why was he afraid, if not that \u201call the property\u201d included things that rightly belonged to Jacob? The verse is interpreted in this sense in Jub. 35:10.
\nbut wait for the time of the LORD An odd phrase, probably not meant here in any eschatological sense, but merely: wait for justice to work itself out, as in 6:7. The ways of divine justice are then listed in the next verse.
\n7:6. he does not have the annoyances of [other] men That is to say, they are constantly exercised with getting and spending. This is a frequent theme in Ecclesiastes; see Eccles. 2:22; 4:4, etc.
\n8:1. so that they may honor Levi and Judah The oft-repeated theme of the second-stage editor of the Testaments; see \u201cIntroduction.\u201d
\n8:4. And after five years The author specifies a five-year wait so as to bring his account in line with Jub. 28:20, which puts the year of Gad\u2019s birth in 2131 AM and the time of the transfer of Gad\u2019s remains (along with those of the other patriarchs except for Joseph) in 2263 AM, 132 years later. This is the only testament that specifies such a waiting period, although a comparison of the dates of various patriarchs\u2019 deaths here with the dates of their births as found in Jubilees reveals that most of the other patriarchs\u2019 children similarly had to wait some years before transferring their fathers\u2019 remains to Hebron. Only Levi and, possibly, Naphtali were transferred to Hebron in the year of their death. According to T. Benj. 12:2, Benjamin would have died five years after the other patriarchs\u2019 remains were transferred, but perhaps this represents a mistake in transmission.<\/p>\n

The Testament of Asher<\/p>\n

1:1 Asher\u2019s testament focuses on the theme of the \u201ctwo paths.\u201d This theme developed in Judaism as an elaboration of the Deut. 11:26\u201330 and 30:11\u201319, as well as Jer. 21:8. But T. Ash. displays an absolute dualism reminiscent, more specifically, of the Qumran community, which divided humanity into the \u201csons of light\u201d and the \u201csons of darkness.\u201d For T. Ash. there is no middle ground: this is the great message of this testament.
\n1:3. God has given two paths to humanity Saying, \u201cSee, I have set before you this day life and good, death and evil\u201d (Deut. 30:15), and \u201cBehold I put before you the path of life and the path of death\u201d (Jer. 21:8).
\nand two kinds of actions Good deeds and sins, which eventually lead to \u201ctwo ways of life and two ends.\u201d The author seems to have in mind the verses following the one cited above: \u201cIf you obey the commandments of the LORD your God \u2026 by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live and multiply \u2026 But if your heart turns away and you will not obey \u2026 I warn you today that you will surely perish\u201d (Deut. 30:16\u201318).
\n1:4. all things come in twos, one corresponding to [literally, \u201copposite\u201d] the other For this theme, see also Eccles. 7:14 and especially Sir. 33:14\u201315; 42:24. T. Ash. 1:4, and indeed, a good part of this testament, seems to have been inspired by Ben Sira, though the author turns his predecessor\u2019s words in a different direction.
\n1:5 along with them, two impulses T. Ash. asserts that underlying the two paths he has described are two inclinations or impulses (Gk. diaboulia, presumably Heb. yetzarim) that God has given to mankind. These impulses are two conflicting inner drives, later known in Rabbinic terminology as the yetzer ha-tov, the \u201cgood impulse,\u201d and its opposite, the yetzer ha-ra, the \u201cbad impulse.\u201d It seems that the idea of these two warring impulses developed out of an earlier notion, in which the word yetzer alone originally designated the evil impulse: man was constantly at war with his inner yetzer. Thus Sir. 15:14\u201317 (ms A): \u201cIt was God who, from the beginning, created Adam and placed him within the power of his captor, and gave him over to the power of his yetzer. [But] if you wish you may keep a commandment and [keep] the understanding to do His will; if you put your trust in Him, you too shall live. Fire and water are set before you: put forth your hand to whichever you wish. Before mankind are life and death; whichever he wishes will be given to him.\u201d This is a picture of complete free will. It is true, Ben Sira says, that God created Adam in such a way as to leave him vulnerable to the power of his \u201ccaptor\u201d\u2014his evil impulse\u2014but this hardly means that the evil impulse will forever triumph over Adam\u2019s descendants: \u201cif you wish you may keep a commandment.\u201d The struggle thus ordained is an internal one, between a man and his evil yetzer (or, in T. Ash., between two opposite impulses, good and bad). But a rather different picture emerges from the \u201ctwo spirits\u201d section of 1QS Rule of the Community 3:18\u20134:26 (which may have been polemically modeled on Sir. 15:14\u201317): \u201cHe created man to rule the world, and He appointed for him two spirits (ruhot), in which to walk until the time of His accounting: these are the spirits of truth and falsehood (avel). The progeny of truth belong to the domain of light, while from the source of darkness [come] the progeny of falsehood. All the sons of righteousness are [thus] in the power of the Angel of Light (sar ha-urim); they walk in paths of light. But all the sons of falsehood are in the power of an Angel of Darkness (malakh hoshekh) and they walk in paths of darkness.\u201d Here Ben Sira\u2019s stress on free will is absent. It is not clear if the \u201cspirits\u201d (ruhot) mentioned are inside a person or are to be understood as external Spirits, angelic emissaries, sent to each person, but in either case it is ultimately the external forces of the Angel of Light and the Angel of Darkness that control man\u2019s fate, which is either to be one of the \u201csons of righteousness\u201d (later in the passage called the \u201csons of light\u201d) or the \u201csons of falsehood.\u201d These external forces, the Angels of light and darkness, control those who have been preordained to be the sons of righteousness or falsehood. As we have seen, both notions\u2014the internal impulses and the external Spirits\u2014are present in the Testaments (their coexistence perhaps attributable to different sources or simply the combination of two then-current outlooks). But for T. Ash. it is definitely the inner struggle between the two internal impulses that is the point.
\n1:6. if the soul chooses the good Gk. has thel\u0113 en, \u201cwishes,\u201d which probably corresponds to Heb. rotseh b-, here to be understood as \u201cprefers\u201d or \u201cfavors,\u201d cf. B. Makk. 10b, \u201cThe path that a person chooses to go on (Heb. ba-derekh she-adam rotseh lalekhet), thither is he led.\u201d
\n1:8. But if [the person\u2019s soul] opts for the [evil] impulse The text here appears confused, although the overall sense seems clear: having chosen wrongly, the soul will eventually \u201cbe ruled by Beliar,\u201d even if it had previously been ruled by God; cf. T. Dan 4:7. As is clear from this and other passages, the author has a definite picture of the \u201carchitecture\u201d of the soul and how things work inside a person. Every human being comes equipped with these two opposite impulses, and they sit, as it were, on top of the soul. People are constantly confronted by life\u2019s choices and temptations, so that their two impulses are constantly being stimulated by things outside of themselves. But ultimately, Asher maintains, every soul makes its choice; there is no middle ground. If the soul has consistent recourse to its good impulse, then even when it sins, it will not be led astray for long: its preference for the good impulse will immediately lead it to repent. Such a soul is ruled by God. But if its consistent preference is for the bad, then it is taken over by Beliar.
\n1:9. for the [evil] impulse\u2019s storage chamber is now filled with the poison of an evil Spirit And it will spread like a poison throughout the soul, taking it over entirely. Thus, there is no compromising: a person chooses either good or evil, God or Beliar (cf. 2 Cor. 6:14\u201315).
\n2:1\u20134 A complicated set of examples illustrating Asher\u2019s belief in an absolute and unbridgeable gap between good and evil. A person who has thus demonstrated some tolerance for evil and does both good and bad things is here denounced as \u201ctwo-sided\u201d\u2014he is utterly condemned. By contrast, someone who has taken his stand for the good\u2014even if he has to do things that appear to be bad in his pursuit of the good\u2014is utterly righteous. The first example makes little sense in Greek until it is retroverted into Hebrew. \u201cIt may thus come about\u201d: this is often the sense of Heb. yesh; \u201cthat a soul speaks well of\u201d [Heb. ha-medabberet tov al] \u201csomething bad.\u201d In theory, speaking well of anything sounds like a good action. But if the soul is praising something bad, then this theoretically good action can only lead to evil.
\n2:2. There may [likewise] be a man who shows no mercy to someone Presumably, to one of his servants. One might think that, while not showing mercy is a bad action, so too is being a bad servant, so that the two cancel each other out. But this is not so, says Asher: \u201cthe whole thing is [nevertheless] evil.\u201d
\n2:3. And there may be a man who acts lovingly toward an evildoer Acting lovingly toward one\u2019s fellow is a good action [Lev. 19:18]; nevertheless, says Asher, in this case the person is in the wrong, just as in the previous example; indeed, \u201ceven if he should choose to die\u201d\u2014the ultimate act of self-sacrifice in loving one\u2019s fellow\u2014he [would be] in the wrong because of him [the evildoer].\u201d The reason is that, while there appear to be two opposite aspects to the case\u2014an evildoer counterbalanced by the supreme self-sacrificer\u2014nevertheless, \u201cthe action as a whole is evil. [For] even though there is love [involved]\u201d in this case, and Lev. 19:18 does enjoin people to act lovingly toward their neighbors, still, here the love involved is actually deceptive since \u201cit conceals [its] evil.\u201d
\n2:5. Someone else may steal Again, the overall character of this person\u2019s actions (\u201cthe whole\u201d) is evil, since it is an admixture of good and evil.
\n2:6\u20137. By cheating his neighbor he angers God Having violated Lev. 25:14, \u201cYou shall not cheat one another.\u201d Then he only makes matters worse when \u201che swears falsely by the Most High,\u201d claiming that he is innocent (as per Exod. 22:11; cf. M. BM 3:1)
\nHe defiles the soul even as he dresses up the body Another set of paired actions.
\n2:8. Another person commits adultery and fornicates, and [yet] abstains from foods This could mean that he abstains from foods forbidden by the dietary laws, but probably it means simply that he regularly fasts (considered a form of repentance), as the next words imply: \u201cfasting, he [nonetheless] does evil.\u201d
\nby his power and his wealth he overwhelms many This seems to be a different sinner from the adulterer mentioned at the start of this verse; here Asher is speaking of a wealthy oppressor.
\nyet the whole of it is evil But how can this be? Shouldn\u2019t the person get some credit for the good deeds he does?
\n2:9. Such people are like pigs [and] rabbits, since they are halfway pure Insofar as they have one characteristic of a forbidden animal and one of a permitted animal (see Lev. 11:5\u20137; Deut. 14:7\u20138); one might therefore think that they are in some intermediate category, yet they are altogether forbidden.
\n2:10. for God has so said in the Heavenly Tablets The Heavenly Tablets are a concept borrowed here from Jubilees and parallel to the \u201cwritings of Enoch\u201d evoked elsewhere in the Testaments (see on T. Sim. 5:4): they contain the laws of the Torah that were publicly promulgated only after the revelation at Mount Sinai, as well as information about what is to happen in the future. The fact that the Heavenly Tablets appear in the Testaments elsewhere only in T. Levi 5:4 (where they presumably represent part of the missing text of the ALD) and then twice more in T. Ash. (here and at 7:5) suggests that, for one reason or another, T. Ash.\u2019s author was disturbed by the apparent anachronism of having Jacob\u2019s sons refer to the Torah before its promulgation at Mount Sinai\u2014a phenomenon nonetheless common elsewhere in the Testaments.
\n3:1\u20132. two-sided people Lit., \u201ctwo-faced,\u201d but the author does not mean to imply that they are hypocritical, only that that their behavior has two aspects to it, good and bad.
\nfor that is where God resides Goodness is, as it were, God\u2019s dwelling-place.
\n4:1. Good and undivided people Lit., \u201cone-faced people,\u201d that is, not divided between good and evil, as in the cases described previously.
\neven if the two-sided people consider them sinners But why should they? Because their single-minded devotion to the good leads them (as in the cases described above) not to treat an evildoer lovingly, or to disregard the good deeds of the two-sided people, since they are nullified by their bad deeds. This is explained next, in vv. 4:2\u20133.
\n4:2\u20133. the whole is good The precise opposite of 2:3\u20137 above. \u201cThere may be someone who hates the merciful but unjust man\u201d described above in 2:5, or hates \u201cthe one who commits adultery and yet fasts\u201d described above in 2:8; \u201cthis too has two aspects to it,\u201d since he is simultaneously hating something that appears to be good along with something truly bad, yet \u201cthe whole action is good, indeed, he is imitating the LORD, not accepting something that [merely] appears to be good with what is truly evil.\u201d
\n4:4. enjoy a festival day with the profligate This also has two sides, since one is commanded to enjoy a festival (Deut. 16:14), but on the other hand it is well to avoid the company of sinners (Prov. 5:8; Ps. 1:1, etc.; \u201cWoe to the wicked man and woe to his neighbor,\u201d M. Neg. 12:6).
\n4:5. Such men are comparable to gazelles and deer A companion to the legal comparison in 2:9: see Deut. 12:15. Although these animals were not used for ritual sacrifices, they met the same standards as the animals that were, and their meat was thus as fit to be eaten as beef or mutton. Such people separate \u201cthe bad from the good\u201d (Lev. 10:10) and are altogether praiseworthy.
\n5:1\u20132. there are twos in everything Yet the whole point of the previous sections has been that things are never two-sided, but\u2014depending on the soul\u2019s disposition\u2014ultimately altogether good or altogether bad. So, while it is true that death follows\u2014and so is paired with\u2014\u201clife,\u201d and \u201cdishonor\u201d follows and is paired with \u201cglory,\u201d and so forth, yet in reality, they do not cancel each other out: although day is followed by night, still \u201call things are under,\u201d and ruled by, \u201cday.\u201d By this the author apparently means that light and dark, day and night, are not equal; it is only during the day that things can be seen and judged, so day is ultimately more powerful than night. Similarly, although life is followed by death, still \u201call righteous deeds are\u201d nonetheless \u201cunder,\u201d and ruled by, \u201clife,\u201d since it is only during a person\u2019s life that righteous deeds can be performed and judged to be righteous. If that is so, then life is ultimately more powerful than death\u2014not ordinary life, but \u201ceternal life,\u201d which \u201cawaits death\u201d to succeed and overpower it.
\n5:3. all truth is under the light And therefore cannot be concealed, \u201cjust as all things are under God.\u201d
\n5:4. I have tested all these things in my life This verse consciously echoes Ecclesiastes: \u201cI said to myself, \u2018Let me test you \u2026\u2019 \u201d (2:1), \u201cAll this I have tested with wisdom\u201d (7:23).
\nbut I did not stray far from the LORD\u2019s truth That is, from faithfulness [Heb. emet] to the LORD (cf. Eccles. 2:9)
\nand I searched out Presumably Heb. darashti, interpreted, looked into deeply; cf. Eccles. 1:12.
\nthe commandments of the Most High That is, studying the Torah.
\n6:2. people who are of two minds end up with a double punishment It is not clear why their punishment should be \u201cdouble\u201d; perhaps precisely because, although they know the right thing to do, they end up doing the opposite. For Asher, this is worse than blissfully sinning without hesitation. Some texts add here: \u201cFor they both do the evil thing and take pleasure in others who do it,\u201d but this seems an afterthought designed to explain the unexplained double punishment; De Jonge is of the opinion that it is based on Rom. 1:32.
\nHate the Spirits of deceit Apparently the minions of the great Angel of Deceit, i.e., Beliar (see on T. Sim. 2:5\u20136).
\n6:3. keep it in all the LORD\u2019s commandments That is, stick to what is good through observance of \u201call the LORD\u2019s commandments.\u201d
\nturning back to it Reminiscent of the central Rabbinic theme of teshuvah (repentance); for \u201cand making it your dwelling-place,\u201d cf. above 3:1, \u201cwhere God resides.\u201d
\n6:4. For, people\u2019s righteousness This is Gk. dikaiosun\u0113, perhaps in the sense of \u201ckeeping the commandments\u201d; see above on T. Levi 13:5, T. Gad 5:3.
\nis shown by their end That is, by the way they end up.
\n6:6. it meets up with the angel of peace See above, T. Dan 6:2.
\n7:1. who did not recognize the angels of the LORD Mistaking them for ordinary men (see the narrative in Gen. 19:1\u201329).
\n7:2. you will be scattered to the four corners of the earth After the conquest of the Northern Kingdom (and with it the tribe of Asher) by the Assyrians in 722 BCE.
\nas useless water What is \u201cuseless water,\u201d especially in the arid Near East? The original text was actually an allusion to Ps. 58:8, \u201cLet them melt away like water that runs off.\u201d This line in T. Ash. thus must originally have read: \u201cYou will melt away as water that has run off,\u201d that is, water that has been spilled and been absorbed into the earth\u2014an apt simile for the disappearance of the tribe of Asher through its absorption among the peoples to whose homeland it will be exiled. In the course of the psalm\u2019s transmission, however, the root for \u201cmelt,\u201d m-s-s, came to be confused with the root for \u201cdespise, consider worthless\u201d m-\u2019-s. This is how Ps. 58:8 appears in the MT (\u201cLet them be considered worthless, like water that has run off\u201d) but not in the LXX, which still preserves the original sense: \u201cThey will vanish [i.e., \u201cmelt away\u201d] like water that flows through [the soil].\u201d
\n7:2\u20135 From \u201cuseless water\u201d to the end of v. 5 is a Christian interpolation.
\n7:6. you will be scattered like my brothers, Gad and Dan But all the tribes except for Judah and Levi were to be scattered; why mention only these? Gad and Asher were full brothers, both sons of Zilpah; but Dan was only his half-brother, the son of Rachel\u2019s other maidservant, Bilhah. Perhaps these two are singled out because, from the standpoint of the Testaments\u2019 author, Gad and Dan were the two patriarchs whose sinfulness had been recounted just before Asher\u2019s testament (Naphtali was Bilhah\u2019s other son, but his testament, as we have seen, said almost nothing about any sinfulness on Naphtali\u2019s part).
\nwho will not know Because they will forget them in exile.
\n7:7. But the LORD will faithfully gather you Or rather, your descendants.
\nbecause of [your] hope for His compassion That is, because you never ceased to hope for God\u2019s compassion and intervention.
\n[and] for the sake of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob All this in keeping with the promise of Lev. 26:43\u201344. The hope that the northern tribes would be reunited with Judah was still alive, or at least being given lip-service, in the 2nd century BCE: see Sir. 48:10, cf. 47:22.
\n8:2. his sons \u2026 took him up See on T. Reub. 7:2.<\/he><\/p>\n

The Testament of Joseph<\/p>\n

1:2. Israel\u2019s beloved The favorite son of Jacob (whose other name was Israel); see Gen. 37:3.
\n1:3. I have seen in my life envy and death My brother\u2019s envy of me brought me close to death.
\nI did not stray [from] faithfulness to the LORD Heb. emet, \u201cfaithfulness,\u201d was mistranslated here into Greek in its other meaning of \u201ctruth\u201d (al\u0113theia). Even understanding \u201cfaithfulness,\u201d the sentence seems a bit strange, since the Greek literally means faithfulness \u201cof the LORD.\u201d The idea seems to be that Joseph never strayed from his faithfulness to God (objective genitive), though it might also mean that he never wavered in his belief in God\u2019s faithfulness toward him.
\n1:4\u20137 Here the author summarizes Joseph\u2019s hardships and God\u2019s aid; this list was apparently inspired by Gen. 39:21, \u201cAnd the LORD was with Joseph [in his sufferings] and extended kindness to him.\u201d A similar catalogue\u2014also tied to Gen. 39:21\u2014appears in Gen. Rab. 87:10, where the list of opposites is connected to Ps. 146:7\u20139, and it is entirely possible that our author\u2019s list was inspired by the same tradition.
\nThose brothers of mine hated me, but Gen. 37:8. Throughout this catalogue, the Greek has \u201cand\u201d instead of \u201cbut,\u201d another indication of translation from Hebrew.
\nThey wished to kill me Gen. 37:18.
\nThey lowered me into a pit Gen. 37:24.
\nI was sold as a slave Gen. 37:28.
\nI was taken into captivity Mentioned after Joseph\u2019s being sold as a slave, this seems repetitive, but perhaps it is intended to reflect the somewhat confusing account of Gen. 37:27\u201328: first Judah proposes that they sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites, but then it is some Midianites who take him out of the pit and sell him to the Ishmaelites. Apparently, the author interprets this as two separate transactions: first Joseph \u201cwas sold as a slave\u201d (presumably to the Midianites), then the Midianites later sold him to the Ishmaelites and he was thus \u201ctaken into captivity.\u201d A similar Rabbinic tradition holds that Joseph was sold twice (see Midrash Asarah Harugei Malkhut, version B and Rashi, ad loc.), or else \u201cstolen twice\u201d as per the \u201cdoubled\u201d verb (gunnov gunnavti) in Gen. 40:15; see Gen. Rab. 88:5.
\nI was oppressed by hunger When Joseph went without eating for three days (T. Zeb. 4:3).
\nI was alone The reference is unclear, but certainly could apply to the time he was being transported to Egypt, or afterward, when he was to be sold. On the other hand, the author here may simply be listing common complaints that anyone might have (and so identify with Joseph).
\nI was sick Again, this has no obvious reference to Joseph\u2019s story, though it should be mentioned that Gk. asthenein can also mean \u201cto be weak.\u201d
\nbut the Most High took care of me Gk. episkope\u014d, Heb. bikker; on which see on T. Sim. 1:2. The use of \u201cSavior\u201d might seem like a particularly Christian divine appellation, but Heb. moshi\u2019a (savior) is certainly a divine epithet long before Christianity.
\nenvied by the other slaves If this refers to the period when Joseph was in Potiphar\u2019s house, it is out of chronological order and has no Scriptural support; more likely, then, it reflects the exegetical tradition that accompanied Joseph\u2019s introduction to Pharaoh as \u201ca boy, a Hebrew, a slave\u201d (Gen. 41:12)\u2014these unflattering terms were used because the Egyptian servants (\u201cslaves\u201d) of Pharaoh were reluctant to introduce a rival advisor into court; the same Egyptians were subsequently jealous of Joseph\u2019s sudden rise to power.
\nHe promoted me Gen. 41:39\u201340; see Jos. Asen. 4:9\u201311, Gen. Rab. 89:7.
\nBitterly spoken against by the Egyptians According to an old exegetical tradition, Potiphar\u2019s wife not only herself accused Joseph of attempted rape, but she also sought to have the other members of the household back up her claim (Joseph 51; Gen. Rab. 87:8, 88:1, etc.)
\n2:1\u20132. The seam between the previous catalogue of opposites and this verse is glaringly apparent. The former ends with Joseph\u2019s being appointed over all of Egypt, and now we are suddenly back in Potiphar\u2019s house.
\nAnd so it was that Photimar That is, Potiphar in the traditional Hebrew text; his name is rendered in the LXX as Petephres, and in Joseph and Aseneth as Pentephres, and both these names appear later on in T. Jos.
\nthe chief cook of Pharaoh Gen. 37:36; 39:1.
\nI struggled against a shameless woman Potiphar\u2019s wife: see Gen. 39:7\u201310.
\nbut the God of my father Israel guarded me This may be evoking Gen. 49:24 (\u201cfrom there the Rock of Israel shepherded\u201d), understood by ancient interpreters to refer to the incident with Potiphar\u2019s wife; \u201cguarded\u201d here may thus reflect ro\u2019eh (i.e., ra\u2019ah, \u201cshepherded\u201d) in Gen. 49:24 while \u201cthe God of my father Israel\u201d restates \u201cthe Rock of Israel\u201d; \u201cfrom the burning fire\u201d would then seem to be an elaboration of \u201cfrom there\u201d (misham) in the same biblical verse. Whether the fire mentioned is one of passion in this world or of torture in the next world is not clear; cf. Gen. Rab. 87:6 on Gen. 39:10 \u201cto lie with her in this world or to be with her in Gehenna in the next.\u201d
\n2:3. I was flogged, I was mocked This has no Scriptural support, but see below T. Jos. 8:4, 13:9; T. Benj. 2:3
\nbut the LORD granted me to find pity See Gen. 39:21.
\n2:5. For unlike a man Reminiscent of Num. 23:19.
\n2:6. But He is close at hand in all places \u2026 may hold Himself aloof for a little while An interesting formulation, since it seems to fall short of divine omnipresence, i.e., the blanket assertion that \u201cHe is in all places\u201d (an assertion absent from the Hebrew Bible itself). If the Gk. paristatai (\u201cis close at hand\u201d) is a rephrasing of a Hebrew original, then it probably represents Heb. karov (\u201cHe is near\u201d), a common trope of divine aid.
\nthe soul\u2019s disposition See above on T. Reub. 4\u20139.
\n2:7. Through ten tests He showed Patterned on the ten tests of Abraham (Jub. 19:8, M. Avot 5:4); the wording God \u201cshowed\u201d (rather than \u201cfound out\u201d) follows the same tradition about Abraham, whereby God\u2019s words in Gen. 22:12, \u201cNow I know that you fear God\u201d were converted to \u201cNow I have shown that you fear God\u201d; see Jub. 18:16, L.A.B. 32:4, Gen. Rab. 56:7.
\nthat I was tried and true Gk. dokimos carries the idea of testing (of metals, for example) as well as that of being judged outstanding, worthy of approval, etc.
\n3:1. How often \u2026 how often These are not strictly based on the biblical text; nevertheless, her proposal to Joseph ironically echoes Potiphar\u2019s putting Joseph \u201cin charge of everything that was his\u201d (Gen. 39:6).
\n3:2. you will be like [my] master Lit., \u201cour master.\u201d
\n3:3. I remembered the words of my father Jacob An allusion to the exegetical elaboration of Gen. 49:24, which saw in the words \u201cby the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob\u201d a reference to the \u201cmighty teachings of Jacob.\u201d
\n3:4. And I fasted Intended in the sense of \u201cAlthough I fasted.\u201d Moreover, \u201cfasting\u201d here cannot mean abstaining entirely from food and drink, but eating and drinking a minimal amount, which normally would cause a person to become emaciated and unattractive.
\nthroughout those seven years That Joseph was a slave in Potiphar\u2019s house.
\nbut to the Egyptian Refers to Potiphar: a slave\u2019s master would normally become suspicious if his servant looked weak or ill and might make sure he was being properly fed.
\nthose who fast for God are granted a handsome face Although normally, such self-affliction gives a person an ill-favored exterior (Eccles. 7:3).
\n3:5. he [Potiphar] was away, I would not drink wine Why does Joseph maintain this strict abstinence from wine and food specifically when Potiphar was away? Perhaps by this form of self-denial he intended to protect himself from temptation, all the more so because it was a likely time for Potiphar\u2019s wife to pursue her advances: cf. the words of the would-be adulteress in Prov. 7:18\u201319, \u201cLet us drink our fill of love till morning, let us delight in amorous embrace; for my husband is away, he is off on a distant journey.\u201d
\n3:6. I would weep for That is, because of.
\nthe Egyptian woman from Memphis Potiphar\u2019s wife. This double geographic identification, \u201cEgyptian woman from Memphis,\u201d seems fishy; surely we didn\u2019t think she was from Tennessee! It may be that that the original text said: \u201cI wept because of the Egyptian woman\u2019s lewdness\u201d (Heb. mi-ni\u2019uf ha-mitzrit), but the original word for lewdness (ni\u2019uf) came to be confused with \u201cMemphis\u201d (mof), identified later on as her home town (see 12:1), and the sentence recast in its present form.
\non the pretext of taking care of me Once again, Gk. episkope\u014d is not \u201cvisiting\u201d per se\u2014what kind of pretext would that be?\u2014but bikker in the sense of caring for the sick (see above on T. Sim. 1:2); her excuse was thus that Joseph was sick and needed attention.
\n3:7\u20138. Since she had no male child Joseph, moved by her plight, sought divine help for her\u2014and eventually it came. But in the meantime, \u201cshe would embrace me as a son, and I had no idea.\u201d A mere seventeen years old and away from home for the first time, Joseph had actually fallen for her maternal act.
\n3:10. I told her the words of the Most High Namely, the divine prohibition of adultery.
\n4:1. praising my self-restraint \u201cSelf-restraint\u201d or \u201cself-denial\u201d (Gk. s\u014dphrosun\u0113) is a key term in this testament; sometimes it refers specifically to resistance to sexual temptation, at other times to general temperance, living modestly or even in abstinence. It was one of the four cardinal virtues of the Stoics. In connection with Joseph, see 4 Macc. 2:2\u20136.
\n4:3. I lay down on the ground in sack-cloth Another form of ascetic penitence (very itchy!).
\n4:5. sleep with me Her unashamed proposal is meant to echo Gen. 39:7, \u201cLie with me!\u201d
\n4:6. And I said to her, the LORD does not accept Lit., \u201cdoes not wish\u201d (thelei), but this is clearly Heb. rotzeh, which can mean \u201cwish\u201d but also \u201ctake pleasure in, accept.\u201d
\nany who [would] worship Him in impurity, nor is He pleased by those who commit adultery An implied comparison. That is, just as cultic impurity prevents a worshiper from entering God\u2019s temple, so does moral impurity\u2014such as adultery\u2014render a would-be worshiper unfit.
\n5:2. Woman! Fear the LORD The vocative \u201cWoman!\u201d seems unlikely; perhaps the original read, \u201cWhen I heard this I said to the woman, \u2018Fear the LORD.\u2019 \u201d \u201cFear of God\u201d in bib. Heb. refers to what we call \u201ccommon decency\u201d rather than religiosity per se. That may be the intention here, although \u201cfear of the LORD\u201d (as opposed to \u201cGod\u201d) does not usually carry this meaning.
\nlest you be cut off This is the punishment of karet, extirpation, specified for adultery (Deut. 22:22).
\nshe left after showering me with \u2026 every delight of the sons of men Eccles. 2:8.
\n6:1\u20133. combined with sorcery That is, it contained mind-altering substances.
\na sword along with the dish Symbolizing the fact that the dish\u2019s contents were dangerous, perhaps life-threatening.
\nlead my soul astray By putting me under a spell.
\n6:5. I will not come near to the idols The original Heb. was more likely \u201cI will not sacrifice to the idols\u201d (Heb. akrib instead of ekrab), because of the next words: \u201cbut only to God.\u201d
\n6:7. \u201cMay the God of my fathers and the angel of Abraham Who is the angel of Abraham? Perhaps this is an allusion to Gen. 48:15\u201316, where Jacob seems to equate \u201cthe God whom my fathers worshiped\u201d with \u201cthe angel who redeems me from all evil.\u201d
\n7.1. But her heart was still set on me for licentiousness Some texts add here: \u201cand she looked about to see in what way she might entrap me.\u201d
\n7.2. And he treated her with medicine, but she was not [really] ill It was all part of her plan.
\n7:3. she rushed toward me and said to me: \u201cI will hang myself or throw myself into a well or over a cliff It is difficult to know whether Potiphar\u2019s wife is sincerely frenzied or simply manipulating her servant.
\n7:5. Setho, your husband\u2019s concubine The name appears in the mss. in several variants: Setho, Isitho\u014d, Asith\u014d, etc.\u2014clearly, this was a somewhat puzzling name. What is more, mentioning this concubine by name seems quite out of place here. (The author regularly substitutes \u201cthe Egyptian\u201d for Potiphar\u2019s name, and his wife is merely identified as \u201cthe Egyptian woman,\u201d so why would the author introduce such a minor figure in the story by name\u2014and a puzzling name at that?). Perhaps the Heb. text read something like: \u201cif you kill yourself, your co-wife, your husband\u2019s [other] spouse or his mistress,\u201d that is, ishto \u2018o pilagsho shelleba\u2019alekh, tzaratekh. The word ishto, perhaps combined with the \u2018o that followed it, was then mistaken for an exotic Egyptian name, Ishto\u2019\u014d, which was eventually transformed into the variants found in the Greek mss.: Isito\u014d, Asith\u014d, and Seth\u014d.
\nwill beat your children and destroy your memorial from the earth Contains two more translation errors: Heb. hakkot means both \u201cbeat\u201d and \u201ckill\u201d\u2014clearly the latter is intended, since the consequence is stated in the next clause. In that clause, \u201cdestroy your memorial\u201d is a misunderstanding of Heb. zekher, which means not memorial but \u201cname\u201d; to \u201cdestroy [or \u201cuproot,\u201d \u201cerase,\u201d etc.] someone\u2019s name\u201d was a Heb. idiom meaning to leave the person without descendants.
\n7:7. I had spoken in this way not for her, but for my God That is, not to please her, but to please God by preventing her from killing herself. \u201cFor if someone submits to the passion of [i.e., created by] an evil desire and becomes enslaved to it, as she did, then [even] if he hears something good [i.e., true]\u201d\u2014such as what Joseph had just said to her to dissuade her from killing herself\u2014that person will nevertheless always \u201cunderstand it as referring to the passion to which he has yielded\u201d (as she misunderstood Joseph\u2019s words as showing some sort of love for her).
\n8:1. about the sixth hour Noon.
\nI bowed down on my knees That is, nefilat appayim, the traditional Jewish posture for supplication.
\n8:2\u20134. in the end she grabbed hold of my garment Here the author\u2019s highly creative narrative rejoins the biblical story, Gen. 39:12.
\n8:4. She [then] falsely accused me Gen. 39:14\u201318. See above on 1:7.
\nput me in a prison in his house After Potiphar\u2019s wife falsely accuses Joseph, he is thrown into prison (Gen. 39:20\u201321); that prison is later said to be \u201cin the house of the chief steward\u201d (Gen. 40:3). But Potiphar himself had been described as Pharaoh\u2019s \u201cchief steward\u201d (Gen. 39:1)! Many interpreters therefore concluded that the prison was located in Potiphar\u2019s own house and that one of Potiphar\u2019s duties was to run the prison (see Midrash Lekakh Tov and Gen. 39:20). Making a virtue of this necessity, another midrashic version has the ladies of the court suggest to Potiphar\u2019s wife: \u201cYou have no remedy other than to say to his master [Potiphar] to lock him up in prison; then he will be entirely yours\u201d (Midr. Hag. ad Gen. 39:14). Evidently, the prison in this case is a little dungeon in her own dwelling, since only such an arrangement might allow Potiphar\u2019s wife to visit Joseph as she might wish \u201cand he will be entirely yours.\u201d This scenario seems also to underlie Gen. Rab. 87:10, where she speaks with him following his imprisonment and still seeks to cajole him into sleeping with her\u2014just as she does in the following verses of T. Jos. In some mss. of T. Jos., the prison in Potiphar\u2019s house is explicitly in the nature of a holding cell, since they add here: \u201cthe next day he flogged me and threw me into Pharaoh\u2019s prison,\u201d evidently a different place. It seems, however, that this is a later revision intended to make sense of the apparent contradiction between the prison being under Potiphar\u2019s direct supervision and the good treatment that the (nameless) head of the prison affords Joseph there (Gen. 39:21\u201323). In any case, the vv. that follow in T. Jos. seem to assume that Potiphar\u2019s wife was visiting Joseph in secret in her own house; for would she openly go to a prison located somewhere else to visit the man she had accused of attempted rape? Note that in T. Jos. 9:4 she \u201coften, despite her being ill, used to come down to me at midnight and heard my voice as I prayed\u201d; this too suggests that she lives just upstairs.
\n8:5. Now when I was in fetters Ps. 105:18 \u201cHis feet were subjected to fetters.\u201d
\nin a merry voice glorified my God This picture of Joseph singing God\u2019s praises while in prison is reminiscent of the well-known midrash (mentioned above on vv. 1:4\u20137) whereby Joseph responds to her threats with successive verses from Psalm 146: [She said:] \u201cI will oppress you with [my sexual demands]\u201d; he said to her, \u201c[God] secures justice for those who are oppressed\u201d (Ps. 146:7). \u201cI\u2019ll cut off your food allotment\u201d; \u201c[God] gives food to the hungry\u201d (Ps. 146:7); \u201cI will put you in chains\u201d; \u201cThe LORD frees the imprisoned\u201d (146:7); \u201cI will bend down your posture\u201d; \u201cThe LORD makes those who are bent stand straight\u201d (Ps. 146:8), and so forth. It is hardly unimaginable that some primitive form of this midrash stands behind this somewhat puzzling verse in the Testament of Joseph.
\n9:1\u20132. set you free from darkness \u201cDarkness\u201d is a common Heb. figure for prison (as in 8:5 above): Ps. 107:10, 14; Isa. 42:7; 49:9, etc.; in Mishnaic Hebrew as well, \u201cfrom darkness to a great light\u201d (Passover Haggadah).
\nGod loves the person who \u2026 fasts Cf. T. Jos. 3:4.
\nwith self-restraint See above on 4:1.
\n9:3. If someone who lives in self-restraint should desire to be honored An odd assertion, since someone who lives in self-restraint almost by definition does not wish to be honored. It seems probable that this sentence was confused at some stage; the original would more likely have said: \u201cIf someone lives in self-restraint and if the Most High, desiring that he be honored (cf. Esth. 6:6), sees that it is fitting, He will grant this as well, as He granted it to me.\u201d The whole point of this sentence was to reconcile Joseph\u2019s self-restraint with the fact that, in spite of it, he ultimately did end up in the \u201cchambers of a palace\u201d mentioned in the previous verse. See below on 10:3.
\n9:4\u20135. How often, despite her being ill Her illness, real this time (cf. 7:1), was the common ancient malady of love-sickness, which could truly make people unwell or even cause their death; cf. Song of Songs 8:6. She is apparently ill as well in Midrash Haggadol (ad Gen. 39:14, cf. parallel in Yal. Shimoni 146), since there the ladies say to her, \u201cWhy are you looking ill [mippenei mah panayikh ra\u2019im]? Have you perchance been fancying that servant of yours?\u201d
\nFor when I was in her house Back when Joseph was still Potiphar\u2019s slave.
\n10:1\u201316:6 This section of the narrative, which goes on to recount the details of Joseph\u2019s being sold as a slave by his brothers and what immediately ensued, seems to have come from a different source from the preceding chapters, since it covers events that took place before Joseph actually arrived at Potiphar\u2019s house (and therefore logically should have come before chapters 3\u20139, which focus on the encounter between Joseph and Potiphar\u2019s wife). Moreover, it refers to Petephres (Potiphar) by name and calls his wife \u201cthe Memphian [woman],\u201d whereas the preceding narrative consistently referred to them simply as \u201cthe Egyptian man\u201d and \u201cthe Egyptian woman.\u201d This is thus another indication of how some parts of the Testaments were pieced together from different source material.
\n10:3. should fall victim to \u2026 jealousy, or to enslavement, or to false accusation, or darkness This is obviously Joseph\u2019s own autobiography: his brother\u2019s jealousy resulted in his being sold as a slave, where he was eventually falsely accused of attempted rape and sent off to the darkness of prison.
\nthe LORD, who [i.e., since He] dwells in him See above on T. Ash. 1:8 on the \u201carchitecture of the soul\u201d: The soul that commits itself to its good impulse ultimately comes to be ruled by God, and it is apparently in that sense that God \u201cdwells in him\u201d\u2014enthroned, as it were, in the person\u2019s innermost thoughts.
\n10:4. For in all things is a man encompassed The word \u201cencompassed\u201d (Gk. sunechetai) here is somewhat problematic: it may represent Heb. ne\u2019ehaz or nilkad, \u201cseized\u201d or \u201ctrapped,\u201d as occurs in the LXX. If so, then the sense is clear: a person can be entrapped by anything he does or says or even thinks, and it is in consideration of all these things that God will judge him.
\n10:5. my brothers understood how my father loved me More than them (Gen 37:3).
\nyet I did not exalt myself By this Joseph seeks to demonstrate that God looks not only at a person\u2019s deeds, but even at his thoughts, as Joseph had asserted in the previous sentence.
\nfor I knew that everything passes Knowing that \u201ceverything passes\u201d prevents a person from becoming puffed up with pride at some passing bit of glory.
\n10:6. And so, I took the measure of myself This odd phrase may be the result of scribal error. One ms. variant reads: \u201cI did not raise myself against them,\u201d restating 10:5.
\nI kept silent when I was sold and did not tell the Ishmaelites about my family Behind this assertion stands a good question: why didn\u2019t Joseph simply tell the Ishmaelites that his father was a rich and powerful man? They certainly would have preferred to hold him for ransom (at a far greater price than an ordinary slave might fetch); Jacob would no doubt have paid whatever they asked and Joseph would have been freed. Thus, if Joseph did not do so, it was because he feared that speaking up would cause their father to hate Joseph\u2019s brothers and even do them harm.
\n11:2. When I went to the Indocolpites These may be the same people as the Troglocolpites mentioned in T. Zeb. 4:6 (see there) with the Ishmaelites, to whom Joseph had been sold. Ultimately, the mention of these two peoples may go back to the biblical text, which begins by mentioning a \u201ccaravan of Ishmaelites\u201d (Gen. 37:25), to whom Joseph was eventually sold (Gen. 37:28), but also speaks of some \u201cMidianite traders.\u201d See above on T. Jos. 1:4\u20137.
\n11:3. You are no slave: your appearance indicates [this] about you In ancient Greece and elsewhere, nobility was held to be visible in a person\u2019s countenance, regardless of clothing or circumstances.
\nAnd he threatened me with death For lying, perhaps suspecting that, as the son of a wealthy man, Joseph was trying to prevent his captors from holding him for ransom.
\n11:5. their merchandise The things that they had been bringing down to Egypt to sell when they encountered Joseph\u2019s brothers.
\nuntil they should return, carrying [more] merchandise To be sold when they returned home; in this way, they could put off a decision about what to do with Joseph until each had the profits from this sales trip in hand.
\n11:6. And the LORD gave me favor in the eyes of the merchant, and he entrusted his house to me just as Potiphar would later do (Gen. 39:4\u20136).
\n11:7. And the LORD blessed him through my hand I.e, through me, a blatant Hebraism (cf. Gen. 39:3).
\nand filled him with silver and gold Cf. Gen. 39:3. The reason for this invention on the author\u2019s part will become apparent in 12:2.
\n12:1. and she looked me over Lit., \u201ccast her eyes upon me\u201d; cf. Gen. 39:7.
\n12:2. He has become rich by the hand of a Hebrew lad Potiphar might otherwise have been reluctant to take on this handsome young man\u2014for surely he knew of his wife\u2019s roaming eyes\u2014so it was necessary to appeal to his greed; the fact that Joseph had apparently brought financial success to the merchant suggested to Potiphar that he might do the same for him (which he did!).
\nThey say that he was furtively stolen from the land of the Hebrews A direct quote of Gen. 40:15 LXX. See below on 13:1.
\n12:3. So now, try him out Others translate \u201cwork justice with him,\u201d but this hardly fits the context.
\nand That is, \u201cso that\u201d\u2014another Hebraism.
\nthe God of the Hebrews will bless you That is, make your household prosper the way He did the merchant\u2019s.
\nsince favor from heaven is upon him That is, the favor of God (a characteristically Heb. circumlocution).
\n13:1. that you steal souls from the land of the Hebrews and sell them Potiphar is simply repeating what his wife had said in 12:2; what she heard is ultimately based on Joseph\u2019s assertion in Gen. 40:15 that he was \u201cstolen from the land of the Hebrews,\u201d as well as on the confusion concerning the sale\/theft of Joseph and the midrashic traditions that developed from it (above on 1:4\u20137).
\n13:2. But the merchant fell upon his face and pleaded Potiphar, as a high government official, could do him great harm.
\nI do not know what you are talking about The classic legal formula of total denial (kofer be-ikkar): M. Shab. 8:3.
\n13:5. he was third in rank among Pharaoh\u2019s chiefs The phrase \u201chaving a wife and children and concubines,\u201d appears in only some of the mss. and may be secondary. Such an observation might seem necessary in order to deny (vigorously) that Potiphar had always been a \u201ceunuch\u201d\u2014a subject that also interested classical Jewish commentators.
\n13:7\u20138. the Ishmaelites\u2019.\u2026 And I said that they had bought me from the land of Canaan See above on 11:3. The virtuous Joseph does not lie: he was indeed the Ishmaelites\u2019 slave, and they had truly bought him and taken him from the land of Canaan.
\n14:1. The Memphian woman was looking through the window No doubt this is meant to suggest that her predatory interest in Joseph was already aroused.
\nshe sent [a message] In a slave society, people frequently used their personal slaves to carry messages.
\nYou are treating him unfairly Lit., \u201cyour judgment is unfair.\u201d
\nyou are punishing a freeman who was kidnapped She does not believe for a minute that he was born a slave (see above on 11:3).
\n14:5. It is not the Egyptians\u2019 custom to take away what belongs to others before there is proof A somewhat ironic formulation, since this is in fact a restatement of the Jewish custom: \u201cHe who would take away from his fellow\u2014the burden of proof is upon him.\u201d (M. BK 3:11, etc.)
\n14:6. He was saying these things in reference to the merchant The author savors the irony: on the very same grounds that the merchant\u2019s (falsely claimed) possession (Joseph) is to remain with him, Joseph\u2019s freedom is taken away from him without so much as a hearing, since \u201cthe boy [he said] is to be kept in prison.\u201d
\n15:1. they had heard that my father Jacob was mourning over me Apparently, they had returned to Canaan, where news of Joseph\u2019s \u201cdeath\u201d had spread far and wide. Putting two and two together, they now suspect the young man of noble mien, who looked so little like a slave, must in fact be Joseph.
\n15:3. so as not to put my brothers to shame If he admitted that he was not born a slave, Joseph would be obliged to tell about the circumstances that led to his being enslaved.
\nAnd I said: I do not know\u2014I am a slave! Once again, Joseph cannot tell a lie. He stops short of saying, \u201cI do not know what you are talking about\u201d (see above on 13:2), content with an incoherent \u201cI do not know\u201d followed by a statement of fact: he is indeed a slave of the Ishmaelites now.
\n15:4. lest I be found in their possession The Ishmaelites were not convinced by Joseph\u2019s story, and fearing either that he might be taken from them once his true identity was revealed (see next verse), and\/or that they would suffer punishment the way the merchant had suffered at the hands of Potiphar, they decided to cash in on Joseph right away.
\n15:5. For they had heard that he was \u201cmighty with God and with men\u201d The citation is from Gen. 32:29, where sarita (\u201cyou have struggled\u201d) is interpreted as \u201cyou have been great,\u201d cf. Tg. Onk. rab at (\u201cyou are great\u201d). Note that the verse is thus cited according to the syntax of the MT, rather than that of the LXX.
\n15:6. Free me from the sentence [passed on me] by Pentephres Seeing that the Ishmaelites were about to sell Joseph, the merchant\u2014whom Potiphar had apparently decided was guilty of receiving stolen goods (above, 13:1)\u2014panics and asks them to back up his story that he had not received Joseph for resale, but was simply guarding him until the Ishmaelites could decide what to do with him.
\n15:7. they came and asked me to say that I was bought by them for money, and then [i.e., so that] he [Potiphar\/Pentephres] would set him [the merchant] free This sentence has been garbled in all versions of the Greek translation, but the problems are easily resolved by restoring the Hebrew original. In the original, the Ishmaelites asked Joseph \u201cto say\u201d [Heb. le\u2019mor]: this was misunderstood by the translator as the introductory word that normally precedes direct quotation, hence mistranslated by him as \u201cthey came and asked me, saying.\u201d But this then required that the original continuation of the sentence, \u201cthat I was bought by them for money,\u201d be reconfigured as direct quotation, \u201cthat you were bought by us for money.\u201d As for \u201che would set him free,\u201d the Heb. suffix ennu (\u201chim\u201d) was mistaken for\u2014enu (\u201cus\u201d), hence mistranslated in Gk. as \u201che will set us free.\u201d
\n16:1. \u201cthat he is for sale\u201d Lit., \u201cthat they are selling him.\u201d
\n16:2. he sent a eunuch \u2026 to ask them to sell me Some mss. add: \u201cThe chief cook [Potiphar\/Pentephres] thereupon called to the Ishmaelites asking [them] to sell me. But since he was unwilling to haggle with them over me, he left.\u201d This obviously contradicts the first part of the verse: if he (Potiphar, or, as some translators understand the verse, \u201cshe,\u201d Potiphar\u2019s wife) \u201csent a eunuch\u201d to purchase Joseph, why would Potiphar, also a eunuch, now be duplicating that effort by calling to the Ishmaelites in person? It seems that two different versions were combined at some early stage of the text\u2019s transmission; one (probably the original) had the eunuch sent to do the buying, while the second version had Potiphar himself conducting the negotiations (probably as a consequence of his wife telling him that Joseph was for sale in the previous verse). It seems likely that the first part of this verse (\u201cAnd he sent a eunuch\u201d) was the original version\u2014after all, why should a high government minister bother negotiating the purchase of a slave when he could easily send one of his employees to close the deal? But once that idea of Potiphar negotiating was introduced, he had to be subsequently taken out of the procedure in order to make this verse fit with the continuation of the story, in which another eunuch was sent; hence, the part about Potiphar being \u201cunwilling to haggle with them\u201d was added.
\n16:4. She sent another eunuch The first eunuch\u2019s response (\u201cThey\u2019re asking a huge price\u201d) was not discouraging; she really wanted Joseph! On the other hand, she did not want to tell him, the first eunuch, to pay an unreasonable price (since he might report the whole thing back to the person who sent him, Potiphar). She therefore starts afresh with the second eunuch, telling him offer whatever they are asking.
\n16:5. To the Egyptian woman he said he had given one hundred The clever, often scheming, slave was a convention in Greco-Roman literature. It may be that this sentence was added later on, since everywhere else in this section, Potiphar\u2019s wife is called the \u201cMemphian woman,\u201d whereas here she is called \u201cthe Egyptian woman\u201d (see above on 10:1\u201316:6).
\n16:6. Even though I knew this, I kept silent Joseph had not only refrained from shaming his brothers (at the cost of his own liberty), but here he refrains even from shaming a perfect stranger.
\n17:2. and patiently hide one another\u2019s failings That is, do as Joseph did, and conceal your brothers\u2019 shortcomings even at the cost of your own suffering.
\n17:5. after Jacob\u2019s death I continued to act lovingly toward them Gk. has: \u201cafter Jacob\u2019s death I loved them more abundantly\u201d\u2014but this makes little sense and has no support from the biblical narrative. Rather, the original Heb. probably said hosafti lahem ahavah, which means \u201cI continued to act lovingly toward them\u201d\u2014even after Jacob was no longer there to pressure me to do so. However, since hosafti can also mean \u201cI added,\u201d the translator mistook the text to be saying \u201cI added love,\u201d hence, \u201cI loved them more abundantly.\u201d
\nI did everything that he had told me [to do] That is, not to harm his brother\u2019s after Jacob\u2019s death. Jacob never says any such thing in Genesis, but his sons later report his having said this (Gen. 50:16\u201317).
\nthey were amazed Borrowed from Gen. 43:33.
\n17:6. I gave them whatever I had Lit., \u201call that was in my hand,\u201d a Hebraism.
\n17:7. their soul was my soul Probably not in the sense that they were \u201csoul brothers,\u201d but rather that their life (Heb. nefesh as in, e.g., Exod. 21:23) was as dear to Joseph as his own.
\n17:8. but I acted as if I were one of the least [important] among them Lit., \u201cI was one of the least among them\u201d; this clause is missing in some mss.
\n18:1. He will exalt you here and bless you with good things in eternity The \u201chere\u201d would seem to mean \u201cin this world,\u201d and \u201cin eternity\u201d a reference to the next world. This is a common Rabbinic trope, e.g., in reference to Ps. 128:2, \u201cHappy will you be in this world, and it will be well with you in the world to come\u201d (M. Avot 6:4).
\n18:3. I ended up marrying my master\u2019s daughter Joseph patiently endured the false accusation of Potiphar\u2019s wife and his subsequent imprisonment, never losing hope; in the end, he married Potiphar\u2019s daughter. This assertion is based on the ancient identification of the name Potiphar with Potiphera (Gen. 41:45), father of Joseph\u2019s wife Asenath; this identification is assumed in Jub. 40:10; see also Gen. Rab. 86:3 and parallels. Note that the LXX transliterates both names as Petephres. Some mss: \u201cI ended up marrying the daughter of the priest of Heliopolis.\u201d This version shows an awareness of the distinction between Potiphar and Potiphera and is puzzling if it is a later refinement, since no simple reader of the LXX could have known of such a distinction. On the other hand, the plural form of \u201cmy masters\u2019 daughter\u201d (actually \u201cthe daughter of my masters\u201d in Greek) is a subtle Hebraism, where \u201cmaster\u2019s\u201d is regularly used of a single individual (e.g., Exod. 22:14) and seems thus to argue for it being a translation from Heb.; moreover, if Potiphera was specified at the beginning of this sentence, then \u201cand the LORD made them my servants\u201d makes little sense (though it could be a later addition).
\n18:4. even more handsome than Israel [= Jacob] Jacob is \u201cfair in appearance and handsome of mien\u201d (Gen. 39:6); the only other biblical person to merit this combination of adjectives is Rachel (Gen. 29:17). A midrashic tradition (Gen. Rab. 86:6) thus held that they were the two most beautiful figures in the Bible. This assertion stands in contradiction with another midrash, which saw in the abrupt assertion, \u201cThese are the generations of Jacob: Joseph\u201d (Gen. 37:2) a hint that \u201cJoseph resembled Jacob in all things\u201d (Gen. Rab. 84:6), including in his appearance (Gen. Rab. 84:8). Combining the tradition that Jacob and Rachel were uniquely beautiful with the other tradition that held that Joseph resembled Jacob, our author (or his midrashic source) apparently sought to stress that the resemblance between father and son did not quite extend to all things: the two may have shared character traits and certain features of their life stories, but Joseph was even better looking than his father.
\n19:2. Twelve deer were grazing, and nine \u2026 were scattered The twelve deer are obviously the twelve tribes of Israel; first the nine northern tribes are exiled, then the remaining three southern ones (Judah, Benjamin, and Levi) are likewise exiled. At this point there is a Christian interpolation.
\n19:3\u20139 These verses are preserved only in the Armenian version of the Testaments, but they seem to have been part of the original version, replaced by the above-mentioned Christian interpolation in the Greek manuscript tradition. The vision recounted in these verses is, however, needlessly complicated: why have the deer suddenly turn into sheep when they could have been sheep to start with? Commentators remark on the similarity between this feature of the vision and Enoch\u2019s \u201cAnimal Apocalypse\u201d (1 En. 85\u201390), which contains such transformations (stars become bulls or men, cows give birth to elephants and cows and donkeys) and is in any case full of symbolic ani-mals\u2014white, red, and black bulls as well as cows, wolves, huge numbers of sheep, plus wild boars, eagles, and all sorts of other creatures, including human shepherds. It may well be that the idea of Joseph\u2019s animal vision was inspired by Enoch\u2019s, but that hardly explains its complex, if not to say confused, character. Perhaps this vision itself began as an attempt to combine two originally separate vision traditions. In any case, the rescue of the lambs \u201cfrom darkness into light\u201d parallels that of the Israelites from Egypt (see above on 9:1\u20132), save that here it is a second exodus, from the Babylonian exile to home, \u201ca green and watered place,\u201d the land of Judah. Then \u201cthey cried to the LORD until the nine deer were gathered to them,\u201d that is, until the northern tribes were restored to their homeland (an event that never took place). Then Joseph saw \u201cthe twelve bulls which were sucking from the one cow\u201d: this could be a Christian interpolation, but even as such it is hard to explain, since immediately afterward it is \u201cthe fourth bull\u201d\u2014that is, the tribe of Judah, fourth son of Jacob\u2014that sustains the tribes: his \u201chorns were elevated\u201d (a Hebrew phrase indicative of triumph) and he \u201cbecame like a (protective) wall for the flocks.\u201d Following this comes a clearly Christian addition.
\n19:8\u20139. and respect Judah and Levi This is also followed by a Christian interpolation, but the continuation, \u201cfor [their] kingdom is an everlasting kingdom\u201d\u2014this is the phrase of Dan. 2:44\u2014is probably taken from the original version, the \u201ctheir kingdom\u201d having been changed to \u201chis kingdom\u201d in order to fit the interpolation.
\nBut my kingdom among you will reach its end like a watchman\u2019s hut in a garden The image comes from Isa. 1:8; after the grape harvest, the watchman\u2019s booth (Heb. sukkah) is unnecessary and therefore abandoned once the season is over. Joseph\u2019s (that is, the northern tribes\u2019) sovereignty was temporary, whereas Judah\u2019s will be restored forever.
\n20:1. I know that after my death the Egyptians will afflict you Exod. 1:11.
\n20:2. for when my bones \u2026 and Beliar will be with the Egyptians in darkness This whole part of the sentence is missing in the Armenian tradition, but present in the Greek. The motif of the Egyptians being in darkness while the Israelites were in light derives most directly from the plague of darkness (Exod. 10:23). But it is connected as well with the tradition that the whole exodus was a passage \u201cfrom darkness to great light\u201d (M. Pes. 10:5), aided by Ps. 107:12\u201314 and Isa. 1:9. This motif in turn came to be connected to the actual departure from Egypt, at which time the pillar of cloud and fire stood between the Israelites and the pursuing Egyptians (Exod. 14:20). An exegetical tradition held that the pillar simultaneous kept the Egyptians in darkness and illuminated the Israelites.
\n20:3. And carry up your mother Asenath to the road of Ephrat, and bury her next to Rachel your mother This verse underwent an interesting evolution. The above was probably the original form of the text, though it is not attested in any extant ms. Instead, since the phrase describing Rachel\u2019s burial site as \u201con the way to [derekh] Ephrat\u201d came to be translated in the LXX as \u201cthe way to the hippodrome,\u201d this same phrase \u201con the way to the hippodrome\u201d was substituted for \u201cto the road to Ephrat\u201d when the Testaments were translated into Greek. As for the phrase \u201cyour mother Asenath,\u201d this does exist in some Greek mss. and is apparently the original, since Asenath was indeed the mother of Joseph\u2019s children, the addressees of this text. But the subsequent reference to \u201cRachel your mother\u201d led some reviser to swap the mention of Asenath for that of Zilpah and Bilhah, in that way accounting for the transference of the remaining two of Israel\u2019s \u201cfour mothers\u201d to Canaan for burial (Leah and Rachel were already buried there).
\n20:5. And all Israel and all Egypt mourned for him with great mourning Gen. 50:10\u201312.
\n20:6. And in the exodus of the Israelites Instead of this ending, some mss.: \u201cFor he also had sympathy with the Egyptians as with his own limbs and showed them kindness, aiding them in every work and counsel and matter.\u201d These apologetic sentiments obviously represent those of either the Greek translator (probably situated in Alexandria, Egypt) or the later, Christian interpolator.
\nthey took Joseph\u2019s bones Exodus 13:19 \u201cand they buried him in Hebron\u201d\u2014surely a mistake for Shechem (Josh. 24:32), but perhaps original; cf. the similar confusion in Acts 7:16.<\/in><\/p>\n

The Testament of Benjamin
\n1:2. Just as Isaac was born to Abraham in his hundredth year (Cf. Gen. 21:5). But the rest of the sentence would then imply that Benjamin was likewise born to Jacob in his hundredth year. The Bible gives no indication of Jacob\u2019s age at the time of Benjamin\u2019s birth, beyond saying that Joseph was \u201ca child of his old age\u201d (Gen. 37:3)\u2014in which case Jacob would have been still older at Benjamin\u2019s birth. One Rabbinic sources does indeed puts Jacob\u2019s age at 100 at Benjamin\u2019s birth (Num. Rab. 14:8); however, Jubilees says Jacob was 97 (Jub. 19:13, 32:33).
\n1:3. So I was nursed by Bilhah, her servant-girl The same tradition is found in Bereshit Rabbati.
\n1:6. I was called Benjamin, that is \u201cson of days\u201d That is, Heb. ben yamim. This explanation of the name does not appear in the Bible, but it is found in Names 92, Midr. Lekah Tov ad Gen. 35:18, pointing out that the name is uniquely written in plene form (that is, with the letter yodh before the final consonant), as if to emphasize the etymology \u201cdays.\u201d
\n2:1. my brother Joseph recognized me Our author seems not to have noticed that, according to his own chronology, Benjamin was a six-year-old when Joseph last saw him, making this recognition somewhat unlikely. See below on 10:1.
\n2:2. Recognize if this is the tunic of your son Gen. 37:32, though cited slightly differently from the LXX.
\n2:3\u20134 This story, apparently an invention of the author (and rather garbled in all the mss.), was designed to account for a strange feature in the biblical narrative described earlier, the mention of both Midianites and Ishmaelites as the buyers of Joseph. Here, the Ishmaelites buy him first. His brothers had already taken away his fancy coat (Gen. 37:23, T. Zeb. 4:10), apparently replacing it with a simple piece of clothing, but even that was taken by one of his captors, so \u201cthey gave me a loin cloth,\u201d the minimum covering (and one characteristic of a slave), and, as a further sign of Joseph\u2019s subjection, \u201cflogged me and told me to run.\u201d However, the flogger is subsequently eaten by a lion; the Ishmaelites \u201ctook fright and sold me to their comrades,\u201d the Midianites, who then sold Joseph to Potiphar (Gen. 37:36).
\n3:1. So you as well Most mss. read \u201clove the LORD,\u201d but it may well be that the late ms. l has properly restored the transition by reading \u201cfear the LORD, the God of heaven and earth,\u201d since in the previous sentence it is the Ishmaelites who \u201ctook fright,\u201d apparently fearing the LORD after the miraculous death of Joseph\u2019s oppressor.
\n3:2. And let your thought Gk. dianoia appears frequently in this testament (see below, 4:1, 5:1, 6:5, 8:2) and elsewhere as well; it is sometimes best translated as \u201cthought\u201d and sometimes as \u201ccast of mind.\u201d
\n3:3. Fear the LORD and love your neighbor The normal pair would be \u201clove the LORD and love your neighbor,\u201d that is, the two ve\u2019ahavta commandments (see above on T. Iss. 5:1\u20132). But \u201cfear of the LORD\u201d is the dominant theme of 3:3\u20134.
\nshould seek to have you forced into every [sort of] evil The wicked emissaries of Beliar will try to pressure you into sinning, yet \u201cthey will not gain control over you,\u201d which is their goal (see on T. Ash. 1:4:8, 1:9).
\n3:4. How many men sought to kill him In the biblical account, only Joseph\u2019s brothers wished to do so (Gen. 37:19); to this T. Jos. adds Potiphar\u2019s wife\u2019s attempt to poison him (6:4\u20137), and perhaps also the Ishmaelites (11:3).
\ncannot be struck down by a Spirit of Beliar As recounted in the testaments of some of Benjamin\u2019s own brothers.
\n3:5. since he is helped by the love that he has for his neighbor Some mss.: \u201csince he is helped by the love of the LORD which he has for his neighbor,\u201d but this makes less good sense. This and the previous verse form a pair: the fear of God protects a person from Beliar\u2019s attacks (which originate in heaven), while love of neighbor protects him from attacks that originate on earth, from men or beasts.
\n3:6. the LORD would not count as a sin From Ps. 32:2.
\n4:1. what a good man finally receives Lit., the \u201cend result [Gk. telos] of a good man.\u201d
\nwith a willing heart Gk. \u201cwith good thought\u201d (agath\u0113 dianoia), but this probably represents Heb. belev tov, a willing heart.
\n4:2. a good man does not have a dark eye From the context it would seem the author meant something like \u201ca narrow eye\u201d (ayin tzarah) in Heb., that is, he is not envious or stingy; his absence of envy is the theme of the litany in 4:4.
\n4:3. And though they may conspire against him for ill Precisely as Joseph\u2019s brothers did; \u201cby doing good\u201d: as Joseph did\u2014for it was surely in his power to take revenge; \u201cbeing protected by God\u201d: just as Joseph was (Gen. 39:2); \u201cand the righteous he loves as his own soul\u201d: this last clause does not seem to follow what directly precedes it, but rather the last words of 4:2; it may be that the intervening words\u2014all relating to the example of Joseph in particular\u2014were added later on.
\n4:4. the prudent man he trusts The mss. read \u201ctrusting, he lauds,\u201d but all the other items have a single verb; perhaps this combination represents a scribe\u2019s attempt to include two variant readings in his new version. Note that in this catalogue of the good man\u2019s virtues, the phrase \u201cGod he praises\u201d likewise does not seem to fit\u2014perhaps the original item (\u201cthe one who loves God he praises\u201d or the like) was lost in transmission, or more likely, this item never was part of the original text in any form. The last item in this list (\u201cthe one who has the grace of a good spirit\u201d) is somewhat ambiguous here; it might refer to an external Spirit dispatched from heaven (i.e., a good Spirit), or it might be an internal \u201cspirit\u201d in the modern English sense.
\n5:1. If your cast of mind is good Dianoia; see above on 3:2.
\n5:3. For where the light of good deeds This sentence appears in various forms in the mss., and it looks in any case like a very Greek restatement of the previous sentence: \u201cgood works\u201d here become abstracted here into some sort of source of light, the marauding \u201cimpure spirits\u201d are not mentioned, and the wild animals are metaphorically transformed into darkness.
\n5:5. And if anyone betrays To hand over or denounce to the authorities (in this case, the oppressive Roman regime), often for money.
\nthe righteous man prays Not for the soul of his betrayer, but simply for help from God.
\nit is not long before he appears in finer fettle It may take a while (Joseph was in prison for more than two years, Gen. 41:1), but eventually, like Joseph, he may go from prison to high station (cf. Eccles. 4:14).
\n6:1. in the power of Deceit, Beliar\u2019s Spirit See above on T. Reub. 4:9.
\nbut the angel of peace guides his soul On the identity of this angel, see on T. Dan 6:2.
\n6:2. the things that [in any case] are subject to decay Gk. phthartoi, a term common in Aristotle\u2019s Metaphysics designating the transient things of this world\u2014riches, beauty, and all the rest of sublunary life.
\n6:3. He does not cause his neighbor pain This item does not seem to belong with the rest of the list, which otherwise has to do with restraint of appetites; it may have been added by another hand.
\nhe does not fall into error by lifting up his eyes That is, initiating some escapade with the opposite sex; see on T. Iss. 7:2.
\nfor the LORD is his portion Deut. 10:9; 18:2, said there of the real estate-less Levites, but used here of any good person who renounces his attachment to the things of this world.
\n6:5. The good cast of mind See above on 5:1.
\ndoes not [let a person] speak with two tongues Cf. the exposition of singleness in T. Iss. 3\u20137.
\nof poverty and of wealth This does not seem to belong in this list of inner traits.
\n6:6. It does not have double vision or [double] hearing That is, it has \u201csingleness\u201d in all things, while everything that Beliar does is double\u2014the great theme of T. Iss.
\n7:1. because he arms his followers All the wicked angels under his command.
\nwith a sword Judging by what follows, the author apparently does not mean simply that the wicked angels have the power to bring ill consequences, but the \u201csword\u201d here means what it often means in Heb. and other Semitic languages: warfare.
\n7:2. The sword is the mother of seven evils \u201cMother\u201d because \u201csword\u201d (Heb. hereb) is feminine. As noted, \u201csword\u201d is being used here in the common Heb. sense of \u201cwar\u201d; as for it being a \u201cmother,\u201d the author means that the war in question is the source of seven evils, to be listed next. (The use of \u201cfather\u201d or \u201cmother\u201d as meaning \u201csource\u201d or \u201cprincipal category\u201d is well known in Hebrew and other Semitic languages.) But this mention of a \u201cmother\u201d came to be misconstrued in Greek: if the text speaks of a mother, then she must have conceived and given birth! Therefore, in the bracketed portion of \u201cFirst < \u2026 > is envy\u201d: the mss. read: \u201cFirst the mind conceives through Beliar, and first there is.\u201d Here, the very repetition of \u201cfirst\u201d makes clear that this conceiving through Beliar is an insertion. It is best, therefore, to omit these words in order to obtain an understandable text. It is also noteworthy that, although this testament has been focused exclusively on the individual and his dianoia and inner traits, the evils listed here are all of a national character, the stages leading up to and following the nation\u2019s conquest: \u201cenmity \u2026 destruction \u2026 suffering \u2026 exile \u2026 impoverishment \u2026 panic \u2026 desolation.\u201d These seem to correspond to the general outline of mishaps that will befall Israel if it fails to keep God\u2019s covenant (found in the Torah\u2019s two \u201cadmonitions\u201d [tokhahot], Lev. 26 and Deut. 28).
\n7:3. Therefore See above on T. Reub. 6:5; here as well, the meaning is \u201cSpeaking of seven punishments.\u201d
\nCain as well was given over to seven punishments Gk. uses ekdikia, \u201cvengeance,\u201d but this is Heb. nekamah, which means both vengeance and (divine or human) retaliation; it is used because this verb appears in Gen. 4:15. That verse speaks of sevenfold vengeance being wreaked on any attacker of Cain, but the midrashic tradition understood it as referring to a sevenfold elaboration of Cain\u2019s punishment for murdering Abel: see LXX ad Gen. 4:15 and Philo, QG 1:77. Along with this went another interpretation, to the effect that Cain\u2019s punishment was suspended for seven generations: Ant. 1:58, Tg. Onk., Neof., Tg. Ps.-J. ad Gen. 4:24. Our passage seems to combine both ideas: Cain is not killed at once, but every hundred years (starting in his two hundredth year and ending seven hundred years later), he receives an additional plague, until finally he dies.
\n7:4. he was destroyed at the flood The Bible gives no account of Cain\u2019s death; that being the case, some interpreters assumed that he was among those killed in the flood: see Gen. Rab. 22:12. Another interpretive tradition connected the death of Cain with a hunting accident involving his own descendant Lamech.
\nbecause of the righteous Abel, his brother The rest of this verse seems to have been added as an afterthought, perhaps by a later hand. Cain\u2019s punishment has already been explained; that explanation is ignored here\u2014he simply was punished with \u201cseven evils.\u201d The remark about Lamech\u2019s greater punishment derives from Gen. 4:24. In the MT, Lamech is avenged seventy-sevenfold, but here, in keeping with the LXX, it is \u201cseventy times seven.\u201d
\n7:5. and hatred of a brother Since not hatred in general, but brother-hatred, is forbidden in Lev. 19:17.
\n8:3. when it shines on dung and refuse The comparison is somewhat odd\u2014did the author really want to say that pure thought comes into contact with the moral equivalent of horse manure? Surely mud would have been sufficient. That may well have been the original version in Heb.\u2014perhaps an expression like \u201cmire and mud\u201d (Heb. refesh va-tit, Isa. 57:20, omitted from the Old Greek translation). That would work well with the rest of the verse: \u201cso pure thought, though surrounded by the defilements of the earth, instead builds up\u201d: the last word is a problem, as Charles pointed out; one would expect some verb of purification rather than building. But perhaps the comparison is with mud bricks, which, once dried by the sun, not only lose their odor but serve to build a structure that is in no way defiled. (\u201cBuild up\u201d [in Gk. oikodomein] had the figurative meaning \u201cedify,\u201d \u201cstrengthen,\u201d \u201cestablish\u201d that would fit with \u201cpure thought.\u201d)
\n9:1. from the words of the righteous Enoch See above on T. Sim. 5:4.
\nthere will be doings [that are] not good A delicate euphemism, cf. Ezek. 20:25.
\nyou will fornicate with the licentiousness of Sodom Not necessarily sodomy, but licentiousness in the large sense (above on T. Reub. 1:6), of which Sodom had become the prime example.
\nyou will die out, except for a few; then you will start up again Perhaps the author has in mind the slaughter of Benjaminites that followed the wanton episode with the concubine at Gibeah (Judg. 19 and 20). This reduction in population, Benjamin predicts, will not teach his descendants anything, since \u201cthen you will start up again\u201d and ultimately be punished with exile.
\nand the LORD\u2019s kingship will not be among you Charles may be right in seeing an allusion here to the removal of the kingly line from Saul to David. The \u201ckingdom of God\/kingdom of heaven\u201d is, of course, a well-known Rabbinic concept, but it seems unlikely here.
\n9:2. But the temple of God will be in your portion A midrashic elaboration of Deut. 33:12 held that God was to \u201crest securely upon\u201d Benjamin\u2019s territory and dwell \u201camid its slopes\u201d\u2014that is, that the Temple was to be built in Benjamin\u2019s ancestral lands (which, according to this tradition, extended to include all or part of the Temple Mount).
\nand the last will be more glorious than the first Quoting Hag. 2:9 (but not according to the Old Greek translation).
\nAnd the twelve tribes will be gathered together That is, the lost ten tribes will be restored to their homeland.
\n10:1. For when Joseph was in Egypt, I longed to see what he looked like This verse is clearly out of place, and for that reason, one ms. (ms. c) excised it entirely. Charles suggested that it originally belonged just before 2:1 and that the latter verse should therefore be emended to read: \u201cAnd when I entered Egypt to Joseph and I had recognized my brother Joseph.\u201d In other words, 10:1 recounts a miraculous vision which allowed Benjamin to recognize Joseph when he went down to Egypt. (It remains only to observe that the words \u201cto Joseph\u201d in 2:1 are unnecessary and probably offer further evidence that the text has been confused in transmission.) As for Benjamin\u2019s vision of Joseph\u2019s face, our text says this came \u201cthanks to the prayers of my father Jacob.\u201d Perhaps the reference is to Jacob\u2019s prayer in Gen. 43:14; about this verse, one midrashic tradition held that in his prayer Jacob spoke prophetically, mentioning the fact that Joseph was still alive: \u201cJacob prophesied and did not know it: \u2018And let him set free your other brother and Benjamin\u2019: \u2018brother\u2019 refers to Simeon, \u2018your other\u2019 refers to Joseph, and Benjamin literally [means Benjamin]\u201d Avot R. Nat. B 43; see also Bereshit Zuta ad Gen. 43:14; Rashi ad loc. Still, that would not explain why Benjamin should recount having had such a vision. Perhaps Gen. 45:12 (where Joseph mentions that \u201cyour eyes and Benjamin\u2019s eyes\u201d can see that it is he) somehow suggested that Benjamin\u2019s identifying Joseph had taken place separately, previously; but I can find no ancient source to this effect.
\n10:3. Do truth and righteousness \u2026 and judgment The sentence in Greek is a bit strange. This seems to be a rather literal translation of a Hebrew sentence: asu emet utzdakah umishpat ish le\u2019ahiv, \u201cAct faithfully (cf. T. Iss. 7:5) and deal justly, each with his brother.\u201d In Heb., the phrase just translated as \u201cdeal justly\u201d contains a fixed pair of words that are the object of the verb, the words tzedakah umishpat\u2014lit. \u201crighteousness and justice.\u201d Technically, such a pair is called by grammarians a hendiadys, namely, two words conventionally combined to form a single meaning\u2014like \u201claw and order,\u201d \u201cnice and warm,\u201d \u201cgood and mad,\u201d etc. in English. Unfortunately, the Greek translator failed to see this and inserted the phrase \u201ctherefore, each with his brother\u201d right in the middle of the hendiadys. In addition, the Gk. words eis pistopoi\u0113sin (\u201cto prove faithful, confirm\u201d) don\u2019t make much sense by themselves; perhaps they were originally followed by \u201cthe LORD\u2019s Torah\u201d in the next clause. In short, the restored meaning is: \u201cAct faithfully and [deal] justly, each with his brother, to confirm the LORD\u2019s Torah; and keep His commandments.\u201d
\n10:4. that is what Abraham and Isaac and Jacob did as well In their own spiritual wills. Jacob most prominently in Gen. 49; Gen. 18:19 speaks of Abraham \u201cordering his sons,\u201d which might be interpreted as such a spiritual last will; in any case, Jub. 22:10\u201330 contains a lengthy section of Abraham\u2019s last words to Jacob; Isaac\u2019s spiritual testament is not adumbrated in Genesis, but it appears in Jub. 36.
\n10:5. For they bequeathed us all these things, saying, \u201cKeep God\u2019s commandments\u201d The long Christian insertion that follows was probably prompted by something now lost in the original text, whose next word was \u201cuntil.\u201d Perhaps the original said something like, \u201cuntil the LORD gathers together all the remnant of Israel.\u201d Such a sentence might then have been followed by \u201cThen we [i.e., Jacob\u2019s sons, the founders of those tribes] also will rise, each over his tribe, and then too, all men will rise, some to glory and some to disgrace,\u201d this last being a restatement of Dan. 12:2.
\n10:11. before the LORD\u2019s face A blatant Hebraism, lifnei H\u2019, that is, \u201cin the LORD\u2019s presence.\u201d
\nyou will again dwell securely with me Presumably in the world to come. Although there is no ms. support for it, one might well suppose that the \u201cwith me\u201d is a pious addition to a text that originally said that you (Benjamin\u2019s descendants) will again \u201cdwell securely\u201d (Deut. 33:28) and \u201call Israel,\u201d including the ten lost tribes, \u201cwill be gathered together\u201d once again.
\n11:1. And I will no longer be called a ravaging wolf An allusion to Gen. 49:27; the author suggests that Benjamin was so called not because of anything he himself did, but because of his descendants. The same explanation is found in Gen. Rab. 97 ad Gen. 49:27: \u201cJust as a wolf snatches [its prey], so will the tribe of Benjamin snatch away [women], as it says, \u2018[The Benjaminites were told:] As soon as you see the girls of Shiloh coming out to join the dances, come out from the vineyards; let each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh and go off to the land of Benjamin.\u2019 \u201d
\nbut a worker of the LORD, one who distributes food to those who do good An interpretation of the continuation of Gen. 49:27, \u201cand in the evening he divides the spoil.\u201d In late biblical Hebrew, the word for \u201cspoil\u201d (shalal) came to mean \u201cwealth\u201d\u2014thus Benjamin was converted into a dispenser of charity (cf. Midr. Sekhel Tov ad Gen. 49:27).
\n12:1. And when he had finished Ms. c has a somewhat shortened version of chapter 12, but for the reason discussed below, the longer version of other mss. seems preferable.
\n12:2. at a ripe old age Lit., \u201cin a good old age.\u201d
\n12:3. And in the ninety-first year after the Israelites [entered] Egypt The text reads \u201cin the ninety-first year of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt,\u201d but this is an obvious mistake: (entrance [Gk. eisodos] and exodus [exodos] are very similar in writing). Jubilees reports that the war between Egypt and Canaan broke out ninety-one years after the Israelites entered Egypt (Jub. 45:1 and 46:9), and it was at that time that the bones of all the patriarchs except Joseph were transferred to Hebron (Jub. 46:9); this verse seems to depend on the Jubilees dating. Part of this verse also restates T. Sim. 8:2\u20135; it seems more likely that, because of the repetition, ms. c omitted this historical note than that some editor added it into an originally shorter version.
\nthey and their brothers An odd phrase, presumably meaning Benjamin\u2019s children and their cousins, the descendants of the other patriarchs.<\/p>\n

Testament of Moses<\/p>\n

Kenneth Atkinson<\/p>\n

The Testament of Moses, also known as the Assumption of Moses, purports to contain Moses\u2019s farewell discourse to his successor Joshua. Closely modeled after the book of Deuteronomy, it summarizes Jewish history from the entrance into the Promised Land until the Day of Judgment.<\/p>\n

Authorship and History<\/p>\n

The author is unknown. The Testament of Moses was likely written in Jerusalem, or elsewhere in Palestine. It survives in a single, incomplete, partly illegible 6th-century-CE. Latin manuscript in the Ambrosian Library in Milan, Italy. It was partially erased to copy a Christian text, which caused much damage to the manuscript. The Latin contains numerous misspellings and grammatical errors. It was likely translated from a Greek edition, which was translated from a Hebrew or Aramaic original. References in Christian literature to a Testament of Moses and an Assumption of Moses indicate either that the composition circulated under different names, or that our present text is a combination of two separate works. Scholars disagree whether the Testament of Moses was written during the 1st century BCE and later updated, or composed during the 1st century CE.<\/p>\n

Significance<\/p>\n

There are no citations to the Testament of Moses in Jewish literature. The work is largely a retelling of biblical stories. It is reminiscent of material in several Dead Sea Scrolls (1Q22, 4Q374, 4Q377, and 4Q378). Stories about Moses\u2019s ascension are also found in later Jewish writings.<\/p>\n

GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n

The Testament of Moses is largely a rewriting of Deut. 31\u201334. The author assumes that the reader is familiar with Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel, and 1-2 Kings.<\/p>\n

SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n

Atkinson, Kenneth. \u201cTaxo\u2019s Martyrdom and the Role of the Nuntius in the Testament of Moses: Implications for Understanding the Role of Other Intermediary Figures.\u201d Journal of Biblical Literature 125 (Fall 2006): 453\u201376.
\nCharles, R. H. The Assumption of Moses: Translated from the Latin Sixth Century MS., the Unemended Text of which Is Published Herewith, Together with the Text in its Restored and Critically Emended Form. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1897.
\nHofmann, Johannes. Die Assumptio Mosis: Studien zur Rezeption massg\u00fcltiger \u00dcberlieferung. Leiden: Brill, 2000.
\nLicht, Jacob. \u201cTaxo, or the Apocalyptic Doctrine of Vengeance.\u201d Journal of Jewish Studies 12 (1961): 95\u2013103.
\nNickelsburg, George W. E., ed. Studies on the Testament of Moses: Seminar Papers. Cambridge: Society of Biblical Literature, 1973.
\nPriest, John. \u201cTestament of Moses (First Century ad): A New Translation and Introduction.\u201d In Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Volume 1, edited by James H. Charlesworth, 919\u201334. Garden City: Doubleday, 1983.
\nTromp, Johannes. The Assumption of Moses: A Critical Edition with Commentary. Leiden: Brill, 1993.
\nvan Henten, Jan Willem. \u201cMoses as Heavenly Messenger in Assumptio Mosis 10:2 and Qumran Passages.\u201d Journal of Jewish Studies 54 (Autumn 2003): 216\u201327.<\/p>\n

COMMENTARY<\/p>\n

1:1\u20133 The first three lines of text are missing The opening likely paraphrases Deut. 31:2 and 34:7 and may have read, \u201cthe book of the prophecy of Moses, which was given in the one hundred and twentieth year of his life.\u201d
\n1:3 oriental chronology Refers to some unknown dating system.
\nPhoenecia A transliteration of the Greek name Phoenicia (Latin Fynicis). The Septuagint (LXX) uses this Greek word, sometimes with slightly different spellings, for Canaan (see Exod. 16:35; Josh. 5:1, 12; Job 40:30).
\n1:4\u20135. after the exodus \u2026 this the prophecy which was made This chapter takes place after the completion of the Exodus from Egypt. The author claims that the Testament of Moses contains the instructions alluded to in Deut. 31:14.
\n1:7. the tent of testimony In the Bible, this is the Tent of Meeting, which contains the Ark of the Covenant. The \u201ctestimony\u201d refers to the commandments that were placed in the Ark (Exod. 25:16, 21; 40:20). The Testament of Moses makes no mention of the Levites, who cared for the Tent of Meeting (Num. 1:50; 3:6\u20138; 18:2\u20134), or the high priest Aaron. The book\u2019s author later implies that Moses fulfills Aaron\u2019s high priestly duties (T. Mos. 11:17). This may suggest that the writer considers Joshua a Levite, and therefore a worthy successor to Moses. The Mehilta Amalek 70 states that Moses regarded Joshua as his equal.
\n1:13. that the nations might be found guilty God has kept creation\u2019s purpose a secret so that the Gentiles would reveal their guilt.
\n1:14. he did design \u2026 me \u2026 from the beginning The author claims that God chose Moses before Creation to be a mediator of the covenant (cf. Jer. 1:5).
\n1:16. take this writing \u2026 to preserve the books The writing (scribtura) is Moses\u2019s prophecy in T. Mos. 2:1\u201310:10. It confirms the validity of the \u201cbooks\u201d (libri), that is, the Law. According to Deut. 31:23\u201326, Moses wrote the Law in a book that he instructed the Levites to place beside the Ark of the Covenant.
\n1:17. deposit them in earthenware jars Although the masculine relative pronoun \u201cthem\u201d (quos) in verse 17 refers to the \u201cbooks,\u201d it makes better sense if it describes the preservation of the \u201cwriting.\u201d This verse explains why Moses\u2019s prophecy was unknown in the past. Jeremiah 32:10\u201314 describes the preservation of important documents in jars. The first Dead Sea Scrolls were found in sealed jars.
\n2:1\u20133. (The people), under your leadership, will enter into the land Moses predicts that under Joshua\u2019s leadership the tribes of Israel will conquer the Land of Israel. The \u201ceighteen years\u201d represent 15 judges (including Joshua, Abimelech, and Samuel) and the first 3 kings (Saul, David, Solomon). Moses predicts the formation of the Northern Kingdom, which will be ruled by 19 kings (Jeroboam to Hoshea).
\n2:4. twelve tribes The Latin reads \u201ctwo\u201d and should be emended to \u201ctwelve,\u201d since the tribes are still united. The text here may be out of order. The present translation understands this verse as referring to the time before the tribes divided. The Latin here reads ferrum (iron), which is apparently a mistake for turrum (tower). The passage should likely be changed to read \u201ctower of his sanctuary.\u201d \u201cTower\u201d in Jewish literature is used for strength, and also can refer to the Temple. The verse likely alludes to 2 Sam. 6:1\u20132, where David and the tribes of Israel unsuccessfully attempted to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. If turrim is the correct reading, the author may equate the Temple with the Tent of Meeting.
\n2:5. But the ten tribes The Latin nam (but) indicates that this verse is parenthetical. It condemns the 10 tribes for making ordinances contrary to God\u2019s will.
\n2:6\u20137. twenty years. Seven \u2026 nine \u2026 Four Refers to the 20 kings of the Southern Kingdom. The author divides them into groups of 7, 9, and 4. Sifre Deuteronomy 357 states that God showed Moses the chain of Davidic Kings.
\n2:7. I will protect nine The Latin of this verse is difficult to understand and is apparently corrupt. The verb circumibo (\u201cI will encircle\u201d) does not make sense and may not have been in the original text. The translation changes the verb to \u201cI will protect\u201d since the Testament of Moses\u2019s author apparently believes that God will protect nine tribes. These verses incorporate material from Deut. 4:1\u201331, where God warns Moses of the punishments awaiting the tribes of Israel if they break the covenant. The sins of the four tribes are reminiscent of those committed by several biblical kings.
\n3:1. a king \u2026 from the east The Babylonian monarch Nebuchadnezzar.
\n3:2\u20133. will burn their city with the holy Temple The author views Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s burning of Jerusalem and the First Temple, and the exile of the two tribes, as punishment for Israel\u2019s having violated the covenant. The Latin word colonia, \u201ccity,\u201d suggests that the Greek, or possibly Latin, translation was made after 135 CE, when the Roman emperor Hadrian transformed Jerusalem into a Roman colony known as colonia Aelia Capitolina.
\n3:6\u20139. hearing the reproachful words of the two tribes The 2 tribes claim that they are being punished for the sins of the 10 tribes (for this belief, see 2 Bar. 77:4). The 10 tribes challenge this accusation by pointing out that all the tribes of Israel must be guilty of sin, since God has exiled all of them. Now convinced of their sin, the 2 tribes join the 10 tribes and appeal to God to remember the covenant (cf. Gen. 17:8; Pss. Sol. 9:10).
\n3:13\u201314. prophecies \u2026 have been confirmed \u2026 they will be as slaves for about seventy-seven years The author believes that because God is holy, punishment implies sin. The tribes of Israel recognize that Moses has predicted their sufferings in the Torah, which promises that the tribes of Israel will not perish (Lev. 26:39\u201342; Deut. 4:29\u201331; cf. 2 Bar. 84:2\u20135). The prophet Jeremiah predicted that the exile would last for 70 years (Jer. 25:11\u201312; 29:10). Daniel 9:24 interprets Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy as 70 weeks of years. It is unclear to which date the figure \u201cseventy-seven years\u201d corresponds.
\n4:1\u20134. one who is over them The identity of the mysterious intercessor of T. Mos. 4:1 is uncertain. The similarities with Dan. 9:4\u201319 and 2 Esd. (4 Ezra) 8:20\u201336 have led many to identify him with Daniel or Ezra. He could be an official or an angel.
\n4:5\u20136. God will \u2026 inspire a king to \u2026 send them home God answers the intercessor\u2019s prayer by ending the exile. The author believes that this restoration is dependent on God\u2019s faithfulness to the covenant (Lev. 26:39\u201342; Deut. 4:29\u201331). The \u201cking\u201d is the Persian monarch Cyrus, whose edict allowed the Jews to return from captivity (Ezra 1:1\u20134; 2 Chron. 36:22\u201323).
\n4:7. some parts of the tribes The \u201cplace\u201d referred to here is Jerusalem, which the Persian monarch Cyrus allowed the Jews to restore. After considerable delay, Nehemiah managed to fulfill this edict (Neh. 2:11\u201317; 6:1\u201316).
\n4:8. the two tribes An honorific title for the faithful. Because the two tribes are unable to bring sacrifices to the Jerusalem temple, this implies that \u201csome parts of the tribes\u201d of T. Mos. 4:7 had failed to uphold the covenant. Their transgressions make it impossible for \u201cthe two tribes\u201d to offer sacrifices. Some scholars interpret verse 8 as a rejection of the Second Temple.
\n4:9 The Latin of this verse makes no sense, and the translation is based on a number of emendations. It likely refers to the \u201cten tribes\u201d of the Diaspora.
\n5:1. when \u2026 punishment arises through kings The author warns that the rule of wicked kings shows that the final judgment is approaching. Because the book progresses in chronological order, this chapter describes the period between the Temple\u2019s restoration and the reestablishment of the monarchy by the Jewish family known as the Hasmoneans. The \u201ckings\u201d refer to the Seleucid rulers of Syria, especially Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175\u201364 BCE) who persecuted the Jews.
\n5:3. Consequently the word was fulfilled This Latin phrase is difficult to understand, since the verb is in the perfect tense and lacks a subject. It is impossible to tell whether the author quotes some unknown book, or whether this verse is a pastiche of passages from the Bible and Jewish literature (cf. Deut. 31:16, 29; Jer. 11:10).
\n5:4\u20136. For they will not follow the truth of God The author likely refers to the priests before the Maccabean revolt. Many adopted Greek culture to win the favor of the Seleucid rulers of Syria (2 Macc. 4:14\u201317)
\n5:4. They are not \u2026 priests \u2026 but slaves The word \u201cslaves\u201d implies that some were not from priestly families. This may be a reference to the high priest Menelaus, who was not from a priestly line (2 Macc. 4:23\u201327).
\n5:6. judges who will act with impiety This verse is modeled after Deut. 16:18\u201319, where God commands officials and judges to be fair and impartial.
\n6:1. powerful kings These rulers are the Maccabees and their descendants, who opposed the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes\u2019s attempt to eradicate Judaism. Mattathias was the founder of this family. His son Judas is often called Maccabee (\u201cthe Hammer\u201d), which became a name for his family. They are also known as the Hasmoneans, meaning \u201cdescendants of Hashmonay,\u201d after Mattathias\u2019s great-grandfather (Josephus, Life, 2). Beginning with Mattathias\u2019s son Simon (140 BCE), the Hasmoneans ruled an independent Jewish State until the Roman conquest of 63 BCE.
\n6:2\u20136. a wanton king \u2026 will punish them The 34-year reign of this king corresponds to the duration of Herod the Great\u2019s time in office (37\u20134 BCE) as recorded by Josephus (Ant. 17.191). The crimes listed are rather generic, but may allude to Herod\u2019s involvement in the execution of several Hasmoneans.
\n6:7. And he will beget heirs This passage refers to Herod\u2019s sons Antipas (4 BCE\u201339 CE), Philip (4 BCE\u201334 CE), and Archelaus (4 BCE\u20136 CE), all of whom governed portions of their father\u2019s realm. Because the author predicts that Herod\u2019s children will rule for \u201cshorter periods of time\u201d than their father, the Testament of Moses was likely written while some of them were still in power.
\n6:8\u20139. a powerful king of the West Refers to Publius Quinctilius Varus, the Roman governor of Syria (7\u20134 BCE). In 4 BCE, he suppressed riots that broke out in Judea after Herod the Great\u2019s death, during which Roman soldiers set fire to the Temple. Varus subsequently crucified some 2000 Jews (Josephus, J.W. 2.75). Josephus described Varus\u2019s intervention in Jerusalem as one of the most important events that occurred between Pompey\u2019s conquest of the city in 63 BCE and Vespasian\u2019s destruction of the Temple in 70 CE (Ag. Ap. 1.34). The Seder\u2019Olam Rabbah refers to these events as \u201cthe war of Varus.\u201d
\n7:1\u20132. When this has taken place The author believes that Varus\u2019s burning of the Temple marks the beginning of a series of terrible events that will precede the Day of Judgment. This passage may provide a clue to the date of the book. In 9 CE, Germanic tribes massacred Varus and his three legions in the Teutoburg Forest. Because the text does not mention Varus\u2019s death as divine punishment for his atrocities in Jerusalem, the author either did not know of it, or wrote the Testament of Moses while he was still alive. The last part of verse 1 and most of verse 2 are missing. The extant text mentions \u201cfour hours will come\u201d (7:2). This calculation is likely an apocalyptic formulation similar to Dan. 7:25; 12:7.
\n7:3\u20137. Then will rule The author describes the reign of \u201cdestructive and godless men\u201d who will rule during the first period of the terrible events. This section is reminiscent of the persecution of Antiochus IV Epiphanes in Dan. 11:21\u201339. Similar language is found in 4Q248 and 4Q385b.
\n7:8\u201310. We shall have feasts In these two verses the sinners speak and encourage one another to commit additional acts of debauchery.
\n8:1\u20134. And there will come God raises \u201ca king of the kings\u201d to afflict people before the final judgment. The Bible uses this title for the Babylonian monarch Nebuchadnezzar (Ezek. 26:7; Dan. 2:37) and the Persian king Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:12). Some scholars believe that T. Mos. 8\u20139 contains an eyewitness account of the persecution by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. According to this theory, the Testament of Moses was updated with the additions of chapters 6\u20139, which describe the 1st century BCE. Verse 4 is reminiscent of 2 Macc. 6:7, which claims that the Seleucids forced Jews to wear ivy wreaths and march in a procession to the god Dionysus. During this time, some Jews used medical procedures to hide their circumcision to join with the Gentiles (1 Macc. 1:15). The author, however, predicts that the situation will be reversed: young boys will be operated on to provide them with a foreskin (T. Mos. 8:3). This procedure, known as epispasm, reached its greatest popularity during the 1st century CE, and may provide additional evidence for the date of the book\u2019s composition. The Mekhilta Amalek 105\u201325 expands on Exod. 4:25\u201326, where Moses\u2019s wife Zipporah circumcised their son, to emphasize the importance of circumcision. Because evil foreign rulers often play a symbolic role in biblical and Second Temple period Jewish writings, the \u201cking of the kings\u201d is likely a mythical figure.
\n8:5. secret place Latin abditus, which could refer either to the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem Temple, or to the inner room of a pagan temple where an image of a god is located.
\nthey will be compelled to blaspheme outrageously Literally, \u201cthey will be forced with goads to blaspheme outrageously.\u201d A goad is a sharp stick used to prod animals that could also be used as a weapon (Judg. 3:31). It is used metaphorically to describe God\u2019s prodding of humans to encourage them to follow the Law (Eccles. 12:11; Pss. Sol. 16:4).
\n9:1. Then, even as he was speaking The translation adds the adverb \u201cthen\u201d before the Latin phrase illo dicente (\u201ceven as he was speaking\u201d) on the supposition that the verse refers to someone not mentioned in the preceding paragraph. The problem with this interpretation is that the line interrupts the narrative by introducing a new figure who abruptly disappears. Because of the poor quality of the Latin, many scholars assume that this phrase is an error for \u201cin that day\u201d (illo die). This reading makes better sense, since the chapter describes the reactions of an innocent Levite named Taxo to the persecutions of T. Mos. 8. There is no satisfactory explanation for Taxo\u2019s apparently symbolic name.
\n9:2\u20135. See (my) sons, behold a second punishment Taxo expects the present crises, the \u201csecond punishment,\u201d to be worse than the first, which was the destruction of Jerusalem (3:1\u20133). The author alludes to incidents from the Exodus to portray Taxo as a righteous intercessor like Moses (Exod. 17; Num. 20). Taxo likely alludes to Moses\u2019s blessing of Levi in Deut. 33:8\u201311 to emphasize that his family has never sinned or tempted God. His speech also echoes Mattathias\u2019s final testament to his sons to remain innocent like their biblical ancestors (1 Macc. 2:49\u201368).
\n9:6\u20137. We shall fast Because Taxo and his sons are the only priests who have kept the Law, they alone are qualified to act as intercessors. The author likely alludes to Lev. 16:29\u201330, which requires all Jews to fast and cease from labor on the Day of Atonement. Taxo believes his action will provoke God to take vengeance against the nations.
\n9:7. our blood will be avenged The mention of blood suggests that Taxo and his sons expect to suffer a violent death.
\n10:1. Then his kingdom will appear \u2026 the devil will have an end God will avenge the death of Taxo and his sons by defeating the devil and bringing peace and happiness.
\n10:2. Then will be filled the hands of the messenger The identity of the messenger (Latin nuntius) in this verse is the most debated topic in the Testament of Moses. He has been identified as a human, Taxo, Moses, and an angel. The latter is the most likely interpretation, since the word nuntius refers to angels in Latin texts contemporary with the date of our manuscript. The messenger is also a priest, since the idiom \u201cto fill the hand\u201d (translated as \u201cto ordain\u201d in NJPS) refers to the consecration of priests in the Bible and Jewish writings.
\n10:3\u20137. For the Heavenly One will arise \u2026 \/ In full view will he come This section is a hymn that describes a theophany (God\u2019s appearance in visible form). It connects with the preceding passage about the messenger as God\u2019s agent of vengeance. The author portrays God as a divine warrior (cf. Deut. 33; Mic. 1:3\u20134; Hab. 3).
\n10:8\u201310. Then will you be happy, O Israel! The author is likely paraphrasing biblical passages that refer to Israel\u2019s exaltation, which often depict God as an eagle and the nation as a fledgling, to describe God\u2019s fulfillment of his promises (Exod. 19:4; Deut. 32:11\u201313; Isa. 40:31). It is uncertain whether these verses are to be interpreted metaphorically, or whether they describe an afterlife in heaven or astral immortality. Verses 8\u20139 may allude to the disturbances in 4 BCE following the removal of an eagle that Herod the Great had placed over an entrance to the Temple.
\n10:11\u201315. But you, Joshua son of Nun Moses ends his prophecy by reminding Joshua to keep the words he has just spoken (\u201cthese words\u201d), which are also written in a book. This book must be preserved for \u201c250 times.\u201d This figure is likely intended to balance T. Mos. 1:2, which states that Moses began his prophecy \u201ctwenty five hundred years\u201d after Creation.
\n11:1\u20134. And when Joshua heard \u2026 he tore his garments Joshua becomes inconsolable at the conclusion of Moses\u2019s prophecy and makes the traditional gestures of mourning.
\n11:5\u20138. What place will receive you The Latin of these verses is difficult and in some places illegible. The translation conveys the likely sense of the original. In verse 7, Joshua expresses his doubt that any human can move Moses\u2019s body to his grave. Because of Moses\u2019s uniqueness, Joshua doubts that it is even possible to construct a fitting monument to house his remains. This section likely foreshadows Moses\u2019s burial by the angel Michael that was probably contained in the Testament of Moses\u2019s lost conclusion.
\n11:9\u201315. Now, master, you are going away Portions of this section are either missing or nearly incomprehensible in Latin. The present translation offers the most likely reconstruction, with explanatory words in parentheses. Joshua believes that without Moses\u2019s continual prayer, the tribes of Israel will not enter the Promised Land. The author incorporates images from a number of biblical passages that describe God as a parent and Israel as a child. The number 100,000 in verse 14 is likely intended to show that the tribes have increased as a result of Moses\u2019s leadership.
\n16\u201319. Moreover, when the kings of the Amorites hear This section alludes to Josh. 5:1, where the Amorites cower in fear before Joshua and the tribes of Israel. It parallels T. Mos. 12:8, where Moses assures Joshua that he will defeat Israel\u2019s enemies despite the nation\u2019s sin. Although Joshua calls Moses the \u201cgreat messenger\u201d (magnus nuntius) at 11:17, it is unlikely that he is the messenger (nuntius) of 10:2.
\n12:1\u20135. And Moses grasped his hand \u2026 and responding to him said Moses answers Joshua\u2019s questions by stressing God\u2019s providence. The author recognizes that Israel is included among the nations, and that God controls the fate of both. Because nothing happens without God\u2019s approval, Israel\u2019s suffering is part of God\u2019s plan. Sifre Numbers 140 has Moses raising Joshua from the ground to a bench.
\n12:6\u20139. established me for them Moses tells Joshua that Israel will be successful not because of its strength, but because of God\u2019s mercy. The author implies that Joshua is the prophet predicted in Deut 18:15.
\n12:10\u201313. Therefore, those who truly fulfill the commandments The author echoes the promise in Deut. 4:31 that God will never abandon Israel, or forget the covenant. Moses urges Joshua to obey the commandments so that Israel will prosper. Verse 13 ends in midsentence, and presumably continued Moses\u2019s speech to Joshua. [MS ends.] We can partially reconstruct the lost ending through the Christian writer Gelasius of Cyzicenus (5th century CE). He preserves the following quotation from T. Mos. 12:<\/p>\n

In the book of the Assumption of Moses, the archangel Michael, disputing with the devil says, \u201cWe have all been created from His holy spirit.\u201d And elsewhere [Michael] says, \u201cGod\u2019s spirit went forth from his presence, and the word came into being.\u201d<\/p>\n

This passage shows that the Testament of Moses concluded with an account of a dispute between Michael and the devil over Moses\u2019s body. Although it is possible that Moses\u2019s body or spirit ascended to heaven, it is perhaps more probable that the angel Michael buried it, and took his spirit to heaven. Legends about Moses\u2019s death are also found in other Second Temple writings.<\/p>\n

Testament of Kohath<\/p>\n

Andrew D. Gross<\/p>\n

The Aramaic composition Testament of Kohath (known from only a single manuscript, 4Q542), is preserved in three fragments, only one of which contains a substantial amount of text. The testament genre, well attested in both biblical and post-biblical literature, features a dying patriarch giving words of admonition and wisdom to his children and followers. Scholars generally group this text with the Testament of Levi and the Visions of Amram, as a trilogy of testaments featuring priestly patriarchs. The text emphasizes the role of the priests to serve as models of purity and rectitude, as well as their mandate to instruct the nation as a whole and their fellow priests in particular in these values (cf. Deut. 33:10). These attitudes toward the role of the priesthood in Jewish society overlap greatly with those found in the sectarian texts from Qumran, where the three extant fragments of this manuscript were discovered. While this could explain the presence of this text in the Qumran library, it was likely not a sectarian composition.
\nThough Kohath\u2019s name (sometimes written Qahat) is not preserved in the extant portions of this text, we can identify him as the speaker by his references to \u201cLevi, my father,\u201d and \u201cAmram, my son\u201d (cf. Num. 3:19; 26:58). Because much of the text\u2019s narrative context has been lost, some scholars are more circumspect about classifying this text as a testament and thus refer to this work as \u201cThe Admonitions of Kohath.\u201d
\nThe three extant fragments were discovered in Cave 4 at Qumran and have been dated paleographically to the late 2nd century BCE. Carbon-14 dating of this manuscript, however, has suggested a date at least two centuries earlier. Some attribute this wide divergence in dating, unparalleled for other scrolls that underwent Carbon-14 testing, to contamination of the sample.<\/p>\n

SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n

Caquot, Andr\u00e9. \u201cGrandeur et puret\u00e9 du sacerdoce: Remarques sur le Testament de Qahat (4Q542).\u201d In Solving Riddles and Untying Knots: Biblical, Epigraphic, and Semitic Studies in Honor of Jonas C. Greenfield, edited by Ziony Zevit, Seymour Gitin, and Michael Sokoloff, 39\u201344. Winona Lake IN: Eisenbrauns, 1995.
\nCook, Edward M. \u201cRemarks on the Testament of Kohath from Qumran Cave 4.\u201d JJS 44 (1993): 205\u201319.
\nDrawnel, Henryk. \u201cThe Literary Form and Didactic Content of the Admonitions (Testament) of Qahat.\u201d In From 4QMMT to Resurrection: M\u00e9langes qumraniens en hommage \u00e0 \u00c9mile Puech, edited by Florentino Garc\u00eda Mart\u00ednez, Annette Steudel, and Eibert Tigchelaar, 55\u201373. STDJ 61. Leiden: Brill, 2008.
\nPuech, \u00c9mile. \u201cLe Testament de Qahat en aram\u00e9en de la grotte 4 (4QTQah).\u201d RevQ 15, nos. 57\u201358 (1991): 23\u201354.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. Qumr\u00e2n Grotte 4. XXII. Textes aram\u00e9ens premi\u00e8re partie 4Q529\u2013549. DJD 31. Oxford: Clarendon, 2001, 257\u201382, Pl. XV.<\/p>\n

COMMENTARY<\/p>\n

1:1. may he make his light shine upon you The text here alludes to the priestly benediction from Num. 6:24\u201326, and thereby exemplifies its focus on issues concerning the priesthood.
\n1:6. assimilation Some relate the Aram. here, kyl\u2019yn, here to the Heb. kilay, \u201cknave,\u201d known from Isa. 32:5, 7. It is more likely, however, related to the term kil\u2019ayim, the Heb. term used in Lev. 19:19 and Deut. 22:9 to refer to forbidden mixtures. According to this latter interpretation, the text here warns against intermarriage, a theme attested elsewhere in contemporary Jewish literature (e.g., Some Precepts of the Torah [4QMMT], Jubilees, and the Testament of Levi).
\n1:7. they will become foreigners to you The author uses the Aram. twtbyn, here translated as \u201cforeigners,\u201d as opposed to nkr\u2019yn (\u201cstrangers\u201d) in line 5 and the abovementioned kyl\u2019yn in line 6. The nuance that differentiates this term from the others is somewhat obscure, though perhaps the \u201cstrangers\u201d in line 5 are Jews of non-priestly lineage, while \u201cforeigners\u201d refers to non-Jews entirely. The historical context for this statement may have been the Hellenistic crisis of the early 2nd century BCE, with this more specifically being a polemic against Hellenizing Jews whom the author felt were denigrating the traditions of the priesthood.
\n1:9. [inte]rmixture The word [\u2018r]brwb is partially restored here, but it seems to fit the context here, given the earlier admonitions against illicit sexual encounters.<\/p>\n

Testament of Job<\/p>\n

Harold W. Attridge<\/p>\n

The Testament of Job is representative of a widely used genre in Second Temple Judaism. The fictive setting is a deathbed scene in which a revered elder addresses his children. Biblical models were the blessing of Jacob on his sons (Gen. 47:29\u201350:14) and the book of Deuteronomy\u2014in effect, the last testament of Moses. Examples of this genre, which provided a vehicle for ethical instruction, include the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, the Testament of Abraham, the Testament of Jacob, and the Testament of Solomon. The Testament of Job is particularly close to the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, although it focuses not on a patriarch of Israel, but on a figure from the Writings. It uses the story of Job, which it embellishes at many points, as a model of the virtue of patience or endurance. It also highlights other virtues of Job, such as his generosity to the poor.<\/p>\n

Authorship and History<\/p>\n

The Testament of Job was probably composed in the 1st century BCE or CE. Although some scholars have speculated that it may have been written originally in Hebrew or Aramaic and translated into Greek, there are no sure linguistic indications of such a process and there are close affinities between the Testament and the Septuagint. Hence, it was most probably composed in Greek. The Testament was probably known to Tertullian, a Christian active in Carthage in the early 3rd century CE, in his work on patience (De patientia). The Testament survives in three Greek manuscripts dating from the 11th to the 14th centuries. It was also translated in antiquity into Coptic, the language of Christian Egypt. Of that translation there survives a partial text preserved on papyrus from the 5th century CE. By the 10th century, the Testament was also translated into Old Church Slavonic, of which three manuscripts survive. These Greek, Coptic, and Slavonic manuscripts suggest the popularity of the work, particularly in Christian circles of late antiquity. It was, however, condemned as an extracanonical apocryphon in the 6th-century Gelasian Decree and was ignored in the West through the Middle Ages.
\nThe author of the Testament of Job is unknown. Although the work was preserved in Christian circles, there is nothing explicitly Christian about its teaching. The Testament does contain beliefs that were shared by early Christians regarding the character of Satan as an inimical deceiver and the fate of the soul, and even the belief that the bodies of Job\u2019s dead children were taken up into heaven (T. Job 39:13). Yet such beliefs are attested in other Jewish sources of the Second Temple period. Their presence in Christian sources is evidence of the movement\u2019s Jewish roots. There are, moreover, some specifically Jewish concerns, such as the prohibition on marrying outside the faith (45:3). Hence, the author was probably a Jewish teacher in Egypt, interested, like the authors of other testaments, in providing a vehicle for ethical instruction. He may have had some connection with a group of pious Jews known as the Therapeutae, who are described by the Alexandrian philosopher and interpreter of Scripture Philo. There are, however, some scholars who believe that the Testament may be a Christian composition.<\/p>\n

Significance<\/p>\n

The Testament of Job offers a view into the world of readers of the biblical book of Job among Greek-speaking Jews of the Hellenistic period. The Testament displays a close relationship to the Greek translation of the book of Job, which differs in many respects from the Hebrew, or Masoretic text. The Testament often reflects those differences, but further expands the story. The Testament also offers evidence of other aspects of Jewish piety of the period, including hints of mysticism and magical practice in its final chapters. Its many poetic sections (chaps. 25, 32, 33, 43, 53) contain what may be examples of the hymns and liturgical poetry of the period. Although the text was suppressed, the memory of Job as an example of patience, forcefully expressed in the Testament, came to dominate Western Christian estimations of his significance.<\/p>\n

GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n

The Testament of Job is framed by a prologue (chap. 1), which sets the stage for the story, and an epilogue (chaps. 51\u201353), which reports Job\u2019s death and burial and describes the ascent of his soul to heaven. The rest of the Testament describes the interactions between Job and various other characters: an angel (chaps. 2\u20135), Satan (chaps. 6\u201327), his three royal friends (chaps. 28\u201345), and his three daughters (chaps. 46\u201350). The interactions often echo language from various parts of canonical Job, in its Greek form. The author of the Testament delights in the practice, found in much Greek literature, of composing speeches in the person of his chief character. His interests are practical and not speculative. Hence the problem of theodicy\u2014how can bad things happen if God is good and omnipotent?\u2014posed so forcefully by the biblical book, receives only passing mention (37:5\u20137). Theological speculation is deemed useless and the character of Job here insists on the limits of human knowledge (38:5). What counts is a life of virtue in which patience looms large. What grounds the patience is the assurance of a heavenly reward, a \u201cthrone\u201d (33:3) for the righteous.<\/p>\n

SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n

Collins, John J. Between Athens and Jerusalem, rev. ed. Grand Rapids MI: Erdmans, 2000.
\nDavila, James R. The Provenance of the Pseudepigrapha: Jewish, Christian, or Other? JSJS Sup 105. Leiden: Brill, 2005.
\nJacobs, I. \u201cLiterary Motifs in the Testament of Job.\u201d JJS 21 (1970): 1\u201310.
\nKee, Howard Clark. \u201cSatan, Magic, and Salvation in the Testament of Job.\u201d In SBL: 1974 Seminar Papers, edited by George MacRae, 1:53\u201376. Cambridge MA: SBL, 1974.
\nKnibb, M. A., and P. van der Horst, Studies on the Testament of Job. SNTSMS 66. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
\nKohler, K. \u201cThe Testament of Job: An Essene Midrash on the Book of Job Reedited and Translated with Introductory and Exegetical Notes.\u201d In Semitic Studies in Memory of Rev. Dr. Alexander Kohut, edited by G. Kohut; Berlin: S. Calvary, 1897.
\nKraft, Robert A., with Harold Attridge, R. Spittler, and Janet Timbie. The Testament of Job According to the SV Text. SBL Texts and Translations 5. Pseudepigrapha Series 4. Missoula MT: Scholars Press, 1974.
\nSpittler, R. \u201cTestament of Job: A New Translation and Introduction.\u201d In The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, edited by James Charlesworth, 1:829\u201368. Garden City NY: Doubleday, 1985.<\/p>\n

COMMENTARY<\/p>\n

1:1. Jobab The information that Job also had the name Jobab is also found in the Septuagint (Job 42:17b LXX). Jobab is the name of a king of Edom, according to Gen. 36:33. The use of the name may support the treatment of Job as a king, although here the king of all Egypt (T. Job 28:7). Details about Job\u2019s lineage, also paralleled in the Septuagint, appear in verse 6. Various views on Job\u2019s date and lineage are found in B. BB 15a\u201315b. Among these are the claims that Job was a fictional character or that he was among those who returned from the Babylonian exile, as a fantastically long-lived patriarch. None of these opinions are reflected in the Testament.
\n3. his seven sons and his three daughters The number of Job\u2019s children corresponds to the number of his first set of offspring (Job 1:2; 42:13).
\nNames Job\u2019s sons are not named in the biblical account. His daughters, following Job 42:14 LXX, have Greek names. Hemera means \u201cDay\u201d; Kasia, \u201cCinnamon\u201d; Amaltheia\u2019s Horn refers to the myth of the she-goat that nourished the infant Zeus, whose broken horn became the Cornucopia or horn of plenty. The name also appears in B. BB 16b, and the Targum to Job 42:14. These daughters will play an important role in T. Job 46\u201353.
\n5. endurance Or patience; the central virtue exemplified by the life of Job according to the Testament. Cf. 4:6; 5:1; 27:7.
\n6. sons of Esau, the brother of Jacob Job 42:17 LXX also reports that Job was the son of Zore, of the children of Esau.
\nDinah Job\u2019s second wife is the daughter of Jacob and Leah (Gen. 30:21; 46:15). Job is thus connected by marriage to the patriarchs. The legend of Job\u2019s marriage to Dinah is found in other Jewish sources, including Pseudo-Philo (L.A.B. 8:7\u20138), which records that his sons bore the names of Esau\u2019s sons. See also Genesis Rabbah 57.
\nMy former wife Named Sitis, she will appear later (T. Job 21\u201326).
\n2:2. idol\u2019s temple The pagan deity is not identified. Other accounts of the Second Temple period told of similar encounters with polytheism on the part of Israelite heroes. The 2nd-century BCE Jubilees (12:12) ascribes a similar action to Abraham. The Talmud (B. BB 15b) reports that Job prophesied to the heathen.
\n3:1. voice \u2026 light The story of the call of Samuel (1 Kings 3) reports revelation from a heavenly voice. The combination of light and voice recalls especially the divine apparition to Moses on Mt. Horeb in Exod. 3:1\u20136.
\n3. whole burnt offerings For such offerings, see Lev. 1.
\ndrink offerings Ritual libations were well known in Greek and Roman religion.
\npower of the devil The devil, usually called Satan (T. Job 6:4), is a major character in the Testament. This episode shows that Job\u2019s opposition to him antedates his sufferings.
\nhuman nature Gk. physis. This reference evokes Greek speculation about what constitutes humanity, but the reference to its deception by the devil evokes Gen. 3:1\u20137.
\n5. salvation of my soul The Testament assumes the model of the human being common in the Hellenistic world and accepted by Jews influenced by Greek culture, according to which the true self was the immortal soul. For further evidence of the soul-body distinction, see T. Job 20:3.
\n6. Satan The figure of Satan has been transformed from the book of Job. There, he is a member of the heavenly court who does the divine will as a chief prosecutor. Here, he is a hostile force, who will battle against Job (4:3\u20134). The description of Satan as a source of deceit is also found in Rabbinic sources, such as B. B. B. 16a, in the name of Resh Laqish, who also equates Satan with the Angel of Death.
\n4:9. resurrection The book of Job holds out no hope of resurrection. Job 19:25\u201327, \u201cBut I know that my Vindicator lives \u2026 I would behold God while still in my flesh\u201d poetically expresses hope that Job\u2019s condition of degradation would be reversed. By the late Second Temple period, belief in the resurrection of the just, at least, was accepted. It finds its canonical expression in Dan. 12:2\u20133, composed in the first half of the 2nd century CE. Cf. also 2 Macc. 7:14. Thereafter, Pharisees and, in their footsteps, early Christians, embraced the hope in a future resurrection. Job 42:17 LXX shares in that hope. The wording of Job could be construed in other ways. According to B. BB 16a, Rava interpreted Job 7:9 to indicate the Job denied the resurrection of the Dead.
\n10. athlete Athletic imagery reappears in T. Job 27:3\u20135. Such imagery was common in ancient moralists, which often depicted life as a test of virtue. See, for example, Epictetus, Discourses 2.27.
\nthe crown The laurel wreath awarded to a victor in ancient athletic competition. For a similar metaphor in the New Testament see 2 Tim. 4:7\u20138. Crowns will reappear at T. Job 40:3; 43:14.
\n6:4. disguised himself For further demonic disguises see T. Job 17:2; 20:5; 23:1.
\n9:2. 130,000 sheep The passage portrays Job\u2019s wealth in more extravagant terms than the biblical story. By the standards of agricultural holdings of the 1st century, the numbers cited in Job 1:3 would have seemed quite small. The Testament of Job suggests that Job\u2019s wealth was vast and explains the biblical numbers as references to but a small part of his holdings. Job 1:3 mentions 7,000 sheep, which the Testament indicates was only the portion of Job\u2019s flocks designated for poor relief. The Testament regularly explains the biblical numbers as indications of Job\u2019s generosity. Job\u2019s charitable impulses are noted in B. B. B 15b.
\n3. 80 dogs guarding my flocks Job 30:31 mentions the dogs of Job\u2019s flocks; our author specifies their number, and then immediately embellishes by mentioning the 200 dogs that guard Job\u2019s house.
\n4. 9,000 camels The Testament again expands the number and explains the biblical number of 3,000 (Job 1:3) by limiting them to those chosen \u201cto work in every city.\u201d
\n6. 140,000 grazing she-asses. From these \u2026 500 The elaboration continues. The 500 she-asses designated for the poor and the needy echoes the total number of donkeys mentioned in Job 1:3.
\n7. four doors The description of Job\u2019s virtuous use of his wealth echoes Job 31:32\u201337 LXX. The note that his doors were open is found in Job 31:32 in both Hebrew and Greek. That there are four doors is an addition, probably signifying Job\u2019s openness to people from all directions. Avot of Rabbi Nathan 7, 33\u201334 (163\u201364) compares Job\u2019s hospitality to that of Abraham.
\n10:4. with an empty pocket The description of Job\u2019s generosity echoes Job 31:34 LXX, a note not found in the Hebrew.
\n5. 3,500 yoke of oxen The list of Job\u2019s cattle (holdings) in T. Job 9 omits any reference to oxen. Job 1:3 mentions 500 yoke, which the Testament says are designated for the needy.
\n7. fifty bakeries These are an addition to the biblical account.
\n11:10. be patient with us Job\u2019s patience displays itself in a new way in his attitude toward debtors experiencing difficulty repaying their loans.
\n11. crowning feature The odd description of the \u201ccrowning feature\u201d of cancellation of debt interprets the obscure language of Job 31:36 LXX. In the original Hebrew, Job, challenging God to prove him guilty, refers to a possible indictment containing details of his wrongdoing. He boasts that he would \u201cbind it on like a crown.\u201d The Septuagint of Job 31:35 suggests that Job wrote what he had \u201cagainst someone\u201d\u2014that is, a debt\u2014which he carried as a \u201ccrown\u201d on his shoulders before tearing up.
\n12. Nor would I take anything The claim repeats one made in Job 31:37 LXX.
\n12:1. cheerful at heart The verse echoes the language of Prov. 22:8 LXX.
\n3. looking for your wages Job 7:2 uses the image of a slave looking for wages to characterize the human condition.
\nwage earner\u2019s pay In not retaining a laborer\u2019s pay, Job adheres to Lev. 19:13.
\n13:1. milk flowed in the mountains The language echoes Job 29:6.
\n5. Who will give us some of his meat At Job 31:31, Job cites this as the kind of complaint that his female servants never made.
\n6. I was quite kind This note appears only in Job 31:31 LXX.
\n14:1. six psalms and a ten-stringed lyre Job 21:12 lists music as an attribute of the wealthy wicked. Job\u2019s music-making, by contrast, comforts widows and soothes murmuring maidservants.
\n15:1. daily took their supper Job 1:4 mentions the feasts of Job\u2019s children but does not specify how often they occur. The Testament follows the Septuagint in making them daily events.
\n4. offer up sacrifices Job 1:5 reports that Job sacrifices for the possible sins of his children. The Testament expands by specifying the large number of sacrificial animals. The story bolsters the image of Job\u2019s generosity by noting how he offers the leftovers from the sacrifices to the poor.
\n8. pride In addition to extolling virtues such as patience, the Testament castigates certain vices; here, pride and evil thoughts toward God.
\n16:1. seven years Temporal references appear frequently in the Testament, although the numbers vary in different manuscripts. According to the readings adopted here, Job spends 48 years on the dung heap (21:1); 11 years with bread (22:1); and 17 years with worms before his wife taunts him (26:1). After defeating Satan, Job is left alone for 3 years (27:6). The three kings come in the 20th year of Job\u2019s affliction (28:1, 8). Their stay lasts 27 days (41:2), after which Job recovers (chap. 44). These chronological details cannot be reconciled into a single coherent scheme.
\n2. Satan \u2026 came down unmercifully Chapters 16\u201326 expand the account of Job\u2019s losses found in Job 1:14\u201319.
\n3. torched 7,000 sheep Responsibility for the destruction of Job\u2019s cattle is divided between Satan, who directly assaults the beasts assigned to aid the poor, and Job\u2019s countrymen, who pillage the rest (T. Job 16:5\u20136).
\n17:2. king of the Persians The devil chooses a clever disguise, since Persian kings, such as Cyrus, have shown themselves favorable to Jews. The reference is anachronistic, since Persian kings did not come on the scene until the 6th century, and the dramatic setting of the narrative is the patriarchal epoch. Some scholars see in the devil\u2019s disguise an allusion to an event of the 1st century BCE, the invasion of the eastern Roman empire, including Palestine, by the Parthian general Pacorus in 39 BCE. As part of their response to this invasion the Roman Senate appointed Herod as King of Judea.
\n4. who destroyed the temple Job\u2019s vigorous monotheism is designated as a major cause for his demise. The argument of the devil in Persian guise may reflect attitudes toward the Jews that became common in Egypt in the late 1st century BCE. Evidence for them is found in the reports by the philosopher Philo on pogroms in the 30s (Against Flaccus, On the Embassy to Gaius) and in the apologetic writings of the historian Josephus (Against Apion), who focuses on Alexandrian anti-Jewish literature.
\n18:1. smashed the house down The collapse of the house that kills Job\u2019s children is found in Job 1:19.
\n3. cheap and worthless men The description of the looters suggests a nobleman\u2019s perspective.
\n4. birth pangs The image of a woman in labor frequently depicts tribulation. Compare 1QH 3:8; 1 Thess. 5:3; John 16:21.
\n5. battle foretold Job recalls the revelation by the angel in T. Job 4.
\n7. as one embarked The image of a sailor beset by heavy seas struggling to reach a safe haven appears at 4 Macc. 7:1\u20133.
\nthrew the cargo into the sea The action recalls that of Jonah\u2019s companions when beset by a storm. See Jon. 1:5.
\n8. the city about which the angel spoke The revealing angel in T. Job 4 had not spoken of a city. The author may be guided by the image of a sailor trying to reach port (18:6), but he may also have in mind the frequently attested hope for a \u201cHouse of the LORD in Jerusalem,\u201d which would descend to earth (4 Ezra 7:26; 10:24\u201354; Gal. 4:26; Rev. 21:2\u201322:5); or to which one would ascend (2 Bar. 4:1\u20137; Heb. 12:22).
\n19:4. The LORD gave, the LORD took away The famous line is repeated from Job 1:21.
\n20:3. soul In Job 2:1\u20136, God gives power to Satan over Job\u2019s \u201cbones and his flesh,\u201d but tells Satan to \u201cspare his life.\u201d The Septuagint translates this phrase as \u201cpreserve his soul.\u201d The Testament takes the implications of the Greek term seriously and thus presents Job as a man of stoic virtue, whose soul endures harsh circumstances.
\n4. throne Job\u2019s seat indicates his royal status. See the comment on T. Job 1:1.
\n5. whirlwind The Testament uses an image for the appearance of Satan that probably derives from Job 38:1.
\n6. plague The \u201csevere inflammations\u201d of Job 2:7 have become a somewhat more generic affliction, although the phrase \u201cfrom the sole of his foot to the crown of his head\u201d is biblical.
\n7. left the city The detail about Job\u2019s position derives from the LXX.
\ndung heap The \u201cashes\u201d of the biblical account of Job 2:8 have become a \u201cdung heap\u201d or \u201crubbish heap\u201d in the LXX and in the Testament.
\n8. worm-ridden in body Derives from Job 7:5.
\n9. if a worm ever sprang off The story of Job\u2019s kindness to the worms appears also in Avot of Rabbi Natan 164.
\n21:2. my first wife She is named Sitis at T. Job 25:1. The biblical account of Job\u2019s anonymous first wife simply reports (Job 2:9) her nagging remark, \u201cYou still keep your integrity! Blaspheme God and die!\u201d followed by Job\u2019s rebuke. The LXX expands her comment into a five-verse lament on the loss of her children and her current destitution. The Testament further embellishes the account by describing her servitude (chaps. 21\u201322), the humiliating sale of her hair to Satan (chap. 23), and finally a pathetic speech (ch. 24\u201325), interspersed with a poetic lament.
\n4. regained my senses Literally, \u201cregained patient reason.\u201d
\n22:1. they kept even bread itself from me This remark suggests that the elders of the city provided a dole for Job, the removal of which leads to his wife\u2019s further degradation.
\n23:1. disguised himself Satan has already appeared as a beggar (T. Job 6:4) and a king (17:2).
\n10. sheared off the hair As 24:10 indicates, this action disgraces Job\u2019s wife. This act will serve as the climactic focus of the lament for Job\u2019s wife in chapter 25. For the shame of a shorn woman\u2019s head in Mediterranean society, see 1 Cor. 11:6; M. Sotah 1:5; T. Sotah 1:7; J. Sotah 1:7 (16a) and B. Sotah 7a.
\n24:1\u20133. How long \u2026 open air The first part of the speech corresponds closely to the expanded remarks of Job\u2019s wife in Job 2:9 LXX.
\n25:1. Who is not amazed \u2026? A lament interrupting the speech parallels Job\u2019s lament at T. Job 32:2\u201312.
\nSitis The name of Job\u2019s wife may derive from the Greek name of his homeland, Ausitis. Cf. T. Job 28:7.
\n3. Now she exchanges her hair The sale of Job\u2019s wife\u2019s hair is mentioned, like a refrain, in every verse of chapter 25. The wording differs slightly in each case, with the same verb appearing only twice, in verses 6 and 7.
\n10. speak some words against the LORD and die The Testament preserves the original speech of Job\u2019s wife (Job 2:9 LXX).
\n26:2. depressed Literally, \u201cweighed down.\u201d The attention to psychological details and emotional states is characteristic of narratives of the period. In his retelling of biblical stories, Josephus often adds similar touches, for instance in the account of the Akedah (Ant. 1.228, 232).
\n3. truly great wealth Job\u2019s treasure is in heaven. See T. Job 33:2\u20135. For a similar notion, see Matt. 6:19\u201320.
\n6. senseless women The language comes from Job 2:10 LXX
\n27:1. lion \u2026 in a cage For the image, applied to a prince of Israel, see Ezek. 19:9.
\n3. athlete See T. Job 4:10, where the image first appears.
\n6. Satan, ashamed, left me The culture of honor and shame, previously apparent in the story of the humiliation of Sitis (chaps. 23 and 24), again becomes evident. Now it is Satan who is put to shame by his failure to defeat Job.
\nthree years These years of Satan\u2019s absence, plus the 17 (26:1) of Job\u2019s suffering under the plague, add up to the 20 years mentioned in the next chapter, but this sequence is difficult to reconcile with the total of 48 years of Job\u2019s suffering mentioned at 21:1.
\n7. patience Victory in the struggle with Satan is based on Job\u2019s fundamental virtue. Cf. 1:5; 4:6; 5:1.
\n28:1. twenty years The period of time is repeated in verse 8. On the chronological references, see the comment on 16:1.
\n28:2. the kings Job\u2019s three friends in the biblical account, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, became royal figures in the Septuagint (Job 2:11 LXX). That status continues here, in conformity with the portrait of Job as a king. Cf. T. Job 29:4; 31:1. Their long dialogues with Job, which constitute the majority of the biblical book (Job 3\u201331), have been reduced to a few brief interchanges focusing on Job\u2019s condition and identity. A brief mention (T. Job 37) of the problem of theodicy recalls the major concern of the biblical account.
\n2. own country According to Job 2:11, Eliphaz is a Temanite; Bildad a Shuhite, and Zophar a Naamathite. The Testament preserves only the first king\u2019s domain. See 29:3.
\n3. did not recognize me The failure to recognize Job, taken from Job 2:12, drives the plot of the next scene.
\n5. precious stones That Job had an impressive collection of gems, an addition to the biblical account, may reflect practices of Hellenistic royalty.
\n7. Ausitis The name of Job\u2019s city is taken from the Septuagint (Job 1:1 LXX), but placed in Egypt, of which Job is said to be king. Job\u2019s native city in the biblical account is Uz, and Ausitis may simply be a Greek version of the name. The most likely location for Uz, which genealogical lists associate with Aram (Gen. 10:23; 22:21) or Edom (Gen. 36:28; 1 Chron. 1:42), is probably in the northwestern portion of Arabia, but this is not the understanding of the Testament. Job 42:17b LXX records the location understood by the Greek translators of Job, a place \u201cbetween Idumea and Arabia,\u201d therefore in the south of Palestine between the Negev and the Sinai Peninsula. Jeremiah 25:20 similarly situates the \u201ckings of the land of Uz\u201d between Egypt (Jer. 25:19) and Edom (Jer. 25:21).
\nking of all Egypt This portrayal of Job in the Testament may have arisen because the territory defined in Jer. 25:19\u201321 would have been under Egyptian control in the early Hellenistic period, roughly the 3rd century BCE.
\n29:3. Eliphas\u2014the king of the Temanites Only Eliphas is identified by rank and native land. Teman is a designation of the northern part of the region of Edom, to the south of Judea. Cf. Jer. 49:7; Obad. 9; Amos 1:12; Ezek. 25:13. It is also the name of an Edomite tribe, whose reputed ancestor was Teman, son of Eliphaz, son of Esau (Gen. 36:10\u201311). Taima is also the name of a site in northern Arabia, and may be equated with the \u201cland of Temanites\u201d in Gen. 36:34 and 1 Chron. 1:45. Note also the possibly related clan name Timna in Gen 36:4. This could be an alternative identification for Eliphas\u2019s native country, although the name of Teman\u2019s father in Genesis suggests a connection with the Edomite region.
\n4. \u201cI am indeed.\u201d Job affirms his identity in the same way at T. Job 31:6.
\n30:3. \u201cWe do not believe that this is he!\u201d The kings\u2019 only problem is incredulity that the suffering Job is the man they once knew.
\n31:2. a half stadion A stadion was 600 Greek feet (= approximately 606 English feet) long. The kings were thus about a football field\u2019s distance from Job.
\n7. royal lament The Testament uses a technical term (thr\u0113nos) for a \u201cdirge\u201d or \u201clament.\u201d Another example of a dirge appears in chapter 25.
\nsang in response Presumably the troops sang the refrain \u201cWhere then is the splendor of your throne?\u201d (32:2) or \u201cNow where is the splendor of your throne?\u201d (32:4). Philo reports that the Therapeutae sang refrains antiphonally.
\n32:2. sheep \u2026 camels Compare T. Job 9:3\u20134.
\n3. cattle Cf. 10:5.
\n4. golden couches Cf. 25:8.
\n5. precious stones Cf. 25:5\u20137.
\n7. sixty tables Cf. 10:1.
\n8. censers The examples of Job\u2019s wealth in this and the following lines are not paralleled in earlier descriptions of his previous state.
\n11. a joke For Job as an object of laughter, see Job 12:4; 30:1, 9.
\n33:2. my throne As the lament of the previous chapter had focused on the vanished splendor of Job\u2019s earthly throne, his response here features his heavenly throne.
\nholy ones The image of an angelic host surrounding the divine throne is a traditional feature of portraits of heaven. See, for example, Isa. 6:1\u20132; Ezek. 1. Hopes for participation in that angelic world were shared by Jews (at Qumran, e.g., 1QHa 3:21\u201323) and early Christians (Heb. 12:22\u201323; Rev. 4:6\u201311). According to B. Hul. 91b Israel and the angels in heaven both participate in the prayerful praise of God, although the prayers of Israel are superior to those of the angels.
\n3. upper world Using a Gk. word (hyperkosmios), which is unusual in the 1st century CE, the Testament draws a sharp distinction between Job\u2019s earthly world of suffering and the ideal heavenly world where his true wealth resides. Such distinctions are common in the period, in Jewish authors such as Philo and in early Christian texts such as Heb. 8:1\u20136; 9:23\u201327.
\n4. The whole world shall pass away Expectations about the imminent end of the world were common, especially in early Christian circles. See 1 Cor. 7:31 and 1 John 2:17. Elaborate schemes for the end-time are also found in pseudepigraphic Jewish texts such as 4 Ezra.
\n5. holy land The Testament has in mind not the physical land of Israel but its ideal heavenly counterpart, as the next phrase makes clear.
\n6. Rivers will dry up The image may come from Job 14:11.
\n8. as in a mirror The splendor of earthly things is like that of a passing image.
\n9. chariots of the Father The phrase may be inspired by the reference in Ps. 68:18 to the \u201cthousands upon thousands\u201d of chariots of God, or by the description in Ezek. 1 of the divine throne as a chariot (Hebrew merkavah).
\n34:4. Kingdoms pass away Eliphas cites Job\u2019s comments from T. Job 33:8\u20139, which he finds to be an offensive rebuke.
\n35:4. he is emotionally disturbed Literally, \u201chis heart went out.\u201d So also T. Job 36:6.
\nhas become mentally deranged Literally, \u201cwas made mad in soul.\u201d Baldad\u2019s inquiry focuses on Job\u2019s mental state.
\n36:3. heavenly concerns Job repeats the point made in T. Job 33.
\n37:1. hope The second stage of the conversation with Baldad raises some of the theological concerns of the biblical book. The conversation shifts from Job\u2019s identity to his convictions about God and God\u2019s fairness in treating human beings.
\n5. unfair Job has recognized God as the author of his troubles (T. Job 37:4), in conformity with the plot of the biblical book and in disregard of the Testament\u2019s description of Satan\u2019s role. Hence Baldad\u2019s question, posing the problem of theodicy, is quite reasonable. The point is made even more clearly in the subsequent question (37:7) about who would dare ascribe injustice to God. Baldad\u2019s point here resembles Bildad\u2019s speech in Job 8:3.
\n6. deep things The same phrase is used in 1 Cor. 2:10 for the mysteries of the divine purpose unfathomable to humankind.
\n8. the sun After Baldad\u2019s sharp questions about the fairness of God\u2019s behavior, he poses a more simple question about how to explain a natural phenomenon.
\n38:1. the magnificent things of the LORD Job alludes to the content of the divine speech from Job 38\u201339. Job himself refers to similar wonders of creation in his initial response to Bildad (Job 9:5\u201310). The hymns of Job\u2019s daughters (T. Job 49:3; 50:3; 51:4) have a similar focus.
\n2. our lot in dust and ashes The phrase echoes Job 30:19, where Job laments his state. The Testament\u2019s point seems to be that the \u201cfleshly\u201d human condition itself is problematic.
\n3 A problem posed for Baldad demonstrates Job\u2019s sound mind, which Baldad had questioned (35:4; 36:6). Can Baldad explain the process of digestion by which solid and liquid are mingled and then separated for the latrine?
\n5. how can you understand heavenly matters? Job\u2019s question to Baldad may be inspired by the questions posed to Job in the biblical text (e.g., \u201cDo you know the season when the mountain goats give birth?\u201d [Job 39:1]), which are designed to show the limits of human knowledge.
\n6. inquiring after things beyond us \u2026 of sound mind The three kings have learned the lesson taught by Job\u2019s question to Baldad; their knowledge has limits. Job\u2019s question also confirms his mental soundness.
\n8. created the physicians Job\u2019s comment is paralleled at Sir. 38:1, although his point is not to honor physicians, as does Sirach, but to trust in God.
\n39:2. the official she served See T. Job 21:2.
\n4. person I used to be Sitis had offered a detailed lament on this theme in chapter 25.
\n7. purple robe The color marks the royal dignity of Eliphas.
\n12. they were taken up into heaven The notion that the dead might be taken up into heaven is unusual, although not completely unprecedented in sources. Precedents include Elijah (2 Kings 2:9\u201312); Enoch (Gen. 5:24; for the understanding of that verse as an assumption into heaven, cf. Heb. 11:5); Moses (Deut. 34:5\u20136 reports his death and unknown burial place; Josephus, Ant. 4.326, tells of his final disappearance \u201cin a cloud,\u201d which resembles the translation to the realm of the gods of the founders of Rome, Romulus and Aeneas.) According to T. Ab. B 7, Abraham was taken up to heaven, although without his body. Christian tradition (Acts 1:11) reports the bodily ascension of Jesus.
\nthe Creator their King The title of King for God is hardly unusual. The term for \u201cCreator\u201d (D\u0113miourgos), used in Plato\u2019s Timaeus for the divine craftsman who fashions the earth, will later have negative connotations. In the 1st century it is used positively of God in Heb. 11:10.
\n13. demented and mad The fact that Job\u2019s royal friends accuse him again of being out of his mind when he suggests that his children are with God indicates that the belief in the possibility of a bodily assumption may have been controversial. Cf. 40:3 for Job\u2019s own destiny.
\n40:3. east The heavenly realm apparently lies in this direction, where Job himself will finally go (T. Job 52:10).
\nchildren crowned The rewards of heaven included a crown, according to the Dead Sea Scrolls (1QS 4:7\u20138) and early Christians (1 Cor. 9:24; James 1:12; Rev. 2:10).
\n14. The Miscellanies The title\u2014literally, \u201cWhat has been omitted\u201d\u2014may refer to the same book mentioned at T. Job 41:6, The Miscellanies of Eliphas. Other lost books are cited at 49:3 and 50:3. Whether all were real books or simply literary fictions remains a mystery.
\n41:3. Elihu Job\u2019s final conversation partner (Job 32\u201337) makes a brief appearance.
\nStay here Elihu\u2019s initial words echo Job 36:2: \u201cWait a little and let me hold forth.\u201d
\nboasted himself to be a just man Elihu focuses on the central issue of the canonical book of Job, but the theme in the Testament is muted. Job assumes his righteousness and is confident of a heavenly reward for it. He does not, as in the canonical story, passionately defend it. Perhaps the remark is inspired by the canonical Elihu\u2019s characterization of Job\u2019s self-assessment (Job 33:9; 34:5; 35:2).
\n4. throne Cf. T. Job 33:3.
\n5. inspired by Satan In the biblical book, Elihu claims divine inspiration (Job 32:8, 18\u201322); in the Testament, it is Job\u2019s nemesis who guides Elihu\u2019s speech.
\ninsulting words The Testament omits the contents of Elihu\u2019s speech, referring the interested reader to another work. The biblical Elihu forcefully insists that Job\u2019s claims of innocence must be wrong (Job 33:12: \u201cIn this you are not right.\u201d).
\n6. The Miscellanies of Eliphas Cf. T. Job 40:14.
\n42:1. through a hurricane and clouds The Testament alludes to God\u2019s final speech to Job at Job 38:1.
\n2. censured Elihu In the book of Job, God does not address Elihu directly, but only speaks to Job from the tempest. The only rebuke is God\u2019s final comment to Eliphas, Bildad, and Zophar, but as the reference to \u201cfour kings\u201d in T. Job 42:3 indicates, the Testament assumes that Elihu was present when the divine voice chided them. Elihu will yet be given special treatment (chap. 43).
\na beast This, of course, is Satan (cf. 41:5).
\n4. he said to Eliphas The Testament parallels God\u2019s final remarks to the friends at Job 42:7.
\n5. why did you sin \u2026 regarding my servant Job The Bible does not explicitly charge that Job\u2019s friends have sinned. Our author may have inferred this from the reference to God\u2019s \u201cwrath\u201d kindled against the friends and his command to sacrifice (Job 42:7\u20138). The essential charge, twice repeated, is that \u201cyou have not spoken the truth\u201d (Job 42:7\u20138). Yet in the book of Job, the truth that the friends miss is about God, not, as here, about Job.
\n6. Except for him, I would have destroyed you The canonical story says more explicitly that God accepted Job\u2019s prayer not to treat the friends according to their folly (Job 42:8).
\n8. I took them and made an offering Job 42:9 simply says that the friends did as they had been told, to \u201csacrifice a burnt offering\u201d for themselves (Job 42:8) while Job prayed for them. Here Job appears as a mediator, accepting their offerings and performing the sacrifice for the friends. The Testament may display some sensitivity about who might be authorized to offer appropriate sacrifice.
\n43:1. had not considered Elihu worthy Why the LORD had not deemed Elihu worthy of forgiveness is not made clear.
\n2. a hymn The poem, a condemnation of Elihu, recalls biblical precedents such as Isaiah\u2019s taunt for the fallen King of Babylon (Isa. 14:4\u201321) or Ezekiel\u2019s lament for the King of Tyre (Ezek. 28:11\u201319). Many of the motifs derive from Bildad\u2019s description of the fate of the wicked in Job 18 and similar sections of the other friends\u2019 speeches.
\n3. in response For antiphonal singing, see T. Job 31:8. Here, by contrast, there is no explicit refrain.
\nthe altar Gk. thysiast\u0113rion. The place where the sacrifices were conducted. Cf. 42:8. According to 44:1, the singers circle the altar.
\n5. no memorial Cf. Job 18:17.
\nquenched lamp Cf. Job 18:5\u20136.
\n7. throne Contrast Job\u2019s throne at T. Job 33:3, and note Elihu\u2019s complaint about Job at 41:4.
\n8. venom and poison Cf. Job 20:14, 16, from a speech by Zophar. Cf. also T. Job 43:12.
\n9. honored ones These are probably angels, as are the \u201choly ones\u201d of T. Job 43:10, 14.
\n14. crowns Cf. 40:3; 43:14, although here they seem to be personified. Perhaps angels are in view.
\n17. no memorial The poem ends as it began (T. Job 43:5), with a thorough condemnation of Elihu.
\n44:2. I sought to do good works Job returns to beneficence described in T. Job 9\u201315.
\n5. doubled my estate Cf. Job 42:10; the Testament adds the exhortation to charity.
\n45:3. Do not take \u2026 wives from strangers A prohibition on marrying Canaanites (Gen 24:3, 37) in early Israel became a strict program of endogamy (marrying only within one\u2019s own group) in post-Exilic Jerusalem (Ezra 10:10), and the principle was later widely accepted (e.g., Tob. 4:12\u201313; Jos. Asen. 8:5).
\n4. his own share Job\u2019s bequest sets up the problem for the final portion of the text. Job\u2019s first-person narrative ends here.
\n46:1. seven males Job 42:13 reports that after his restoration, Job fathered seven sons and three daughters and gave the latter \u201can inheritance along with their brothers\u201d (Job 42:15). The biblical text does not specify what the inheritance was, leaving open the possibility for midrashic expansion.
\n2. Why then did you not give us some of your goods? The complaint contradicts the explicit evidence of Job 42:15 that the daughters did inherit. The author of the Testament may have understood that property would ordinarily go to sons, and to daughters only when male heirs were absent (Num. 27:8\u201311). Hence, the inheritance mentioned in Job must have been of a special sort.
\n4. better than that of your seven brothers The characterization of the inheritance as \u201cbetter\u201d is an addition to Job 42:15.
\n5. Hemera On the daughters\u2019 names, see T. Job 1:3.
\n7. multicolored cords The next chapters will detail the function of these cords, which may have served Job as instruments of healing (47:6\u20139), protection (47:10\u201311), and spiritual empowerment (48, 49).
\n47:5. Arise, gird your loins The citation of Job 38:3 provides the scriptural peg on which the midrash of the cords is based. If Job girded his loins, he must have had something with which to gird them!
\n6. the worms disappeared Cf. T. Job 20:8.
\n11. amulet Literally, \u201cphylactery,\u201d the Greek word used for tefillin (Deut. 6:8). Although Job\u2019s cords are not precisely what pious Jews were supposed to wear, their functions may reflect popular beliefs about the value of more standard tefillin, use of which would not have been required of women by the Rabbis (B. Kid. 34a).
\nbe able to see In addition to offering protection, the cords enable visionary experience.
\n48:3. angelic dialect The cord enables Job\u2019s daughters to communicate with heavenly beings. Cf. T. Job 49:2; 50:1\u20132; 52:7. That angels have a special language, which can come to expression in worship, is attested in the New Testament (1 Cor. 13:1; 14:2\u20135); the phenomenon is known as glossolalia, or speaking in tongues.
\nin accord with \u2026 the angels Among the scrolls found at Qumran, Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice attests the belief that worshipers in their assembly on earth paralleled and participated in the worship offered by angels in heaven. Cf. also 2 En. 17:1.
\nThe Spirit The translation given suggests that this is the title of the hymn she utters. The alternative translation is more likely: \u201cThe Spirit allowed the hymns that she uttered to be engraved on her garment.\u201d In either case, mystic hymns are embroidered on garments used for worship.
\n49:3. The Creation of the Heavens Kasia\u2019s song, perhaps to be understood as an esoteric account of creation, is in another lost collection. Cf. T. Job 40:14; 50:3.
\n50:2. Master of virtues The \u201cvirtues\u201d in this unusual name for God may refer to heavenly powers.
\n3. The Paternal Splendor Another lost hymn in another lost collection. Cf. 40:14; 49:3.
\n51:2. Nereus Job\u2019s brother, mentioned only in the Testament, bears the name of a Greek sea god, father of the Nereids.
\n52:6. they saw As T. Job 47:11 notes, the cords enable spiritual vision. Others did not see (52:9).
\nchariots Chariots carried many worthies to heaven, including Elijah (2 Kings 2:11), and Enoch in the description in the later work 3 En. 6:1. For Job, only the soul (52:10) is taken up.
\n53:3. light of the blind The final lament for Job recalls his benefactions, and occasionally echoes Job 29:15\u201316.<\/p>\n

Prayers and Psalms<\/p>\n

This section includes compositions originally written in either Hebrew or Greek; they were composed over a wide time span, ranging from perhaps the later Persian period to the 2nd or 3rd century CE. Most of these prayers and psalms were likely used in the private or communal worship life of the Jews who composed them, although some (e.g., Prayer of Manasseh) are more literary than liturgical, meant for reflection rather than worship.<\/p>\n

Psalms of Solomon<\/p>\n

Kenneth Atkinson<\/p>\n

Psalms of Solomon is a collection of 18 pseudonymous poems that contain an unknown Jewish community\u2019s response to persecution and a foreign invasion. The title Psalms of Solomon was likely affixed to these poems because of the reference to the \u201cson of David\u201d in Pss. Sol. 17:21. The collection is an important witness to postbiblical Jewish beliefs regarding the Davidic messiah.<\/p>\n

Authorship and History<\/p>\n

Several unknown authors likely wrote Psalms in Jerusalem, or elsewhere in Palestine. The work was composed in Hebrew, but is preserved in Greek and Syriac translations. Most scholars believe the Syriac was translated from the Greek. Several unclear passages in the Greek suggest that the translator was not proficient in Hebrew.
\nPsalms contains detailed historical allusions to the Roman general Pompey\u2019s 63 BCE invasion of Jerusalem (2:1\u20132; 8:18\u201322; 17:7\u201313) and his 48 BCE assassination in Egypt (2:26\u201327). Several of the poems may antedate or postdate Pompey\u2019s death. Psalms was likely recited liturgically in Jewish and Christian communities. The Syriac version was later appended to the Syriac Christian hymnbook known as the Odes of Solomon. The text disappeared in antiquity and was unknown until the 1626 CE discovery of a Greek copy.<\/p>\n

Significance<\/p>\n

The Psalms of Solomon is among the earliest postbiblical witnesses to Jewish messianism. It is reminiscent of several Dead Sea Scrolls that show an interest in the Davidic dynasty tradition during and after the 1st century BCE (4Q504; 1Q28b; 4Q252; 4Q174; 4Q161; 4Q285; and possibly 4Q246). (See also Commentary on Genesis [4Q252] and Son of God [4Q246].)<\/p>\n

GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n

Psalms is modeled after the biblical book of Psalms. The poems frequently use vocabulary drawn from Scripture, especially the prophetic books. These scriptural references often follow the Septuagint text. Gender-specific language is used when the Greek translator appears to have understood the Hebrew to be gender specific.
\nSeveral of the chapter headings appear unusual, and some bear no apparent connection to the psalm they introduce. They were likely added to the collection at some unknown point in time, possibly by the Greek translator.<\/p>\n

SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n

Atkinson, Kenneth. An Intertextual Study of the Psalms of Solomon. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen, 2001.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. I Cried to the Lord: A Study of the Psalms of Solomon\u2019s Historical Background and Social Setting. Leiden: Brill, 2004.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. \u201cPsalms of Salomon.\u201d In A New English Translation of the Septuagint, edited by Albert Pietersma and Benjamin G. Wright, 763\u201376. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
\nRyle, Herbert E., and Montague R. James. Psalms of the Pharisees, Commonly Called the Psalms of Solomon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1891.
\nSch\u00fcpphaus, Joachim. Die Psalmen Salomos: Ein Zeugnis Jerusalemer Theologie und Fr\u00f6migkeit in der Mitte des vorchristlichen Jarhunderts. Leiden: Brill, 1977.
\nTrafton, Joseph L. The Syriac Version of the Psalms of Solomon: A Critical Evaluation. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1985. Viteau, Joseph. Les Psaumes de Salomon: Introduction, texte grec et traduction, avec les principales variantes de la version syriaque par Fran\u00e7ois Martin. Paris: Letouzey et An\u00e9, 1911.
\nWinninge, Mikael. Sinners and the Righteous: A Comparative Study of the Psalms of Solomon and Paul\u2019s Letters. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 1995.
\nWright, Robert B. The Psalms of Solomon: A Critical Edition of the Greek Text. New York: T & T Clark, 2007.<\/p>\n

COMMENTARY<\/p>\n

1:1. I cried to the LORD This verse alludes to Ps. 18:7. Psalm 18 describes how God delivered David from his enemies; this biblical poem is also incorporated into the text of David\u2019s address to the LORD for saving him from Saul (2 Sam. 22).
\nsinners These must be Gentiles, since the narrator distinguishes them from his \u201cchildren\u201d (Pss. Sol. 1:3), whose defilement of the \u201choly things\u201d (v. 8) resulted in God\u2019s wrath and war.
\n1:2. Suddenly I heard Images of desolate Jerusalem and threats of war occur in many texts that respond to threats to Jewish life and worship, particularly during the period from the persecutions of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175\u201364 BCE) to the 70 CE Roman destruction of the Temple.
\n1:5. They were lifted up Jerusalem\u2019s children apparently harbored aspirations for divinity like the tyrant condemned for his excessive pride in Isa. 14:11. The second part of verse 6 is corrupt. The word \u201cofferings\u201d is added to verse 6 based on the phrase \u201choly things\u201d in verse 8, which refers to the Temple offerings.
\n2:1. the sinner Refers to the Roman general Pompey, since he is the only person who besieged Jerusalem and was murdered in Egypt (2:26). In 63 BCE he assaulted Jerusalem\u2019s northern wall with a battering ram and catapults. Although Josephus claims the Romans did not plunder the Temple, he states that Pompey went inside the Holy of Holies.
\n2:3. because the sons The psalmist blames the \u201csons of Jerusalem\u201d for Pompey\u2019s invasion. God allowed this catastrophe to occur because they had defiled the Temple with profane offerings and committed sexual transgressions (Pss. Sol. 2:3\u20134, 6, 11\u201313). The group apparently includes many priests since the poet accuses them of defiling the Temple with corrupt offerings (cf. 8:9\u201313). The author uses the Greek neuter plural pronoun in the phrase \u201cCast them far from me\u201d (2:4) to refer to \u201cthe holy things,\u201d which are the offerings (cf. Hosea 6:6).
\n2:5. Her glorious beauty The pronoun \u201cher\u201d refers to Jerusalem, whose disgraced beauty is described in Pss. Sol. 2:20\u201321. She is defiled because of the sins of her children.
\n2:6. [Her] sons and daughters were in captivity This verse refers to the aftermath of the civil war between the Hasmonean brothers Aristobulus II and Hyrcanus II. In 67 BCE the former usurped the high priesthood and kingship from his sibling. Pompey intervened in this conflict and besieged and captured Jerusalem in 63 BCE. Pompey also took Aristobulus II, along with his family and supporters, to Rome to march as prisoners in the triumphal celebration.
\nseal \u2026 distinguishable mark These likely refer to collars worn by slaves that were often marked with the name of their owner.
\n2:9. heaven was indignant, and the earth detested them The poet uses the metaphor of creation\u2019s anger to portray God in control of events.
\n2:11\u201313. They set the sons of Jerusalem to be mocked \u2026 And the daughters of Jerusalem were profane \u201cThey\u201d refers to the foreigners who mock their prisoners. The writer accuses the \u201csons\u201d and \u201cdaughters\u201d of Jerusalem of sexual improprieties (see next comment). Because many priests supported Aristobulus II, the \u201csons\u201d and \u201cdaughters\u201d of Jerusalem likely included priestly families.
\n2:13. unnatural intercourse Literally, \u201ca confusion of mingling.\u201d See comment on 8:9\u201312.
\n2:14. I have pain The psalmist is physically ill over Jerusalem\u2019s destruction (cf. Jer. 4:19; Lam. 1:20).
\n2:17. you have wiped out their memorial Echoes the Septuagint of Exod. 17:14.
\n2:19\u201321. For the nations reviled Jerusalem, trampling her down The author personifies Jerusalem as a woman to describe her disgrace and dishonor by Gentiles. She is stripped of her royal status and puts on the traditional symbols of mourning.
\n2:25. the dragon The psalmist calls the Roman conqueror a dragon, because the Septuagint uses this word to denounce foreign kings.
\n2:27\u201328. there was no one to bury him \u2026 He did not consider that he was a human Pompey\u2019s 48 BCE murder in Egypt reminded the poet of the passage in Isa. 14:13\u201319, which describes the death of a foreign king who was denied a proper burial and thought himself equal to God. Pompey was beheaded and his body was abandoned on the shore of the Nile.
\n2:29\u201330. he did not recognize that God is great These verses may allude to Pompey\u2019s sobriquet \u201cMagnus\u201d (Great).
\n2:31. It is He who raises me up to glory The imagery may be an allusion to resurrection (cf. Pss. Sol. 3:10\u201312; 14:9\u201310; 15:10\u201313).
\n3:1\u20133. Why do you sleep, soul The psalmist alludes to Ps. 44:24 to urge the righteous to awaken and praise God. In this biblical text, the psalmist urges God to awaken. The opening verses also resemble Ps. 57:8\u201311 and 108:1\u20135, both of which urge the righteous to praise God continually (cf. Ps. 30:13).
\n3:2 The translation of this verse attempts to make sense of an obscure text that may be corrupt in both the Greek and Syriac.
\n3:8. He made atonement \u2026 by fasting and humiliation of his soul This verse is reminiscent of Lev. 5:18, where the priest makes an offering to atone for sins committed unwittingly. The psalmist ignores the biblical requirement of an offering to atone for unintentional sins (Lev. 4\u20135) and observes that the righteous make atonement through fasting and penance. This statement suggests that the poet belongs to a Jewish community that does not worship in the Temple.
\n3:11. The destruction of the sinner is forever This verse refers to eternal judgment.
\n3:12. those \u2026 shall rise to eternal life This verse likely alludes to Dan. 12:2 to express a belief in resurrection.
\n4:1. the council of the devout The Greek word for \u201ccouncil\u201d may refer to the Sanhedrin, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew beit din.
\n4:3. his hand is the first upon him Alludes to the Septuagint of Deut. 13:10, which requires the witness to throw the first stone at a person who secretly entices family members to worship other gods. as if in zeal See the next comment.
\n4:4\u20135. His eyes are upon every woman \u2026 At night and in secret he sins The poet may allude to the biblical warning about the seductress in Prov. 7, where a woman approaches a young man in the dark to lure him to her house for a night of sex. In light of this apparent biblical reference to sexual transgression, the word \u201czeal\u201d in the previous verse may be an allusion to Phinehas, whose zealous judgment against an Israelite man committing sexual sin earned him, according to the Septuagint of Num. 25:13 (NETS) a \u201cpact of priesthood\u201d for all time (Num. 25:1\u201315).
\n4:6\u201312. May God remove those \u2026 with corruption of his flesh The Greek of verse 6 is difficult because the text changes from the plural to the singular and a verb appears to be missing. The pronouns of verses 6\u201312 are confusing, as the poet alternates between condemning a group of sinners, the \u201cmen-pleasers,\u201d and a single sinner, the \u201cman-pleaser.\u201d
\n4:9. like a serpent The simile of the \u201cserpent\u201d likely alludes to Garden of Eden (Gen. 2\u20133). The crimes of the \u201cprofane man\u201d (Pss. Sol. 4:1) are reminiscent of Ps. 94:5\u20137, for he illicitly seizes property confident that no one \u201csees and judges [him].\u201d
\n4:12. In this The antecedent of \u201cin this\u201d is unclear. It likely refers to \u201cdesire\u201d since the subsequent verse implies that this man wants more plunder.
\n4:14. his going out \u2026 his coming in The poet likely alludes to the priestly blessing of the Israelites that was apparently delivered at public gatherings (Num. 6:24\u201326\u2013; Ps. 121:8).
\n5:1\u20132. I will praise your name \u2026 in the midst of \u2026 the poor In Pss. Sol. the community is often called the \u201cpoor\u201d (see also 5:11; 10:6; 15:1; 18:2). Verse 2 is an adaptation of the Septuagint of Ps. 28:1 where the biblical author affirms that God will not ignore the cries of the righteous.
\n5:4. he cannot increase it beyond your judgment The poet expresses a belief in what is known as predestination, which maintains that God has ordained everything and that humans cannot change the \u201cbalance\u201d of fate. Josephus tells us that the Jewish sects of the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes disagreed over predestination and free will. Psalms also contains the doctrine of free will (9:4), which suggests that the poets responsible for the collection were not theologically consistent (see comment on 9:4).
\n6:1\u20133. Happy is the man The passage is reminiscent of Joel 3:5, which describes God\u2019s future outpouring of the spirit when those who invoke the LORD\u2019s name will be saved. The psalmist also alludes to Joel 3 in describing visions and dreams (Pss. Sol. 6:3) to portray a glorious future for the faithful.
\n7:1. Do not remove The psalmist believes the only recourse in the face of an oncoming attack is to petition God through prayer for protection. The poem equates \u201cus\u201d and \u201cwe\u201d (7:1, 3\u20137, 9\u201310) with \u201cIsrael\u201d (7:8) and \u201cthe house of Jacob\u201d (7:10).
\n7:4. For if you send death \u201cDeath\u201d is an allusion to the tenth plague described in Exod. 11:1\u201312:32. The poet assures the devout that should Gentiles attack Jerusalem, God will limit their destruction just as he placed restrictions on the Destroyer during Moses\u2019s time.
\n7:9. And we [will be] under your yoke Here, as in Pss. Sol. 10:1\u20134, the Torah is portrayed as a burden since God\u2019s discipline is often harsh. The Rabbis likewise refer to the Torah as \u201cthe yoke of the Torah\u201d (M. Avot 3:5).
\n8:1. My ear heard \u2026 the sound of war The historical allusions in this psalm closely match those in Pss. Sol. 2 and undoubtedly refer to the Roman general Pompey\u2019s 63 BCE conquest of Jerusalem. The sound of the trumpet, or horn, appears frequently in Scripture to signal battle and to warn of an impending invasion. Jeremiah 4:13 uses the metaphor of a great wind to describe the approach and devastation of war.
\n8:3. \u201cWhere, then, will God judge him?\u201d The pronoun \u201chim\u201d refers to Pompey, whose arrival and destruction of Jerusalem is described in Pss. Sol. 8:15\u201321.
\n8:9\u201312. In secret places Although the sins denounced are highly polemical, they likely reflect actual disagreements between the community of these poems and the Temple priests over the observance of halakhah. The psalmist accuses the priests of three transgressions: adultery, theft from the sanctuary, and defilement of the Temple (vv. 10\u201312). The poet (v. 12) rebukes the priests for contaminating the Temple sacrifices with menstrual blood, which may reflect his belief that they were conducting the sacrifices while in a state of ritual defilement in violation of Lev. 15:19\u201324.
\n8:14. God mixed for them a spirit of deception The cup of the LORD\u2019s wrath signifies the forthcoming punishment of Jerusalem\u2019s inhabitants.
\n8:15. He brought him \u201cHim\u201d refers to Pompey, whom\u2014like the Babylonians in the book of Jeremiah (6:22; 31:8)\u2014God brought from a distant land to destroy Jerusalem.
\n8:16\u201317. The leaders of the land \u2026 leveled the rough roads The author incorporates passages from the book of Isaiah (40:3\u20134; 42:16; 43:16) in these verses to describe how the city\u2019s leaders welcomed Pompey into Jerusalem. The historians Josephus and Cassius Dio mention this incident, and write that the supporters of Hyrcanus II opened the city\u2019s gates to receive the Romans, and surrendered its palaces to Pompey\u2019s forces.
\n8:19\u201321. He captured \u2026 He killed \u2026 He led away Pompey, with support from Hyrcanus II, fought a battle in Jerusalem against the allies of Aristobulus II. These verses refer to this conflict, and the capture and exile of Aristobulus II and his partisans to Rome (see Pss. Sol. 2:6 and the comment there). Pompey then defiled the Temple by entering the Holy of Holies (see 2:2).
\n9:1. When Israel was taken into exile The psalmist alludes to the Babylonian exile to examine the theme of God\u2019s punishment of sin.
\n9:4. Our works are in the choosing and the power of our soul The poet\u2019s expressed belief in free will may appear to contrast with Pss. Sol. 5:4, which espouses determinism (see comment there). The collector of these psalms may have understood these two poems together as expressing the belief that although we have freedom of choice, God has already predetermined the rewards and punishments of righteous and sinful acts (cf. M. Avot 3:16).
\n9:9. because you chose the offspring of Abraham The poet appeals to the concept of election to support his belief that God will save Israel. The covenant does not guarantee that the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity for their obedience to their Torah. This is because all have sinned and therefore deserve God\u2019s punishment (3:7\u20138; 13:10). God\u2019s \u201cpeople\u201d who confess and acknowledge their sins are assured that God will not reject them but will place limitations on their suffering.
\n10:1. Happy is the man \u2026 who is restrained from the evil road The Greek word translated as \u201crestrained\u201d literally means \u201cencircled.\u201d The author uses this verb with a positive meaning similar to the Septuagint of Ps. 32:10 to describe how God\u2019s mercy will surround the righteous for their protection.
\n10:4. the testimony is in the Law \u2026 the testimony of the LORD The poet describes the Torah as a \u201ctestimony\u201d because God remembers His servants in mercy. The second \u201ctestimony\u201d in this verse could be an explanation of the first. However, because it implies a critical examination of the \u201cways of humankind at His visitation,\u201d it may refer to the LORD\u2019s testimony on the Day of Judgment, or God\u2019s continuous supervision of humanity.
\n11:1. Blow in Zion the trumpet This passage is reminiscent of Joel 2:1.
\n11:2\u20133. O Jerusalem \u2026 behold your children In this short psalm, the poet personifies Jerusalem as a mother who watches as God brings her children home from the Diaspora (cf. Pss. Sol. 8:28). The psalmist uses imagery from the prophet Isaiah (40:3\u20134; 42:16; 43:16) to describe God\u2019s providence.
\n11:7. the robe of your holiness This phrase may refer to the garments of the priests, or serve as a symbol of Jerusalem\u2019s holiness. Here, and throughout this psalm, there are many similarities with Bar. 4:36\u20135:9. It is uncertain which text served as a source for the other.
\n12:1. deliver my soul \u2026 from the tongue that transgresses This verse alludes to Ps. 120:2, which is a petition to the LORD to save the biblical poet from dangerous speech.
\n12:2. like fire among a people The Greek of this verse is difficult to reconstruct. Some manuscripts substitute the metaphor of fire burning among people with \u201cas on a threshing floor a fire burning up its straw.\u201d The metaphor apparently describes the wicked man as a person who stirs up trouble.
\n12:3. [The purpose of] The meaning of this verse is obscure. The \u201ctrees of joy\u201d are likely the righteous, whose piety angers the transgressors.
\n12:4. May God remove The \u201ctransgressors of the Law\u201d likely refers both to the wicked man of Pss. Sol. 12:1 and the sinners of verse 3, all of whom transgress the Law. The conclusion may refer to the afterlife and the Day of Judgment (see comment on 2:31 and 10:4).
\n13:1. The right hand The metaphor of the LORD\u2019s \u201cright hand\u201d refers to God\u2019s power and protection.
\n13:2\u20133. the sword \u2026 famine \u2026 death \u2026 wild animals In Scripture the sword, famine, death, wild animals are associated with warfare. Verse 2 is similar to Jer. 14:12\u201313 and 24:10, as well as Ezek. 6:11 and 7:15.
\n13:5. The ungodly man Some scholars change \u201cungodly man\u201d to \u201cgodly man.\u201d Because all the Greek and Syriac manuscripts read \u201cungodly man,\u201d there is no reason to alter the text.
\n14:1\u201310. Faithful is the LORD This poem is largely a midrash on the biblical Psalm 1, which contrasts the prosperity of the righteous with the fate of the sinners.
\n14:3. The LORD\u2019s pious shall live by it The phrase \u201cby it\u201d may mean either \u201cby the LORD\u201d or \u201cby the Law.\u201d Because verse 2 states that the LORD commands the Law \u201cthat we might live,\u201d verse 3 most likely refers to the Law. This concept has a biblical precedent in 1 Kings 3:14, which connects observance of the Law with long life.
\nparadise The Greek word \u201cparadise\u201d is an Old Persian word meaning \u201cpark\u201d or \u201cgarden.\u201d It is used in Gen. 2\u20133 for Gan Eden.
\n14:8. the secret chambers of the heart The Prov. 3:10 uses the phrase \u201cstorerooms\u201d for barns. Here it refers to the innermost, or secret, storage place of human thoughts to emphasize God\u2019s omnipotence (cf. Prov. 20:27). Like the author of Ps. 44:22, who states that God \u201cknows the secrets of the heart,\u201d the psalmist believes that no deed is hidden from God\u2019s sight.
\n15:1. When I was in distress I called upon \u2026 the LORD This opening passage closely echoes Ps. 18:7, which is a song of David that praises the LORD for saving him from the hands of his enemies and Saul. In light of the allusion to this biblical verse, and the reference to war in Pss. Sol. 15:7, it is possible that the psalmist describes some recent calamity in which the LORD had spared his community, but punished the wicked with various afflictions.
\n15:3. A new psalm with a song \u2026 with the well-tuned instrument of the tongue In Scripture instruments such as trumpets, harps, lyres, lutes, pipes, horns, and flutes are used to praise the LORD.
\n15:6. the mark of God This mark is reminiscent of Exod. 12:21\u201323, in which God tells Moses to order the Israelites to place a protective mark on the lintel and two doorposts of their homes to protect them from the Destroyer. The prophet Ezekiel (9:4\u20136) had a vision in which a similar mark of protection spared the righteous from God\u2019s wrath.
\n15:7\u20139. Famine and sword and death \u2026 shall pursue sinners and overtake them The sword, famine, and death are associated with warfare in Scripture (see comment on 13:2\u20133). The Greek of verse 7 is problematic and literally reads, \u201cfor they will flee as famine being pursued by the holy ones.\u201d The translation adopts the widely accepted conjecture that the original Greek word was not famine, but war. The poet likely alludes to Lev. 26:36, which contains a similar imagery. The psalmist in verses 7\u20139 states that warfare will pursue sinners to express the expectation that God will aggressively attack and pursue sinners with war. Although the wicked will attempt to flee, there will be no escape because famine, sword, and death will pursue and catch them like soldiers overtaking an enemy in wartime.
\n15:12. the day of the LORD\u2019s judgment The poet\u2019s description of the Day of Judgment is similar to the prophetic warnings that the \u201cday of the LORD\u201d will be a time of distress for the unrighteous (Amos 5:18\u201320; Zeph. 1:14\u201318). Because the psalm describes the destruction of the sinners as permanent and states that the righteous will receive the LORD\u2019s mercy and compassion, it presumably reflects a belief in the afterlife (see comment on 2:31).
\n16:1. in the lethargy of those that sleep The Greek is difficult to translate because the manuscripts contains either \u201cin the corruption of those that sleep\u201d or \u201cin the lethargy of those that sleep.\u201d Because the latter reading makes the best sense, most critical editions adopt it.
\n16:4. like a goad for a horse Ecclesiastes 12:11 uses the goad as a metaphor to describe God\u2019s prodding of a person to stimulate creativity.
\n16:7. Hold me back \u2026 from every evil woman The Greek translated here as \u201chold me back\u201d literally reads \u201cprevail over me.\u201d The unusual word \u201cprevail\u201d likely translates an underlying Hebrew word that must mean \u201cstrengthen,\u201d \u201cprotect,\u201d or possibly \u201chold back.\u201d The poet\u2019s description of sexual temptations is similar to Prov. 6:24\u201325 and 4Q184 1:13\u201314, both of which warn against women who encourage transgressions of the law.
\n16:9. in your place The Syriac reads \u201cbefore you\u201d instead of \u201cin your place.\u201d Some scholars conjecture that the original reading of this phrase was \u201cin your word\u201d or \u201cin your Law.\u201d Although it is difficult to discern whether the Greek is a correct translation, it does make sense as it continues the author\u2019s plea for God to keep him away from sin.
\n17:1. O LORD, you are our king forever and ever The poet affirms the biblical belief that God is both king and savior (Ps. 29:10). Scripture recognizes that the monarchy was a violation of absolute trust in God (1 Sam. 8:7). God eventually replaced the first king, Saul, with David when the former acted contrary to God\u2019s commands (1 Sam. 15:26). God henceforth restricted the monarchy to David\u2019s descendants, provided that they keep the covenant. After the ten northern tribes succeeded from David\u2019s kingdom following the death of his son Solomon, many still believed that only a Davidic descendant could rule (cf. 2 Chron. 13:3, 8). The poet expects the messiah to be a descendant of David, and a righteous king in contrast to all unrighteous rulers (Pss. Sol. 17:21, 32). By affirming the messiah\u2019s legitimacy, the author challenges the right of the Hasmonean monarchs to govern. Like Pss. Sol. 2 and 8, this poem views Pompey\u2019s destruction of Jerusalem, and the termination of the Hasmonean monarchy, as God\u2019s judgment upon the city\u2019s sinners.
\n17:2 This verse is unclear, but it likely refers to the transitory nature of life and warns against trusting in humans. It is apparently intended as a rebuke to those who trusted the Hasmoneans rather than God.
\n17:4. You, O LORD, \u2026 swore to him The psalmist mentions God\u2019s covenant with David (2 Sam. 7:11\u201316).
\n17:5\u20136. sinners rose up against us \u2026 laid waste the throne of David These \u201csinners\u201d are not Gentiles, but the Hasmoneans. The Hasmoneans had been content to assume political leadership and the high priesthood until a trustworthy prophet should arise (1 Macc. 14:41). This changed in 104 BCE when Aristobulus I transformed the government into a monarchy. The poet condemns the Hasmoneans in these verses for their usurpation of the Davidic throne.
\n17:7\u20139. a man alien to their race Refers to Pompey. In 63 BCE he conquered Jerusalem and removed the last Hasmonean king, Aristobulus II, from power (see comment on 2:1 and on 2:6, [Her] sons and daughters were in captivity). Although Pompey restored Hyrcanus II to the high priesthood, the Hasmoneans were never allowed to resume the kingship. The poet apparently did not care that the Romans restored the Hasmoneans to the high priesthood since they were from an ancient family of priests. The verbal forms in verses 7\u20139 are confusing and it is possible that the Greek translator did not render the Hebrew verbs accurately. The poet believes that God will send Pompey to punish the Hasmoneans and show them no mercy (verses 7\u20139a). Verse 9b, if correctly translated into Greek, may indicate that the poet is confident that God has already marked the Hasmoneans for destruction and that none of them will escape divine punishment.
\n17:11\u201314. The lawless one These verses describe Pompey\u2019s 63 BCE conquest of Jerusalem. The poet calls him the \u201clawless one\u201d and \u201can alien\u201d because he was a foreigner who showed contempt for Jewish law (verse 14) when he entered the Holy of Holies (2:2). The poet mentions Pompey\u2019s slaughter of the city\u2019s inhabitants (verse 11) and his deportation of prisoners (verse 12), including Aristobulus II along with his family and supporters, in chains to Rome to march in the 61 BCE triumphal celebration (see comment on 2:1 and on 2:6, [Her] sons and daughters were in captivity). The phrase \u201cwrath of his beauty\u201d in verse 12 is undoubtedly corrupt. Most scholars believe the original Hebrew was \u201canger,\u201d and not \u201cbeauty,\u201d since the verse describes Pompey\u2019s harsh treatment of the Jews.
\n17:15. no one \u2026 practiced mercy and truth in Jerusalem The poet believes that many of Jerusalem\u2019s citizens surpassed the Gentiles in their idolatry.
\n17:16. congregations of the pious This may refer to the poet\u2019s community. Many righteous Jews apparently fled into the wilderness to escape Jerusalem\u2019s destruction.
\n17:19. eternal springs from the deeps were held back This verse may describe a lack of water at this time that exacerbated the suffering of righteous and sinner alike.
\n17:21. raise up \u2026 their king, the son of David The Hasmonean kings and Jerusalem\u2019s new Roman conqueror represent a violation of God\u2019s command that only a Davidic descendant can rule Jerusalem. The psalmist prays for the restoration of the Davidic monarchy.
\n17:23\u201325. in wisdom of righteousness \u2026 to destroy the lawless nations by the word of his mouth The poet interweaves passages from Isa. 11:1\u20134 to describe the messiah\u2019s strength and wisdom. While the Hebrew of Isa. 11:4 describes the messianic king as striking with the \u201crod of his mouth,\u201d the translation of this passage reads the \u201cword of his mouth.\u201d The writer emphasizes that the word (Pss. Sol. 17:24\u201325) is his power and the source of his blessing, and will drive the Romans from the land. The poet in verse 23 alludes to Ps. 2:9, which contains the image of shattering nations \u201clike potter\u2019s ware,\u201d to portray the Davidic messiah as a warrior king.
\n17:26. he shall lead \u2026 and he shall judge the tribes The Davidic messiah will be king and judge, and will restore the old tribal boundaries.
\n17:28. no resident alien and foreigner shall sojourn among them Although the poet believes that the holiness of Israel requires some degree of separation from the Gentiles, Ezekiel prophesied that Gentile nations would serve under the messiah\u2019s yoke (Ezek. 47:22.)
\n17:31. so that nations may come \u2026 to see his glory This verse likely expresses the biblical hope (Isa. 55:5) that the royal status of the Jews yields benefits for all humanity, who come to recognize the one true God.
\n17:32\u201343. And he shall be The poet describes the Davidic messiah as a human agent acting within history. He will be a righteous and just king, and \u201cthe anointed LORD.\u201d Some scholars believe that the Greek and Syriac mistranslate the Hebrew and should be changed to \u201cthe anointed of the LORD.\u201d Despite his strength he will not rely on his army, but on God who is the source of his strength and his king (vv. 34, 38). The most striking aspect of this figure is that he \u201cshall be pure from sin\u201d (v. 36). There is limited parallel for the concept of a sinless human being in Scripture. The poet likely believes that the sinlessness of the Davidic messiah is required by the purity of the people in the eschatological age. The Davidic messiah will not only liberate Jerusalem, but will reign over a kingdom of holiness and righteousness.
\n18:1\u20139. O LORD, your mercy The first nine verses of this poem describe the LORD\u2019s \u201canointed one\u201d (v. 5). The author\u2019s portrayal of God\u2019s mercy is reminiscent of Ps. 145\u2019s description of God\u2019s kingship.
\n18:2. your ears listen to \u2026 the poor Echoes Ps. 9:19, where the biblical poet recounts the LORD\u2019s care of the needy. It is possible that the word \u201cpoor\u201d here and elsewhere (Pss. Sol. 5:2, 11; 10:6; 15:1; 18:2) in the collection describes the material poverty of the author\u2019s community.
\n18:3. offspring of Abraham This phrase is reminiscent of Jer. 33:26, where the prophet counters arguments that God has abandoned the families of Jacob and David.
\n18:4\u20135. turn back the obedient soul from ignorant stupidity In these verses, and elsewhere in the collection (3:8; 13:7, 10), sins committed in ignorance are mentioned in connection with the LORD\u2019s cleansing activity.
\n18:10\u201312. Great is our God \u2026 who appointed the lights The poet concludes with a short poem describing God\u2019s control of the universe. The Greek translation of the Hebrew word Selah here and in 17:29 is likely a musicological term; its meaning and etymology are uncertain, but it appears at major breaks throughout the book of Psalms and in Hab. 3. It may indicate that Psalms was recited liturgically, possibly accompanied by instruments, or that Selah was added to imitate the biblical Psalter. Several passages in Scripture describe God\u2019s control over the stars and heavens to illustrate divine providence.<\/p>\n

Self-Glorification Hymn<\/p>\n

Esther Eshel<\/p>\n

In the Self-Glorification Hymn (4Q471b) an anonymous figure describes his own exalted status. He portrays himself as seated in heaven, sharing the lot of the angels. Various identifications have been proposed for the speaker, among them the archangel Michael.<\/p>\n

Authorship and History<\/p>\n

Partially preserved in four Qumran manuscripts, the script of 4Q471b is identical to that of another scroll, Thanksgiving Hymns (also called 4QHe or 4Q431, Hodayot), a collection of poetry composed by members of the Qumran community and their teacher. It is therefore also considered fragment 1 of the Thanksgiving Hymns manuscript.
\nThanksgiving Hymnse contains a second hymn called the Hymn of the Community, which is also paired with the Self-Glorification Hymn in two other manuscripts. Like the Self-Glorification Hymn, the Hymn of the Community emphasizes communion with angels. Because of the special character of these two hymns, one may argue that both originated in an independent collection of hymns that were later incorporated into the Thanksgiving Hymns.
\nThe four copies of the Self-Glorification Hymn can be divided into recensions A (4QHa 7 i and 12; 4Q471b; and 1QHa 26\u201327) and B (4Q491 11). The text here is that of Recension A.<\/p>\n

Significance<\/p>\n

Comparison of this hymn to the Qumran Rule of the Blessings (1QSb) suggests that the speaker in our text may be the eschatological high priest. The Rule of the Blessings describes one of Aaron\u2019s descendants (the high priest who comes at the end-time) as sitting with the angels in the heavenly temple and taking part in angelic ceremonies, and also as a teacher whose wisdom illumines the world with knowledge. In similar fashion, the speaker in the Self-Glorification Hymn is \u201creckoned with\u201d the angels and is said to impart extraordinary teachings.
\nThe hymn\u2019s description of the priestly teacher figure adheres closely to the sect\u2019s descriptions of its own historical leader, called in the Qumran texts the \u201cTeacher of Righteousness.\u201d Perhaps because of this literary resemblance, sect members seem to have linked the Self-Glorification Hymn with their leader after his death. This correspondence may have inspired them to incorporate the Self-Glorification Hymn (whose speaker I identify as the eschatological high priest) into the Thanksgiving Hymns scroll, which includes hymns presumably attributed to the Teacher of Righteousness.
\nThe description of a figure sitting in the company of the angels in the \u201choly dwelling\u201d has parallels in Jewish Hellenistic accounts of ascents to heaven, mainly in connection with the figure of Enoch (1 En. 17\u201336) or with Levi (Testament of Levi). Other stories of heavenly enthronement, based on the book of Daniel (7), are found in the Book of Similitudes (1 En. 37\u201371) and the Testament of Abraham. In the Qumran sectarian literature\u2019s War Scroll, \u201cthe chosen ones of the holy people\u201d are described as seated with God and the angels in the holy dwelling. A Jewish drama from Hellenistic Egypt, the Exagoge of Ezekiel, the Tragedian, tells of a dream of Moses\u2019s in which he sees a great throne on Mount Sinai where a noble man is seated, wearing a royal crown and holding a scepter. The man then calls Moses and gives him the royal crown. This gesture was then interpreted by Jethro as a prediction that Moses would judge and lead humankind (Praep. ev. 9.24.4\u20136). Finally, the language of this song may be compared with Jesus\u2019s affirmation of his messianic identity (Mark 14:62; cf. 1 En. 55:4; 62:3).<\/p>\n

SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n

Abegg, M. G. \u201c4Q471: A Case of Mistaken Identity?\u201d In Pursuing the Text: Studies in Honor of B. Z. Wacholder on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday, edited by J. C. Reeves and J. Kampen, 136\u201338. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series 184. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994.
\nBaillet, M. Qumr\u00e2n Grotte 4.III (4Q482\u20134Q520), 26\u201329. DJD 7. Oxford: Clarendon, 1982.
\nEshel, E. \u201c4Q471b: A Self-Glorification Hymn.\u201d Revue de Qumran 17, nos. 65\u201368 (Hommage \u00e0 J\u00f3zef T. Milik) (1996): 176\u2013203.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. \u201cThe Identification of the \u2018Speaker\u2019 of the Self-Glorification Hymn.\u201d In The Provo International Conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls: Technological Innovations, New Texts, and Reformulated Issues, edited by D. W. Parry and E. C. Ulrich, 619\u201335. Leiden: Brill, 1999.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. \u201c4Q71b. 4QSelf-Glorification Hymn (=4QHe frg. 1?).\u201d In Qumran Cave 4.XX: Poetical and Liturgical Texts, Part 2, by E. Chazon et al., in consultation with J. VanderKam and M. Brady, 421\u201332. DJD 29. Oxford: Clarendon, 1999.
\nSmith, M. \u201cAscent to the Heavens and Deification in 4QMa.\u201d In Archaeology and History in the Dead Sea Scrolls: The New York University Conference in Memory of Yigael Yadin, edited by L. H. Schiffman, 181\u201388. Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha: Supplement Series 8; Journal for the Study of the Old Testament\/American Schools of Oriental Research Monographs 2. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1990.<\/p>\n

COMMENTARY<\/p>\n

2\u20133 The combination of despising and exalting someone or something, while simultaneously noting that the person or thing has been despised, is later very prominent in Christian thought about Jesus and in Rabbinic thought about the role of Israel; recalls Isa. 53.
\n3. who] compares to [me \u2026? This rhetorical question recurs four times in the Bible, always in relation to human beings, and demands a negative reply. One of the biblical occurrences, Neh. 6:11, perhaps underlies this hymn.
\n5. Who is like me among the angels? In contrast to the Bible, the scrolls use elim exclusively to mean \u201cangels.\u201d This question, evidently derived from Exod. 15:11, transforms the Bible\u2019s second-person reference to God into the first person of the speaker. In the Bible, the phrase \u201cwho is like you\u201d appears only in reference to God (e.g., Ps. 35:10; cf 1QM 10:8).
\n5\u20136. And] who could measure [the flow] of my lips? For \u201cmeasure,\u201d the hymn uses the root k-w-l found in Isa. 40:12.
\n6\u20137. For I] am the beloved of the King This unique phrase closely resembles the biblical phrases \u201ccompanion of the king,\u201d applied to Zabud son of Nathan (1 Kings 4:5) and \u201cthe king\u2019s friend,\u201d applied to Hushai the Archite (1 Chron. 27:33), both high-ranking officials in the courts of David and Solomon. In the present context, the King is almost certainly God.
\nNeither] with gold will (I) cro[wn myself] Probably a reference to the speaker\u2019s wisdom, which would increase his similarity to descriptions of the sect\u2019s leader, the Teacher of Righteousness. Note the echo of the language in the search for wisdom in Job: \u201cThe finest gold of Ophir cannot be weighed against it \u2026 Nor vessels of fine gold be exchanged for it\u201d (28:16\u201317).
\n10. [\u2026] Sing, [O beloved ones The change to plural imperative here probably signifies the start of a separate unit. This separation is also supported by the vacat found before this line in its parallel version in 4Q491 11 i (but cf. 4Q427 7 i 13, where the text is continuous).<\/p>\n

Daily Prayers<\/p>\n

Daniel K. Falk<\/p>\n

This scroll (4Q503) contains a collection of prayers for the community to use together in praising God at sunset and sunrise every day. There is a different prayer for every evening and morning, each introduced by a formula, giving the time of day (sunset or sunrise) and the day of the month on which the congregation shall recite the prayer. The prayers are in the form of short blessings (benedictions, or berakhot) directed toward God, mostly comprised of repeated formulas. Each starts with an opening blessing in the form \u201cBlessed is the God of Israel who\u201d and follows with both a calendar formula that refers to the phase of the moon, the number of sunrises, or the special nature of the day if it is a Sabbath or festival; and praise of God for creation, his special love for and deliverance of Israel, or his glory among the angels. The prayers end by blessing God again, in the form \u201cBlessed are you, God of Israel, you\u201d and then a blessing of peace on Israel.
\nThe prayers for the 14th and 15th days seem to allude to Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and so it is likely that they were intended specifically for the first month of the year, Nisan.<\/p>\n

Authorship and History<\/p>\n

The only known manuscript of these prayers was written in Hebrew around the beginning of the 1st century BCE, and it is in tiny pieces. There is nothing distinctively sectarian about these prayers, but they do have numerous similarities in form, language, and ideas to other sectarian prayers among the Dead Sea Scrolls. This suggests that they may have been written in the sectarian movement (by the Yahad, the Essene community), of which Qumran was one settlement. As recited by members of the sect, the prayers affirmed some of their core beliefs: that all is determined by God\u2019s eternal plan, including the struggle between good and evil; and that the humans of God\u2019s covenant are united with angels and are in harmony with God\u2019s calendar.<\/p>\n

Significance<\/p>\n

These prayers are early evidence of the practice of Jews gathering daily to pray as a group, as later became the norm in the synagogue. (The earliest known prayer books of the synagogue, by R. Amram Gaon and R. Saadia Gaon, date about a millennium later). The collections found at Qumran are different from later synagogue prayer books in that they group together in separate scrolls prayers of the same type (blessings, petitions, hymns, etc.) rather than presenting a guide to the overall liturgy, and they contain a different prayer for each day.
\nDaily Prayers is the first known to use a blessing formula to begin and end a prayer, a structure similar to the standard later established by the Rabbis for prayer (the \u201clong form\u201d), although the form is not identical. In a number of ways, these prayers are an early counterpart to the morning and evening blessings directed toward God that form part of the daily recital of the Shema, one of the central elements of later synagogue service. In both cases they are blessings praising God that are recited at sunset and sunrise, and they have remarkably similar motifs: God\u2019s creation and renewal of lights, angels and humans worshiping together, God\u2019s choice of Israel and the gift of the Torah and knowledge, and God\u2019s rescuing his people. Furthermore, they use some very similar wording.
\nThese comparisons suggest that Daily Prayers may have been a collection of benedictions to accompany recital of the Shema. Comments by the Jewish historian Josephus (Ant. 4:212) and writers of the Mishnah (M. Tam. 5:1) imply that the Shema was recited with blessings at least as early as the 1st century CE, and this scroll (as well as an allusion in Rule of the Community, 1QS 10:10\u201314) suggest that the basic practice goes back at least into the 2nd century BCE.
\nThe idea of humans joining with angels in worshiping God is very important in the sectarian texts from Qumran. It is also the central idea of a liturgical component known as the Kedushah that is found in two prominent places in the synagogue liturgy: in the first benediction before the morning Shema in connection with God\u2019s creation of light, and in the set of prayers known as the Amidah, or Eighteen Benedictions. The Kedushah was also adapted into the Christian liturgy (the Sanctus, or Trishagion). Daily Prayers is the earliest known example of this basic element in daily communal prayer.
\nAt the least, these similarities show that later synagogue liturgy developed out of broader traditions of prayer practiced by groups of pious Jews well before the turn of the era.
\nDaily Prayers reflects a luni-solar calendar, using both the sun and the moon as time markers. The evening prayers track the phases of the moon, with a new moon on the first of the month and a full moon on the 15th. The morning prayers count the sunrises in terms of \u201cgates\u201d of light, one for each day of the month. The Sabbath falls on the 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th of the month. This system seems similar to that in a number of calendar texts found at Qumran (e.g., 4Q327; 4Q317; 4Q208\u2013211). These coordinate lunar months with an idealized solar calendar of 364 days in which Sabbaths will fall on the same days of the month each quarter. This calendar would be at odds with the Temple.
\nIn many respects, the language and motifs in Daily Prayers are very similar to that found in the sectarian texts from Qumran. Descriptions of the heavenly lights and of angels use the language of military formation, with many of the same terms as in the Rule of War, which describes Israel fighting with the angels in a future battle, and the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice, which describes in mystical language various classes of angels in heavenly worship. These terms include \u201carray,\u201d \u201cgates,\u201d \u201clots,\u201d \u201cdivisions,\u201d and \u201cdominion.\u201d The underlying view is that the heavenly bodies, angels, and God\u2019s people are in ordered array by God, with each perfectly in its assigned place and performing its designated function.<\/p>\n

GUIDE TO READING<\/p>\n

The scroll is in many tiny pieces and there is no complete prayer, but because each prayer is mostly made up of repeated formulas (with some variation), it is possible to gain a sense of them. In the following translation, these formulas are used to fill in many of the gaps.<\/p>\n

SUGGESTED READING<\/p>\n

Arnold, Russell C. D. The Social Role of Liturgy in the Religion of the Qumran Community, 120\u201330. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 60. Leiden: Brill, 2006.
\nBaillet, Maurice. \u201c503. Pri\u00e8res quotidiennes.\u201d In Qumr\u00e2n grotte 4.III (4Q482\u20134Q520), 105\u201336, plates 35, 37, 39, 41, 43, 45, 47. Discoveries in the Judaean Desert 7. Oxford: Clarendon, 1982.
\nChazon, Esther G. \u201cThe Function of the Qumran Prayer Texts: An Analysis of the Daily Prayers (4Q503).\u201d In The Dead Sea Scrolls Fifty Years After Their Discovery. Proceedings of the Jerusalem Congress, July 20\u201325, 1997, edited by Lawrence H. Schiffman, Emanuel Tov, and James C. VanderKam, 217\u201325. Jerusalem: Israel Exploration Society, in cooperation with The Shrine of the Book, Israel Museum, 2000.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. \u201cPrayers from Qumran and Their Historical Implications.\u201d Dead Sea Discoveries 1 (1994): 265\u201384. Davila, James R. \u201cDaily Prayers.\u201d In Liturgical Works, 208\u201338. Eerdmans Commentaries on the Dead Sea Scrolls 6. Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 2000.
\nFalk, Daniel K. Daily, Sabbath, and Festival Prayers in the Dead Sea Scrolls, 21\u201357. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 27. Leiden: Brill, 1998.
\n\u2014\u2014\u2014. \u201cQumran and the Synagogue Liturgy.\u201d In The Ancient Synagogue from Its Origins until 200 C. E., edited by Birger Olsson and Magnus Zetterholm, 407\u201320 [404\u201334]. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, 2003.
\nNitzan, Bilhah. Qumran Prayer and Religious Poetry, 69\u201380 and see index. Studies on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

6:1 Most mss. read: \u201cafter seven months,\u201d but some have \u201cseven days,\u201d which seems more likely. standing on [the shore of] the sea of Jamnia Biblical Jamnia (Jabneh) is not itself on the sea, but it had an associated seaport, called in Heb. yabneh yam. It seems odd that our text should specify the name … <\/p>\n

\u201eOutside the Bible Commentary – 20\u201c <\/span>weiterlesen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/buch.jehovah-shammah.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/buch.jehovah-shammah.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/buch.jehovah-shammah.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/buch.jehovah-shammah.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/buch.jehovah-shammah.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/buch.jehovah-shammah.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2173,"href":"http:\/\/buch.jehovah-shammah.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2150\/revisions\/2173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/buch.jehovah-shammah.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/buch.jehovah-shammah.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/buch.jehovah-shammah.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}