(NOTE: The electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was
not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all discovered errors.)
Transliteration of Greek words: All phonetical except: w = omega; h serves
three puposes: 1. = Eta; 2. = rough breathing, when appearing intially
before a vowel; 3. = in the aspirated letters theta = th, phi = ph, chi =
ch. Accents are given immediately after their corresponding vowels: acute =
' , grave = `, circumflex = ^. The character ' doubles as an apostrophe,
when necessary.
THIS FILE CONTAINS:
I. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
II. Excerpts of Theodotus
III. Two Epistles Concerning Virginity (Pseudo-Clementine)
IV. Pseudo-Clementine Literature (1):
Recognitions of Clement
THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS
[Translated by the Rev. Robert Sinker, M.A., Trinity College, Cambridge.]
I.--THE TESTAMENT OF REUBEN CONCERNING THOUGHTS
1. The copy of the Testament of Reuben, what things he charged his sons
before he died in the hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life. When he
was sick two years after the death of Joseph, his sons and his sons' sons
were gathered together to visit him. And he said to them, My children, I am
dying, and go the way of my fathers. And when he saw there Judah and Gad
and Asher, his brethren, he said to them, Raise me up, my brethren, that I
may tell to my brethren and to my children what things I have hidden in my
heart, for from henceforth my strength faileth me. And he arose and kissed
them, and said, weeping: Hear, my brethren, give ear to Reuben your father,
what things I command you. And, behold, I call to witness against you this
day the God of heaven, that ye walk not in the ignorance of youth and
fornication wherein I ran greedily, and I defiled the bed of Jacob my
father. For I tell you that He smote me with a sore plague in my loins for
seven months; and had not Jacob our father prayed for me to the Lord,
surely the Lord would have destroyed me. For I was thirty years old when I
did this evil in the sight of the Lord, and for seven months I was sick
even unto death; and I repented for seven years in the set purpose of my
soul before the Lord. Wine and strong drink I drank not, and flesh entered
not into my mouth, and I tasted not pleasant food,[1] mourning over my sin,
for it was great. And it shall not so be done in Israel.
2. And now hear me, my children, what things I saw in my repentance
concerning the seven spirits of error. Seven spirits are given against man
from Beliar, and they are chief of the works of youth; and seven spirits
are given to him at his creation, that in them should be done every work of
man.[2] The first (1) spirit is of life, with which man's whole being is
created. The second (2) spirit is of sight, with which ariseth desire. The
third (3) spirit is of hearing, with which cometh teaching. The fourth (4)
spirit is of smelling, with which taste is given to draw air and breath.
The fifth (5) spirit is of speech, with which cometh knowledge. The sixth
(6) spirit is of taste, with which cometh the eating of meats and drinks;
and by them strength is produced, for in food is the foundation of
strength. The seventh (7) spirit is of begetting and sexual intercourse,
with which through love of pleasure sin also entereth in: wherefore it is
the last in order of creation, and the first of youth, because it is filled
with ignorance, which leadeth the young as a blind man to a pit, and as
cattle to a precipice.
3. Besides all these, there is an eighth (8) spirit of sleep, with
which is created entrancement of man's nature, and the image of death. With
these spirits are mingled the spirits of error. The first (1), the spirit
of fornication, dwelleth in the nature and in the senses; the second (2)
spirit of insatiateness in the belly; the third (3) spirit of fighting in
the liver and the gall. The fourth (4) is the spirit of fawning and
trickery, that through over-officiousness a man may be fair in seeming. The
fifth (5) is the spirit of arrogance, that a man may be stirred up and
become high-minded. The sixth (6) is the spirit of lying, in perdition and
in jealousy to feign words, and to conceal[3] words from kindred and
friends. The seventh (7) is the spirit of injustice, with which are theft
and pilferings, that a man may work the desire of his heart; for injustice
worketh together with the other spirits by means of craft. Besides all
these, the spirit of sleep, the eighth (8) spirit, is conjoined with error
and fantasy. And so perisheth every young man, darkening his mind from the
truth, and not understanding the law of God, nor obeying the admonitions of
his fathers, as befell me also in my youth.
And now, children, love the truth, and it shall preserve you. I counsel
you, hear ye Reuben your father. Pay no heed to the sight of a woman, nor
yet associate privately with a female under the authority of a husband, nor
meddle with affairs of womankind. For had I not seen Bilhah bathing in a
covered place, I had not fallen into this great iniquity.[1] For my mind,
dwelling on the woman's nakedness, suffered me not to sleep until I had
done the abominable deed. For while Jacob our father was absent with Isaac
his father, when we were in Gader, near to Ephratha in Bethlehem, Bilhah
was drunk, and lay asleep uncovered in her chamber; and when I went in and
beheld her nakedness, I wrought that impiety, and leaving her sleeping I
departed. And forthwith an angel of God revealed to my father Jacob
concerning my impiety, and he came and mourned over me, and touched her no
more.[2]
4. Pay no heed, therefore, to the beauty of women, and muse not upon
their doings; but walk in singleness of heart in the fear of the Lord, and
be labouring in works, and roaming in study and among your flocks, until
the Lord give to you a wife whom He will, that ye suffer not as I did.
Until my father's death I had not boldness to look stedfastly into the face
of Jacob, or to speak to any of my brethren, because of my reproach; and
even until now my conscience afflicteth me by reason of my sin. And my
father comforted me; for he prayed for me unto the Lord, that the anger of
the Lord might pass away from me, even as the Lord showed me. From
henceforth, then, I was protected, and I sinned not. Therefore, my
children, observe all things whatsoever I command you, and ye shall not
sin. For fornication is the destruction of the soul, separating it from
God, and bringing it near to idols, because it deceiveth the mind and
understanding, and bringeth down young men into hell before their time. For
many hath fornication destroyed; because, though a man be old or noble, it
maketh him a reproach and a laughing-stock with Beliar and the sons of men.
For in that Joseph kept himself from every woman, and purged his thoughts
from all fornication, he found favour before the Lord and men. For the
Egyptian woman did many things unto him, and called for magicians, and
offered him love potions, and the purpose of his soul admitted no evil
desire. Therefore the God of my fathers delivered him from every visible
and hidden death. For if fornication overcome not the mind, neither shall
Beliar overcome you.
5. Hurtful are women, my children; because, since they have no power or
strength over the man, they act subtilly through outward guise how they may
draw him to themselves; and whom they cannot overcome by strength, him they
overcome by craft. For moreover the angel of God told me concerning them,
and taught me that women are overcome by the spirit of fornication more
than men, and they devise in their heart against men; and by means of their
adornment they deceive first their minds, and instil the poison by the
glance of their eye, and then they take them captive by their doings, for a
woman cannot overcome a man by force.
Therefore flee fornication, my children, and command your wives and
your daughters that they adorn not their heads and their faces; because
every woman who acteth deceitfully in these things hath been reserved to
everlasting punishment. For thus they allured the Watchers[3] before the
flood; and as these continually beheld them, they fell into desire each of
the other, and they conceived the act in their mind, and changed themselves
into the shape of men, and appeared to them in their congress with their
husbands; and the women, having in their minds desire toward their
apparitions, gave birth to giants, for the Watchers appeared to them as
reaching even unto heaven.[4]
6. Beware, therefore, of fornication; and if you wish to be pure in
your mind, guard your senses against every woman. And command them likewise
not to company with men, that they also be pure in their mind. For constant
meetings, even though the ungodly deed be not wrought, are to them an
irremediable disease, and to us an everlasting reproach of Beliar; for
fornication hath neither understanding nor godliness in itself, and all
jealousy dwelleth in the desire thereof. Therefore ye will be jealous
against the sons of Levi, and will seek to be exalted over them; but ye
shall not be able, for God will work their avenging, and ye shall die by an
evil death. For to Levi the Lord gave the sovereignty, and to Judah,[5] and
to me also with them,[6] and to Dan and Joseph, that we should be for
rulers. Therefore I command you to hearken to Levi, because he shall know
the law of the Lord, and shall give ordinances for judgment and sacrifice
for all Israel until the completion of the times of Christ, the High Priest
whom the Lord hath declared. I adjure you by the God of heaven to work
truth each one with his neighbour; and draw ye near to Levi in humbleness
of heart, that ye may receive a blessing from his mouth. For he shall bless
Israel; and specially Judah, because him hath the Lord chosen to rule over
all the peoples. And worship we his Seed, because He shall die for us in
wars visible and invisible, and shall be among you an everlasting king.
7. And Reuben died after that he had given command to his sons; and
they placed him in a coffin until they bore him up from Egypt, and buried
him in Hebron in the double[1] cave where his fathers were.
II.--THE TESTAMENT OF SIMEON CONCERNING ENVY.
1. The copy of the words of Simeon, what things he spake to his sons
before he died, in the hundred and twentieth year of his life, in the year
in which Joseph died. For they came to visit him when he was sick, and he
strengthened himself and sat up and kissed them, and said to them:--
2. Hear, O my children, hear Simeon your father, what things I have in
my heart. I was born of Jacob my father, his second son; and my mother Leah
called me Simeon, because the Lord heard her prayer.[1] I became strong
exceedingly; I shrank from no deed, nor was I afraid of anything. For my
heart was hard, and my mind was unmoveable, and my bowels unfeeling:
because valour also has been given from the Most High to men in soul and in
body. And at that time I was jealous of Joseph because our father loved
him;[2] and I set my mind against him to destroy him, because the prince of
deceit sent forth the spirit of jealousy and blinded my mind, that I
regarded him not as a brother, and spared not Jacob my father. But his God
and the God of his fathers sent forth His angel, and delivered him out of
my hands. For when I went into Shechem to bring ointment for the flocks,
and Reuben to Dotham, where were our necessaries and all our stores, Judah
our brother sold him to the Ishmaelites. And when Reuben came he was
grieved, for he wished to have restored him safe to his father.[3] But I
was wroth against Judah in that he let him go away alive, and for five
months I continued wrathful against him; but God restrained me, and
withheld from me all working of my hands, for my right hand was half
withered for seven days. And I knew, my children, that because of Joseph
this happened to me, and I repented and wept; and I besought the Lord that
He would restore my hand unto me, and that I might be kept from all
pollution and envy, and from all folly. For I knew that I had devised an
evil deed before the Lord and Jacob my father, on account of Joseph my
brother, in that I envied him.
3. And now, children, take heed of the spirit of deceit and of envy.
For envy ruleth over the whole mind of a man, and suffereth him neither to
eat, nor to drink, nor to do any good thing: it ever suggesteth to him to
destroy him that he envieth; and he that is envied ever flourisheth, but he
that envieth fades away. Two years of days I afflicted my soul with fasting
in the fear of the Lord, and I learnt that deliverance from envy cometh by
the fear of God. If a man flee to the Lord, the evil spirit runneth away
from him, and his mind becometh easy. And henceforward he sympathizeth with
him whom he envied, and condemneth not those who love him, and so ceaseth
from his envy.
4. And my father asked concerning me, because he saw that I was sad;
and I said, I am pained in my liver. For I mourned more than they all,
because I was guilty of the selling of Joseph. And when we went down into
Egypt, and he bound the as a spy, I knew that I was suffering justly, and I
grieved not. Now Joseph was a good man, and had the Spirit of God within
him: compassionate and pitiful, he bore not malice against me; nay, he
loved me even as the rest of his brothers. Take heed, therefore, my
children, of all jealousy and envy, and walk in singleness of soul and with
good heart, keeping in mind the brother of your father, that God may give
to you also grace and glory, and blessing upon your heads, even as ye saw
in him. All his days he reproached us not concerning this thing, but loved
us as his own soul, and beyond his own sons; and he glorified us, and gave
riches, and cattle, and fruits freely to us all. Do ye then also, my
beloved children, love each one his brother with a good heart, and remove
from you the spirit of envy, for this maketh savage the soul and destroyeth
the body; it turneth his purposes into anger and war, and stirreth up unto
blood, and leadeth the mind into frenzy, and suffereth not prudence to act
in men: moreover, it taketh away sleep, and causeth tumult to the soul and
trembling to the body. For even in sleep some malicious jealousy, deluding
him, gnaweth at his soul, and with wicked spirits disturbeth it, and
causeth the body to be troubled, and the mind to awake from sleep in
confusion; and as though having a wicked and poisonous spirit, so appeareth
it to men.
5. Therefore was Joseph fair in appearance, and goodly to look upon,
because there dwelt not in him any wickedness; for in trouble of the spirit
the face declareth it. And now, my children, make your hearts good before
the Lord, and your ways straight before men, and ye shall find grace before
God and men. And take heed not to commit fornication, for fornication is
mother of all evils, separating from God, and bringing near to Beliar. For
I have seen it inscribed in the writing of Enoch[1] that your sons shall
with you be corrupted in fornication, and shall do wrong against Levi with
the sword. But they shall not prevail against Levi, for he shall wage the
war of the Lord, and shall conquer all your hosts; and there shall be a few
divided in Levi and Judah, and there shall be none[2] of you for
sovereignty, even as also my father Jacob prophesied in his blessings.
6. Behold, I have foretold you all things, that I may be clear from the
sin of your souls. Now, if ye remove from you your envy, and all your
stiffneckedness, as a rose shall my bones flourish in Israel, and as a lily
my flesh in Jacob, and my odour shall be as the odour of Libanus; and as
cedars shall holy ones be multiplied from me for ever, and their branches
shall stretch afar off. Then shall perish the seed of Canaan, and a remnant
shall not be to Amalek, and all the Cappadocians[3] shall perish, and all
the Hittites[4] shall be utterly destroyed. Then shall fail the land of
Ham, and every people shall perish. Then shall all the earth rest from
trouble, and all the world under heaven from war. Then shall Shem be
glorified, because the Lord God, the Mighty One of Israel, shall appear
upon earth as man,[5] and saved by Him Adam.[6] Then shall all the spirits
of deceit be given to be trampled under foot, and men shall rule over the
wicked spirits. Then will I arise in joy, and will bless the Most High
because of His marvellous works, because God hath taken a body and eaten
with men and saved men.
7. And now, my children, obey Levi, and in Judah shall ye be
redeemed:[7] and be not lifted up against these two tribes, for from them
shall arise to you the salvation of God. For the Lord shall raise up from
Levi as it were a Priest,[8] and from Judah as it were a King, God and
man.[5] So shall He save all the Gentiles and the race of Israel. Therefore
I command you all things, in order that ye also may command your children,
that they may observe them throughout their generations.
8. And Simeon made an end of commanding his sons, and slept with his
fathers, being an hundred and twenty years old. And they laid him in a
coffin of incorruptible wood, to take up his bones to Hebron. And they
carried them up in a war of the Egyptians secretly: for the bones of Joseph
the Egyptians guarded in the treasure-house of the palace; for the
sorcerers told them that at the departure of the bones of Joseph there
should be throughout the whole of Egypt darkness and gloom, and an
exceeding great plague to the Egyptians, so that even with a lamp a man
should not recognise his brother.
9. And the sons of Simeon bewailed their father according to the law of
mourning, and they were in Egypt until the day of their departure from
Egypt by the hand of Moses.
III.--THE TESTAMENT OF LEVI CONCERNING THE PRIESTHOOD AND ARROGANCE.
1. The copy of the words of Levi, what things he appointed to his sons,
according to all that they should do, and what things should befall them
until the day of judgment. He was in sound health when he called them to
him, for it had been shown to him that he should die. And when they were
gathered together be said to them :--
2. I Levi was conceived in Haran and born there, and after that I came
with my father to Shechem. And I was young, about twenty years of age, when
with Simeon I wrought the vengeance on Hamor for our sister Dinah. And when
we were feeding our flocks in Abel-Maul, a spirit of understanding of the
Lord came upon me,[1] and I saw all men corrupting their way, and that
unrighteousness had built to itself walls, and iniquity sat upon towers;
and I grieved for the race of men, and I prayed to the Lord that I might be
saved. Then there fell upon me a sleep, and I beheld a high mountain: this
is the mountain of Aspis[2] in Abel-Maul. And behold, the heavens were
opened, and an angel of God said to me, Levi, enter. And I entered from the
first heaven into the second, and I saw there water hanging between the one
and the other. And I saw a third heaven far brighter than those two, for
there was in it a height without bounds. And I said to the angel, Wherefore
is this? And the angel said to me, Marvel not at these, for thou shall see
four other heavens brighter than these, and without comparison, when thou
shall have ascended thither: because thou shalt stand near the Lord, and
shalt be His minister, and shall declare His mysteries to men, and shalt
proclaim concerning Him who shall redeem Israel;[3] and by thee and Judah
shall the Lord appear among men, saving in them every race of men; and of
the portion of the Lord shall be thy life, and He shall be thy field and
vineyard, fruits, gold, silver.
3. Hear, then, concerning the seven[4] heavens. The lowest is for this
cause more gloomy, in that it is near all the iniquities of men. The second
hath fire, snow, ice, ready for the day of the ordinance of the Lord, in
the righteous judgment of God: in it are all the spirits of the
retributions for vengeance on the wicked. In the third are the hosts of the
armies which are ordained for the day of judgment, to work vengeance on the
spirits of deceit and of Beliar. And the heavens up to the fourth above
these are holy, for in the highest of all dwelleth the Great Glory, in the
holy of holies, far above all holiness. In the heaven next to it are the
angels of the presence of the Lord, who minister and make propitiation to
the Lord for all the ignorances of the righteous; and they offer to the
Lord a reasonable sweet-smelling savour, and a bloodless offering. And in
the heaven below this are the angels who bear the answers to the angels of
the presence of the Lord. And in the heaven next to this are thrones,
dominions, in which hymns are ever offered to God. Therefore, whenever the
Lord looketh upon us, all of us are shaken; yea, the heavens, and the
earth, and the abysses, are shaken at the presence of His majesty; but the
sons of men, regarding not these things, sin, and provoke the Most High.
4. Now, therefore, know that the Lord will execute judgment upon the
sons of men; because when the rocks are rent,[5] and the sun quenched, and
the waters dried up, and the fire trembling, and all creation troubled, and
the invisible spirits melting away, and the grave[6] spoiled in the
suffering of the Most High,[7] men unbelieving will abide in their
iniquity, therefore with punishment shall they be judged. Therefore the
Most High hath heard thy prayer, to separate thee from iniquity, and that
thou shouldest become to Him a son, and a servant, and a minister of His
presence. A shining light of knowledge shalt thou shine in Jacob, and as
the sun shalt thou be to all the seed of Israel. And a blessing shall be
given to thee, and to all thy seed, until the Lord shall visit all the
heathen in the tender mercies of His Son, even for ever. Nevertheless thy
sons shall lay hands upon Him to crucify Him; and therefore have counsel
and understanding been given thee, that thou mightest instruct thy sons
concerning Him, because he that blesseth Him shall be blessed, but they
that curse Him shall perish.
5. And the angel opened to me the gates of heaven, and I saw the holy
temple, and the Most High upon a throne of glory. And He said to me, Levi,
I have given thee the blessings of the priesthood until that I shall come
and sojourn in the midst of Israel. Then the angel brought me to the earth,
and gave me a shield and a sword, and said, Work vengeance on Shechem
because of Dinah, and I will be with thee, because the Lord hath sent me.
And I destroyed at that time the sons of Hamor, as it is written in the
heavenly tablets.[8] And I said to Him, I pray Thee, O Lord, tell me Thy
name, that I may call upon Thee in a day of tribulation. And He said, I am
the angel who intercedeth for the race of Israel, that He smite them not
utterly, because every evil spirit attacketh it. And after these things I
was as it were awaked, and blessed the Most High, and the angel that
intercedeth for the race of Israel, and for all the righteous.[9]
6. And when I came to my father I found a brazen shield;[1] wherefore
also the name of the mountain is Aspis, which is near Gebal, on the right
side of Abila; and I kept these words in my heart. I took counsel with my
father, and with Reuben my brother, that he should bid the sons of Hamor
that they should be circumcised; for I was jealous because of the
abomination which they had wrought in Israel. And I slew Shechem at the
first, and Simeon slew Hamor. And after this our brethren came and smote
the city with the edge of the sword; and our father heard it and was wroth,
and he was grieved in that they had received the circumcision, and after
that had been put to death, and in his blessings he dealt otherwise with
us. For we sinned because we had done this thing against his will, and he
was sick upon that day. But I knew that the sentence of God was for evil
upon Shechem; for they sought to do to Sarah as they did to Dinah our
sister, and the Lord hindered them. And so they persecuted Abraham our
father when he was a stranger, and they harried his flocks when they were
multiplied upon him; and Jeblae his servant, born in his house, they
shamefully handled. And thus they did to all strangers, taking away their
wives by force, and the men themselves driving into exile. But the wrath of
the Lord came suddenly upon them to the uttermost.[2]
7. And I said to my father, Be not angry, sir, because by thee will the
Lord bring to nought the Canaanites, and will give their land to thee, and
to thy seed after thee. For from this day forward shall Shechem be called a
city of them that are without understanding; for as a man mocketh at a
fool, so did we mock them, because they wrought folly in Israel to defile
our sister. And we took our sister from thence, and departed, and came to
Bethel.
8. And there I saw a thing again even as the former, after we had
passed seventy days. And I saw seven men in white raiment saying to me,
Arise, put on the robe of the priesthood, and the crown of righteousness,
and the breastplate of understanding, and the garment of truth, and the
diadem of faith, and the tiara of miracle, and the ephod of prophecy.[3]
And each one of them bearing each of these things put them on me, and said,
From henceforth become a priest of the Lord, thou and thy seed for ever.
And the first anointed me with holy oil, and gave to me the rod of
judgment. The second washed me with pure water, and fed me with bread and
wine, the most holy things,[4] and clad me with a holy and glorious robe.
The third clothed me with a linen vestment like to an ephod. The fourth put
round me a girdle like unto purple. The fifth gave to me a branch of rich
olive. The sixth placed a crown on my head. The seventh placed on my head a
diadem of priesthood, and filled my hands with incense, so that I served as
a priest to the Lord. And they said to me, Levi, thy seed shall be divided
into three branches,[5] for a sign of the glory of the Lord who is to come;
and first shall he be that hath been faithful; no portion shall be greater
than his. The second shall be in the priesthood. The third--a new name
shall be called over Him, because He shall arise as King from Judah, and
shall establish a new priesthood, after the fashion of the Gentiles, to all
the Gentiles.[6] And His appearing shall be unutterable, as of an
exalted[7] prophet of the seed of Abraham our father. Every desirable thing
in Israel shall be for thee and for thy seed, and everything fair to look
upon shall ye eat, and the table of the Lord shall thy seed apportion, and
some of them shall be high priests, and judges, and scribes; for by their
mouth shall the holy place be guarded. And when I awoke, I understood that
this thing was like unto the former. And I hid this also in my heart, and
told it not to any man upon the earth.
9. And after two days I and Judah went up to Isaac after[8] our father;
and the father of my father blessed me according to all the words of the
visions which I had seen: and he would not come with us to Bethel. And when
we came to Bethel, my father Jacob saw in a vision concerning me, that I
should be to them for a priest unto the Lord; and he rose up early in the
morning, and paid tithes of all to the Lord through me. And we came to
Hebron to dwell there, and Isaac called me continually to put me in
remembrance of the law of the Lord, even as the angel of God showed to me.
And he taught me the law of the priesthood, of sacrifices, whole burnt-
offerings, first-fruits, free-will offerings, thank-offerings. And each day
he was instructing me, and was busied for me before the Lord. And he said
to me, Take heed, my child, of the spirit of fornication; for this shall
continue, and shall by thy seed pollute the holy things. Take therefore to
thyself, while yet thou art young, a wife, not having blemish, nor yet
polluted, nor of the race of the Philistines or Gentiles. And before
entering into the holy place, bathe;[1] and when thou offerest the
sacrifice, wash; and again when thou finishest the sacrifice, wash. Of
twelve trees ever having leaves, offer up the fruits to the Lord, as also
Abraham taught me; and of every clean beast and clean bird offer a
sacrifice to the Lord, and of every firstling and of wine offer first-
fruits; and every sacrifice thou shalt salt with salt.[2]
10. Now, therefore, observe whatsoever I command you, children; for
whatsoever things I have heard from my fathers I have made known to you. I
am clear from all your ungodliness and transgression which ye will do in
the end of the ages against the Saviour of the world, acting ungodly,
deceiving Israel, and raising up against it great evils from the Lord.[3]
And ye will deal lawlessly with Israel, so that Jerusalem shall not endure
your wickedness; but the veil of the temple shall be rent, so as not to
cover your shame. And ye shall be scattered as captives among the heathen,
and shall be for a reproach and for a curse, and for a trampling under
foot. For the house which the Lord shall choose shall be called Jerusalem,
as is contained in the book of Enoch the righteous.[4]
11. Therefore, when I took a wife I was twenty-eight years old, and her
name was Melcha. And she conceived and bare a son, and she called his name
Gersham, for we were sojourners in our land: for Gersham is interpreted
sojourning. And I saw concerning him that he would not be in the first
rank. And Kohath was born in my thirty-fifth year, towards the east. And I
saw in a vision that he was standing on high in the midst of all the
congregation. Therefore I called his name Kohath, which meaneth, beginning
of majesty and instruction. And thirdly, she bare to me Merari, in the
fortieth year of my life; and since his mother bare him with difficulty,
she called him Merari, which meaneth my bitterness, because he also died.
And Jochebed was born in my sixty-fourth year, in Egypt, for I was renowned
then in the midst of my brethren.
12. And Gersham took a wife, and she bare to him Lomni and Semei. And
the sons of Kohath, Ambram, Isaar, Chebro, and Ozel. And the sons of
Merari, Mooli and Homusi. And in my ninety-fourth year Ambram took Jochebed
my daughter to him to wife, for they were born in one day, he and my
daughter. Eight years old was I when I went into the land of Canaan, and
eighteen years when I slew Shechem, and at nineteen years I became priest,
and at twenty-eight years I took a wife, and at forty years I went into
Egypt. And behold, ye are my children, my children even of a third
generation. In my hundred and eighteenth year Joseph died.
13. And now, my children, I command you that ye fear our Lord with your
whole heart, and walk in simplicity according to all His[5] law. And do ye
also teach your children learning, that they may have understanding in all
their life, reading unceasingly the law of God; for every one who shall
know the law of God shall be honoured, and shall not be a stranger
wheresoever he goeth. Yea, many friends shall he gain more than his
forefathers; and many men shall desire to serve him, and to hear the law
from his mouth. Work righteousness, my children, upon the earth, that ye
may find treasure in the heavens, and sow good things in your souls, that
ye may find them in your life. For if ye sow evil things, ye shall reap all
trouble and affliction. Get wisdom in the fear of God with diligence; for
though there shall be a leading into captivity, and cities be destroyed,
and lands and gold and silver and every possession shall perish, the wisdom
of the wise none can take away, save the blindness of ungodliness and the
palsy of sin: for even among his enemies shall it be to him glorious, and
in a strange country a home, and in the midst of foes shall it be found a
friend. If a man teach these things and do them, he shall be enthroned with
kings, as was also Joseph our brother.
14. And now, my children, I have learnt from the writing of Enoch that
at the last ye will deal ungodly, laying your hands upon the Lord in all
malice; and your brethren shall be ashamed because of you, and to all the
Gentiles shall it become a mocking. For our father Israel shall be pure
from the ungodliness of the chief priests who shall lay their hands upon
the Saviour of the world. Pure is the heaven above the earth, and ye are
the lights of the heaven as the sun and the moon. What shall all the
Gentiles do if ye be darkened in ungodliness? So shall ye bring a curse
upon our race for whom came the light of the world, which was given among
you for the lighting up of every man.[6] Him will ye desire to slay,
teaching commandments contrary to the ordinances of God. The offerings of
the Lord will ye rob, and from His portion will ye steal; and before ye
sacrifice to the Lord, ye will take the choicest parts, in despitefulness
eating them with harlots. Amid excesses[1] will ye teach the commandments
of the Lord, the women that have husbands will ye pollute, and the virgins
of Jerusalem will ye defile; and with harlots and adulteresses will ye be
joined. The daughters of the Gentiles will ye take for wives, purifying
them with an unlawful purification; and your union shall be like unto Sodom
and Gomorrah in ungodliness. And ye will be puffed up because of the
priesthood lifting yourselves up against men. And not only so, but being
puffed up also against the commands of God, ye will scoff at the holy
things, mocking in despitefulness.
15. Therefore the temple which the Lord shall choose shall be desolate
in uncleanness, and ye shall be captives throughout all nations, and ye
shall be an abomination among them, and ye shall receive reproach and
everlasting shame from the righteous judgment of God; and all who see you
shall flee from you. And were it not for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob our
fathers, not one from my seed should be left upon the earth.
16. And now I have learnt in the book of Enoch that for seventy weeks
will ye go astray, and will profane the priesthood, and pollute the
sacrifices, and corrupt the law, and set at nought the words of the
prophets. In perverseness ye will persecute righteous men, and hate the
godly; the words of the faithful will ye abhor, and the man who reneweth
the law in the power of the Most High will ye call a deceiver ;[2] and at
last, as ye suppose, ye will slay Him, not understanding His resurrection,
wickedly taking upon your own heads the innocent blood.[3] Because of Him
shall your holy places be desolate, polluted even to the ground, and ye
shall have no place that is clean; but ye shall be among the Gentiles a
curse and a dispersion, until He shall again look upon you, and in pity
shall take you to Himself through faith and water.[4]
17. And because ye have heard concerning the seventy weeks, hear also
concerning the priesthood; for in each jubilee there shall be a priesthood.
In the first jubilee, the first who is anointed into the priesthood shall
be great, and shall speak to God as to a Father; and his priesthood shall
be filled with the fear of the Lord, and in the day of his gladness shall
he arise for the salvation of the world. In the second jubilee, he that is
anointed shall be conceived in the sorrow of beloved ones; and his
priesthood shall be honoured, and shall be glorified among all. And the
third priest shall be held fast in sorrow; and the fourth shall be in
grief, because unrighteousness shall be laid upon him exceedingly, and all
Israel shall hate each one his neighbour. The fifth shall be held fast in
darkness, likewise also the sixth and the seventh. And in the seventh there
shall be such pollution as I am not able to express, before the Lord and
men, for they shall know it who do these things. Therefore shall they be in
captivity and for a prey, and their land and their substance shall be
destroyed. And in the fifth week they shall return into their desolate
country, and shall renew the house of the Lord. And in the seventh week
shall come the priests, worshippers of idols, contentious, lovers of money,
proud, lawless, lascivious, abusers of children and beasts.
18. And after their punishment shall have come from the Lord, then will
the Lord raise up to the priesthood a new Priest, to whom all the words of
the Lord shall be revealed; and He shall execute a judgment of truth upon
the earth,[5] in the fulness of days. And His star shall arise in
heaven,[6] as a king shedding forth the light of knowledge in the sunshine
of day, and He shall be magnified in the world until His ascension. He
shall shine forth as the sun in the earth, and shall drive away all
darkness from the world under heaven, and there shall be peace in all the
earth. The heavens shall rejoice in His days, and the earth shall be glad,
and the clouds shall be joyful, and the knowledge of the Lord shall be
poured forth upon the earth, as the water of seas; and the angels of the
glory of the presence of the Lord shall be glad in Him. The heavens shall
be opened, and from the temple of glory shall the sanctification come upon
Him with the Father's voice, as from Abraham the father of Isaac. And the
glory of the Most High shall be uttered over Him, and the spirit of
understanding and of sanctification shall rest upon Him in the water. He
shall give the majesty of the Lord to His sons in truth for evermore; and
there shall none succeed Him for all generations, even for ever.[7] And in
His priesthood shall all sin come to an end, and the lawless shall rest
from evil, and the just shall rest in Him. And He shall open the gates of
paradise, and shall remove[8] the threatening sword against Adam; and He
shall give to His saints to eat from the tree of life,[9] and the spirit of
holiness shall be on them. And Beliar shall be bound by Him, and He shall
give power to His children to tread upon the evil spirits.[1] And the Lord
shall rejoice in His children, and the Lord shall be well pleased in His
beloved for ever. Then shall Abraham and Isaac and Jacob be joyful, and I
will be glad, and all the saints shall put on gladness.
19. And now, my children, ye have heard all; choose therefore for
yourselves either the darkness or the light, either the law of the Lord or
the works of Beliar. And we answered our father, saying, Before the Lord
will we walk according to His law. And our father said, The Lord is
witness, and His angels are witnesses, and I am witness, and ye are
witnesses, concerning the word of your mouth. And we said, We are
witnesses. And thus Levi ceased giving charge to his sons; and he stretched
out his feet, and was gathered to his fathers, after he had lived a hundred
and thirty-seven years. And they laid him in a coffin, and afterwards they
buried him in Hebron, by the side of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.
IV.--THE TESTAMENT OF JUDAH CONCERNING FORTITUDE, AND LOVE OF MONEY, AND
FORNICATION.
1. The copy of the words of Judah, what things he spake to his sons
before he died. They gathered themselves together, and came to him, and he
said to them: I was the fourth son born to my father, and my mother called
me Judah, saying, I give thanks to the Lord, because He hath given to me
even a fourth son.[1] I was swift and active in my youth, and obedient to
my father in everything. And I honoured my mother and my mother's sister.
And it came to pass, when I became a man, that my father Jacob prayed over
me, saying, Thou shall be a king, and prosperous in all things.
2. And the Lord showed me favour in all my works both in the field and
at home. When I saw that I could run with the hind, then I caught it, and
prepared meat for my father. I seized upon the roes in the chase, and all
that was in the plains I outran. A wild mare I outran, and I caught it and
tamed it; and I slew a lion, and plucked a kid out of its mouth. I took a
bear by its paw, and rolled it over a cliff; and if any beast turned upon
me, I rent it like a dog. I encountered the wild boar, and overtaking it in
the chase, I tore it. A leopard in Hebron leaped upon the dog, and I caught
it by the tail, and flung it from me, and it was dashed to pieces in the
coasts of Gaza. A wild ox feeding in the field I seized by the horns; and
whirling it round and stunning it, I cast it from me, and slew it.
3. And when the two kings of the Canaanites came in warlike array
against our flocks, and much people with them, I by myself rustled upon
King Sur and seized him; and I beat him upon the legs, and dragged him
down, and so I slew him. And the other king, Taphue,[2] I slew as he sat
upon his horse, and so I scattered all the people. Achor the king, a man of
giant stature, hurling darts before and behind as he sat on horseback, I
slew; for I hurled a stone of sixty pounds weight, and cast it upon his
horse, and killed him. And I fought with Achor for two hours, and I killed
him; and I clave his shield into two parts, and I chopped off his feet. And
as I stripped off his breastplate, behold, eight men his companions began
to fight with me. I wound round therefore my garment in my hand; and I
slang stones at them, and killed four of them, and the rest fled. And Jacob
my father slew Beelisa, king of all the kings, a giant in strength, twelve
cubits high; and fear fell upon them, and they ceased from making war with
us. Therefore my father had no care in the wars when I was among my
brethren. For he saw in a vision concerning me, that an angel of might
followed me everywhere, that I should not be overcome.
4. And in the south there befell us a greater war than that in Shechem;
and I joined in battle array with my brethren, and pursued a thousand men,
and slew of them two hundred men and four kings. And I went up against them
upon the wall, and two other kings I slew; and so we freed Hebron, and took
all the captives of the kings.
5. On the next day we departed to Areta,[3] a city strong and walled
and inaccessible, threatening us with death. Therefore I and Gad approached
on the east side of the city, and Reuben and Levi on the west and south.
And they that were upon the wall, thinking that we were alone, charged down
upon us; and so our brethren secretly climbed up the wall on both sides by
ladders, and entered into the city, while the men knew it not. And we took
it with the edge of the sword; and those who had taken refuge in the
tower,--we set fire to the tower, and took both it and them. And as we were
departing the men of Thaffu set upon our captives, and we took it with our
sons, and fought with them even to Thaffu; and we slew them, and burnt
their city, and spoiled all the things that were therein.
6. And when I was at the waters of Chuzeba,[1] the men of Jobel came
against us to battle, and we fought with them; and their allies from
Selom[2] we slew, and we allowed them no means of escaping, and of coming
against us. And the men of Machir[3] came upon us on the fifth day, to
carry away our captives; and we attacked them, and overcame them in fierce
battle: for they were a host and mighty in themselves, and we slew them
before they had gone up the ascent of the hill. And when we came to their
city, their women rolled upon us stones from the brow of the hill on which
the city stood. And I and Simeon hid ourselves behind the town, and seized
upon the heights, and utterly destroyed the whole city.
7. And the next day it was told us that the cities[4] of the two kings
with a great host were coming against us. I therefore and Dan reigned
ourselves to be Amorites, and went as allies into their city. And in the
depth of night our brethren came, and we opened to them the gates; and we
destroyed all the men and their substance, and we took for a prey all that
was theirs, and their three walls we cast down. And we drew near to
Thamna,[5] where was all the refuge of the hostile kings. Then having
received hurt I was wroth, and charged upon them to the brow of the hill;
and they slang at me with stones and darts; and had not Dan my brother
aided me, they would have been able to slay me. We came upon them therefore
with wrath, and they all fled; and passing by another way, they besought my
father, and he made peace with them, and we did to them no hurt, but made a
truce with them, and restored to them all the captives. And I built Thamna,
and my father built Rhambael.[6] I was twenty years old when this war
befell, and the Canaanites feared me and my brethren.
8. Moreover, I had much cattle, and I had for the chief of my herdsmen
Iran[7] the Adullamite. And when I went to him I saw Barsan, king of
Adullam, and he made us a feast; and he entreated me, and gave me his
daughter Bathshua to wife. She bare me Er, and Onan, and Shelah; and the
two of them the Lord smote that they died childless: for Shelah lived, and
his children are ye.
9. Eighteen years we abode at peace, our father and we, with his
brother Esau, and his sons with us, after that we came from Mesopotamia,
from Laban. And when eighteen years were fulfilled, in the fortieth year of
my life, Esau, the brother of my father, came upon us with much people and
strong; and he fell by the bow of Jacob, and was taken up dead in Mount
Seir: even as he went above Iramna[8] was he slain. And we pursued after
the sons of Esau. Now they had a city with walls of iron and gates of
brass; and we could not enter into it, and we encamped around, and besieged
them. And when they opened not to us after twenty days, I set up a ladder
in the sight of all, and with my shield upon my head I climbed up, assailed
with stones of three talents' weight; and I climbed up, and slew four who
were mighty among them. And the next day Reuben and Gad entered in and slew
sixty others. Then they asked from us terms of peace; and being aware of
our father's purpose, we received them as tributaries. And they gave us two
hundred cors of wheat, five hundred baths of oil, fifteen hundred measures
of wine, until we went down into Egypt.
10. After these things, my son Er took to wife Tamar, from Mesopotamia,
a daughter of Aram.[9] Now Er was wicked, and he doubted concerning Tamar,
because she was not of the land of Canaan. And on the third day an angel of
the Lord smote him in the night, and he had not known her, according to the
evil craftiness of his mother, for he did not wish to have children from
her. In the days of the wedding-feast I espoused Onan to her; and he also
in wickedness knew her not, though he lived with her a year. And when I
threatened him, he lay with her,[10] ... according to the command of his
mother, and he also died in his wickedness. And I wished to give Shelah
also to her, but my wife Bathshua suffered it not; for she bore a spite
against Tamar, because she was not of the daughters of Canaan, as she
herself was.
11. And I knew that the race of Canaan was wicked, but the thoughts of
youth blinded my heart. And when I saw her pouring out wine, in the
drunkenness of wine was I deceived, and I fell before her. And while I was
away, she went and took for Shelah a wife from the land of Caanan. And when
I knew what she had done, I cursed her in the anguish of my soul, and she
also died in the wickedness of her sons.
12. And after these things, while Tamar was a widow, she heard after
two years that I was going up to shear my sheep; then she decked herself in
bridal array, and sat over against the city by the gate. For it is a law of
the Amorites, that she who is about to marry sit in fornication seven days
by the gate.[1] I therefore, being drunk at the waters of Chozeb,
recognised her not by reason of wine; and her beauty deceived me, through
the fashion of her adorning. And I turned aside to her, and said, I would
enter in to thee. And she said to me, What wilt thou give me? And I gave
her my staff, and my girdle, and my royal crown; and I lay with her, and
she conceived. I then, not knowing what she had done, wished to slay her;
but she privily sent my pledges, and put me to shame. And when I called
her, I heard also the secret words which I spoke when lying with her in my
drunkenness; and I could not slay her, because it was from the Lord. For I
said, Lest haply she did it in subtlety, and received the pledge from
another woman: but I came near her no more till my death, because I had
done this abomination in all Israel. Moreover, they who were in the city
said that there was no bride in the city, because she came from another
place, and sat for awhile in the gate, and she thought that no one knew
that I had gone in to her.[2] And after this we came into Egypt to Joseph,
because of the famine. Forty and six years old was I, and seventy and three
years lived I there.
13. And now, my children, in what things soever I command you hearken
to your father, and keep all my sayings to perform the ordinances of the
Lord, and to obey the command of the Lord God. And walk not after your
lusts, nor in the thoughts of your imaginations in the haughtiness of your
heart; and glory not in the works of the strength of youth, for this also
is evil in the eyes of the Lord. For since I also gloried that in wars the
face of no woman of goodly form ever deceived me, and upbraided Reuben my
brother concerning Bilhah, the wife of my father, the spirits of jealousy
and of fornication arrayed themselves within me, until I fell before
Bathshua the Canaanite, and Tamar who was espoused to my sons, And I said
to my father-in-law, I will counsel with my father, and so will I take thy
daughter. And he showed me a boundless store of gold in his daughter's
behalf, for he was a king. And he decked her with gold and pearls, and
caused her to pour out wine for us at the feast in womanly beauty. And the
wine led my eyes astray, and pleasure blinded my heart; and I loved her,
and I fell, and transgressed the commandment of the Lord and the
commandment of my fathers, and I took her to wife. And the Lord rewarded me
according to the thought of my heart, insomuch that I had no joy in her
children.
14. And now, my children, be not drunk with wine; for wine turneth the
mind away from the truth, and kindleth in it the passion of lust, and
leadeth the eyes into error. For the spirit of fornication hath wine as a
minister to give pleasures to the mind; for these two take away the power
from a man. For if a man drink wine to drunkenness, he disturbeth his mind
with filthy thoughts to fornication, and exciteth his body to carnal union;
and if the cause of the desire be present, he worketh the sin, and is not
ashamed. Such is wine, my children; for he who is drunken reverenceth no
man. For, lo, it made me also to err, so that I was not ashamed of the
multitude in the city, because before the eyes of all I turned aside unto
Tamar, and I worked a great sin, and I uncovered the covering of the shame
of my sons. After that I drank wine I reverenced not the commandment of
God, and I took a woman of Canaan to wife. Wherefore, my children, he who
drinketh wine needeth discretion; and herein is discretion in drinking
wine, that a man should drink as long as he keepeth decency; but if he go
beyond this bound, the spirit of deceit attacketh his mind and worketh his
will; and it maketh the drunkard to talk filthily, and to transgress and
not to be ashamed, but even to exult in his dishonour, accounting himself
to do well.
15. He that committeth fornication, and[3] uncovereth his nakedness,
hath become the servant of fornication, and escapeth not[4] from the power
thereof, even as I also was uncovered. For I gave my staff, that is, the
stay of my tribe; and my girdle, that is, my power; and my diadem, that is,
the glory of my kingdom. Then I repented for these things, and took no wine
or flesh until my old age, nor did I behold any joy. And the angel of God
showed me that for ever do women bear rule over king and beggar alike; and
from the king they take away his glory, and from the valiant man his
strength, and from the beggar even that little which is the stay of his
poverty.
16. Observe therefore, my children, moderation in wine; for there are
in it four evil spirits--of (I) lust, of (2) wrath, of (3) riot, of (4)
filthy lucre. If ye drink wine in gladness, with shamefacedness, with the
fear of God, ye shall live. For if ye drink not with shamefacedness, and
the fear of God departeth from you, then cometh drunkenness, and
shamelessness stealeth in. But[1] even if ye drink not at all, take heed
lest ye sin in words of outrage, and fighting, and slander, and
transgression of the commandments of God; so shall ye perish before your
time. Moreover, wine revealeth the mysteries of God and men to aliens, even
as I also revealed the commandments of God and the mysteries of Jacob my
father to the Canaanitish Bathshua, to whom God forbade to declare them.
And wine also is a cause of war and confusion.
17. I charge you, therefore, my children, not to love money, nor to
gaze upon the beauty of women; because for the sake of money and beauty I
was led astray to Bathshua the Canaanite. For I know that because of these
two things shall ye who are my race fall into wickedness; for even wise men
among my sons shall they mar, and shall cause the kingdom of Judah to be
diminished, which the Lord gave me because of my obedience to my father.[2]
For I never disobeyed a word of Jacob my father, for all things whatsoever
he commanded I did. And Abraham, the father of my father, blessed me that I
should be king in Israel, and Isaac further blessed me in like manner. And
I know that from me shall the kingdom be established.
18. For I have read also in the books of Enoch the righteous what evils
ye shall do in the last days. Take heed, therefore, my children, of
fornication and the love of money; hearken to Judah your father, for these
things do withdraw you from the law of God, and blind the understanding of
the soul, and teach arrogance, and suffer not a man to have compassion upon
his neighbour: they rob his soul of all goodness, and bind him in toils and
troubles, and take away his sleep and devour his flesh, and hinder the
sacrifices of God; and he remembereth not blessing, and he hearkeneth not
to a prophet when he speaketh, and is vexed at the word of godliness. For
one who serveth two passions contrary to the commandments of God cannot
obey God, because they have blinded his soul, and he walketh in the day-
time as in the night.
19. My children, the love of money leadeth to idols; because, when led
astray through money, men make mention of those who are no gods, and it
causeth him who hath it to fall into madness. For the sake of money I lost
my children, and but for the repentance of my flesh, and the humbling of my
soul, and the prayers of Jacob my father, I should have died childless. But
the God of my fathers, who is pitiful and merciful, pardoned me, because I
did it in ignorance.[3] For the prince of deceit blinded me, and I was
ignorant as a man and as flesh, being corrupted in sins; and I learnt my
own weakness while thinking myself unconquerable.[4]
20. [5]Learn therefore, my children, that two spirits wait upon man--
the spirit of truth and the spirit of error; and in the midst is the spirit
of the understanding of the mind, to which it belongeth to turn
whithersoever it will. And the works of truth and the works of error are
written upon the breast of men, and each one of them the Lord knoweth. And
there is no time at which the works of men can be hid from Him; for on the
bones of his breast hath he been written down before the Lord. And the
spirit of truth testifieth all things, and accuseth all; and he who sinneth
is burnt up by his own heart, and cannot raise his face unto the Judge.
21. And now, my children, love Levi, that ye may abide, and exalt not
yourselves against him, lest ye be utterly destroyed. For to me the Lord
gave the kingdom, and to him the priesthood, and He set the kingdom beneath
the priesthood. To me He gave the things upon the earth; to him the things
in the heavens. As the heaven is higher than the earth, so is the
priesthood of God higher than the kingdom upon the earth. For the Lord
chose him above thee, to draw near to Him, and to eat of His table and
first-fruits, even the choice things of the sons of Israel, and thou shall
be to them as a sea. For as, on the sea, just and unjust are tossed about,
some taken into captivity while others are enriched, so also shall every
race of men be in thee, some are in jeopardy and taken captive, and others
shall grow rich by means of plunder. For they who rule will be as great
sea-monsters, swallowing up men like fishes: free sons and daughters do
they enslave; houses, lands, flocks, money, will they plunder; and with the
flesh of many will they wrongfully feed the ravens and the cranes; and they
will go on further in evil, advancing on still in covetousness. And there
shall be false prophets like tempests, and they shall persecute all
righteous men.
22. And the Lord shall bring upon them divisions one against another,
and there shall be continual wars in Israel; and among men of other race
shall my kingdom be brought to an end, until the salvation of Israel shall
come, until the appearing of the God of righteousness, that Jacob and all
the Gentiles may rest in peace.[1] And he shall guard the might of my
kingdom for ever: for the Lord sware to me with an oath that the kingdom
should never fail from me, and from my seed for all days, even for ever.
23. Now I have much grief, my children, because of your lewdness, and
witchcrafts, and idolatries, which ye will work against the kingdom,
following them that have familiar spirits ye[2] will make your daughters
singing girls[3] and harlots for divinations and demons of error, and ye
will be mingled in the pollutions of the Gentiles: for which things' sake
the Lord shall bring upon you famine and pestilence, death and the sword,
avenging siege, and dogs for the rending in pieces of enemies, and
revilings of friends, destruction and blighting of eyes, children
slaughtered, wives carried off, possessions plundered, temple of God in
flames, your land desolated, your own selves enslaved among the Gentiles,
and they shall make some of you eunuchs for their wives; and whenever ye
will return to the Lord with humility of heart, repenting and walking in
all the commandments of God, then will the Lord visit you in mercy and in
love, bringing you from out of the bondage of your enemies.
24. And after these things shall a Star arise to you from Jacob in
peace, and a Man shall rise from my seed, like the Sun of righteousness,
walking with the sons of men[4] in meekness and righteousness, and no sin
shall be found in Him. And the heavens shall be opened above Him, to shed
forth the blessing of the Spirit from the Holy Father; and He shall shed
forth a spirit of grace upon you, and ye shall be unto Him sons in truth,
and ye shall walk in His commandments, the first and the last. This is the
Branch of God Most High, and this the Well-spring unto life for all flesh.
[5]Then shall the sceptre of my kingdom shine forth, and from your root
shall arise a stem; and in it shall arise a rod of righteousness to the
Gentiles, to judge and to save all that call upon the Lord.
25. And after these things shall Abraham and Isaac and Jacob arise unto
life, and I and my brethren will be chiefs, even your sceptre in Israel:
Levi first, I the second, Joseph third, Benjamin fourth, Simeon fifth,
Issachar sixth, and so all in order. And the Lord blessed Levi; the Angel
of the Presence, me; the powers of glory,[6] Simeon; the heaven, Reuben;
the earth, Issachar; the sea, Zebulun; the mountains, Joseph; the
tabernacle, Benjamin; the lights of heaven, Dan; the fatness of earth,
Naphtali; the sun, Gad; the olive, Asher: and there shall be one people of
the Lord, and one tongue; and there shall no more be a spirit of deceit of
Beliar, for he shall be cast into the fire for ever. And they who have died
in grief shall arise in joy, and they who have lived in poverty for the
Lord's sake shall be made rich, and they who have been in want shall be
filled, and they who have been weak shall be made strong, and they who have
been put to death for the Lord's sake shall awake in life.[7] And the harts
of Jacob shall run in joyfulness, and the eagles of Israel shall fly in
gladness; but the ungodly shall lament, and sinners all weep, and all the
people shall glorify the sh Lord for ever.
26. Observe, therefore, my children, all the law of the Lord, for there
is hope for all them who follow His way aright. And he said to them: I die
before your eyes this day, a hundred and nineteen years old. Let no one
bury me in costly apparel, nor tear open my bowels,[8] for this shall they
who are kings do: and carry me up to Hebron with you. And Judah, when he
had said these things, fell asleep; and his sons did according to all
whatsoever he commanded them, and they buried him in Hebron with his
fathers.
V.--THE TESTAMENT OF ISSACHAR CONCERNING SIMPLICITY.
1. The record of the words of Issachar. He called his sons, and said to
them: Hearken, my children, to Issachar your father; give ear to my words,
ye who are beloved of the Lord. I was the fifth son born to Jacob, even the
hire of the mandrakes.[1] For Reuben[2] brought in mandrakes from the
field, and Rachel met him and took them. And Reuben wept, and at his voice
Leah my mother came forth. Now these mandrakes were sweet-smelling apples
which the land of Aram produced on high ground below a ravine of water. And
Rachel said, I will not give them to thee, for they shall be to me instead
of children. Now there were two apples; and Leaf said, Let it suffice thee
that thou hast taken the husband of my virginity: wilt thou also take
these? And she said, Behold, let Jacob be to thee this night instead of the
mandrakes of thy son. And Leah said to her, Boast not, and vaunt not
thyself; for Jacob is mine, and I am the wife of his youth. But Rachel
said, How so? for to me was he first espoused, and for my sake he served
our father fourteen years. What shall I do to thee, because the craft and
the subtlety of men are increased, and craft prospereth upon the earth? And
were it not so, thou wouldest not now see the face of Jacob. For thou art
not his wife, but in craft wert taken to him in my stead. And my father
deceived me, and removed me on that night, and suffered me not to see him;
for had I been there, it had not happened thus. And Rachel said, Take one
mandrake, and for the other thou shalt hire him from me for one night. And
Jacob knew Leah, and she conceived and bare me, and on account of the
hire[1] I was called Issachar.
2. Then appeared to Jacob an angel of the Lord, saying, Two children
shall Rachel bear; for she hath refused company with her husband, and hath
chosen continency. And had not Leah my mother given up the two apples for
the sake of his company, she would have borne eight sons; and for this
thing she bare six, and Rachel two: because on account of the mandrakes the
Lord visited her. For He knew that for the sake of children she wished to
company with Jacob, and not for lust of pleasure.[2] For she went further,
and on the morrow too gave up Jacob that she might receive also the other
mandrake. Therefore the Lord hearkened to Rachel because of the mandrakes:
for though she desired them, she ate them not, but brought them to the
priest of the Most High who was at that time, and offered them up in the
house of the Lord.
3. When, therefore, I grew up, my children, I walked in uprightness of
heart, and I became a husbandman for my parents and my brethren, and I
brought in fruits from the field according to their season; and my father
blessed me, for he saw that I walked in simplicity. And I was not a
busybody in my doings, nor malicious and slanderous against my neighbour. I
never spoke against any one, nor did I censure the life of any man, but
walked in the simplicity of my eyes. Therefore when I was thirty years old
I took to myself a wife, for my labour wore away my strength, and I never
thought upon pleasure with women; but through my labour my sleep sufficed
me, and my father always rejoiced in my simplicity. For on whatever I
laboured I offered first to the Lord, by the hands of the priests, of all
my produce and all first-fruits; then to my father, and then took for
myself. And the Lord increased twofold His benefits in my hands; and Jacob
also knew that God aided my simplicity, for on every poor man and every one
in distress I bestowed the good things of the earth in simplicity of heart.
4. And now hearken to me, my children, and walk in simplicity of heart,
for I have seen in it all that is well-pleasing to the Lord. The simple
coveteth not gold, defraudeth not his neighbour, longeth not after manifold
dainties, delighteth not in varied apparel, doth not picture to himself to
live a long life, but only waiteth for the will of God, and the spirits of
error have no power against him. For he cannot allow within his mind a
thought of female beauty, that he should not pollute his mind in
corruption. No envy can enter into his thoughts, no jealousy melteth away
his soul, nor doth he brood over gain with insatiate desire; for he walketh
in uprightness of life, and beholdeth all things in simplicity, not
admitting in his eyes malice from the error of the world, lest he should
see the perversion of any of the commandments of the Lord.
5. Keep therefore the law of God, my children, and get simplicity, and
walk in guilelessness, not prying over-curiously into the commands of God
and the business of your neighbour; but love the Lord and your neighbour,
have compassion on the poor and weak. Bow down your back unto husbandry,
and labour in tillage of the ground in all manner of husbandry, offering
gifts unto the Lord with thanksgiving; for with the first-fruits of the
earth did the Lord bless me, even as He blessed all the saints from Abel
even until now. For no other portion is given to thee than of the fatness
of the earth, whose fruits are raised by toil; for our father Jacob blessed
me with blessings of the earth and of first-fruits. And Levi and Judah were
glorified by the Lord among the sons of Jacob; for the Lord made choice of
them, and to the one He gave the priesthood, to the other the kingdom. Them
therefore obey, and walk in the simplicity of your father; for unto Gad
hath it been given to destroy the temptations that are coming upon Israel.
6. I know, my children, that in the last times your sons will forsake
simplicity, and will cleave unto avarice, and leaving guilelessness will
draw near to malice, and forsaking the commandments of the Lord will cleave
unto Beliar, and leaving husbandry will follow after their wicked devices,
and shall be dispersed among the Gentiles, and shall serve their enemies.
And do you therefore command these things to your children, that if they
sin they may the more quickly return to the Lord; for He is merciful, and
will deliver them even to bring them back into their land.
7. I am a hundred and twenty-two years old, anti I know not against
myself a sin unto death. Except my wife, I have not known any woman. I
never committed fornication in the haughtiness of my eyes; I drank not
wine, to be led astray thereby; I coveted not any desirable thing that was
my neighbour's; guile never entered in my heart; a lie never passed through
my lips; if any man grieved, I wept with him, and I shared my bread with
the poor. I never ate alone; I moved no landmark; in all my days I wrought
godliness and truth. I loved the Lord with all my strength; likewise also
did I love every man even as my own children. So ye also do these things,
my children, and every spirit of Beliar shall flee from you, and no deed of
malicious men shall rule over you; and every wild beast shall ye subdue,
having with yourselves the God of heaven walking with men in simplicity of
heart.
And he commanded them that they should carry him up to Hebron, and bury
him there in the cave with his fathers. And he stretched out his feet and
died, the fifth son of Jacob, in a good old age; and with every limb sound,
and with strength unabated, he slept the eternal sleep.[1]
VI.--THE TESTAMENT OF ZEBULUN CONCERNING COMPASSION AND MERCY.
1. The record of Zebulun, which he enjoined his children in the
hundred[1] and fourteenth year of his life, thirty-two years after the
death of Joseph. And he said to them: Hearken to me sons of Zebulun, attend
to the words of your father. I am Zebulun, a good gift[2] to my parents.
For when I was born our father was increased very exceedingly, both in
flocks and herds, when with the streaked rods he had his portion. I know
not, my children, that in all my days I have sinned, save only in thought.
Nor do I remember that I have done any iniquity, except the sin of
ignorance which I committed against Joseph; for I screened my brethren, not
telling to my father what had been done. And I wept sore in secret, for I
feared my brethren, because they had all agreed together, that if any one
should declare the secret, he should be slain with the sword. But when they
wished to kilt him, I adjured them much with tears not to be guilty of this
iniquity.
2. For Simeon and Gad came against Joseph to kill him. And Joseph fell
upon his face, and said unto them, Pity me, my brethren, have compassion
upon the bowels of Jacob our father lay not upon me your hands to shed
innocent blood, for I have not sinned against you; yea, if I have sinned,
with chastening chastise me, but lay not upon me your hand, for the sake of
Jacob our father. And as he spoke these words, I pitied him and began to
weep, and my heart melted within me, and all the substance of my bowels was
loosened within my soul. And Joseph also wept, and I too wept with him; and
my heart throbbed fast, and the joints of my body trembled, and I was not
able to stand. And when he saw me weeping with him, and them coming against
him to slay him, he fled behind me, beseeching them. And Reuben rose and
said, My brethren, let us not slay him, but let us cast him into one of
these dry pits which our fathers digged and found no water. For for this
cause the Lord forbade that water should rise up in them, in order that
Joseph might be preserved; and the Lord appointed it so, until they sold
him to the Ishmaelites.
3. For in the price of Joseph, my children, I had no share; but Simeon
and Gad and six other of our brethren took the price of Joseph, and bought
sandals[3] for themselves, their wives, and their children, saying, We will
not eat of it, for it is the price of our brother's blood, but will tread
it down under foot, because he said that he was king over us, and so let us
see what his dreams mean. Therefore is it written in the writing of the law
of Enoch, that whosoever will not raise up seed to his brother, his sandal
shall be unloosed, and they shall spit into his face.[4] And the brethren
of Joseph wished not that their brother should live, and the Lord loosed
unto them the sandal of Joseph. For when they came into Egypt they were
unloosed by the servants of Joseph before the gate, and so made obeisance
to Joseph after the fashion of Pharaoh. And not only did they make
obeisance to him, but were spit upon also, falling down before him
forthwith, and so they were put to shame before the Egyptians; for after
this the Egyptians heard all the evils which we had done to Joseph.
4. After these things they brought forth food; for I through two days
and two nights tasted nothing, through pity for Joseph. And Judah ate not
with them, but watched the pit; for he feared lest Simeon and Gad should
run back and slay him. And when they saw that I also ate not, they set me
to watch him until he was sold. And he remained in the pit three days and
three nights, and so was sold famishing. And when Reuben heard that while
he was away Joseph had been sold, he rent his clothes about him, and
mourned, saying, How shall I look in the face of Jacob my father? And he
took the money, and ran after the merchants, and found no one; for they had
left the main road, and journeyed hastily through rugged byways.[1] And
Reuben ate no food on that day, Dan therefore came to him, and said, Weep
not, neither grieve for I have found what we can say to our father Jacob.
Let us slay a kid of the goats, and dip in it the coat of Joseph; and we
will say, Look, if this is the coat of thy son: for they stripped off from
Joseph the coat of our father when they were about to sell him, and put
upon him an old garment of a slave. Now Simeon had the coat, and would not
give it up, wishing to rend it with his sword; for he was angry that Joseph
lived, and that he had not slain him. Them we all rose up together against
him, and said, If thou give it not up, we will say that thou alone didst
this wickedness in Israel; and so he gave it up, and they did even as Dan
had said.
5. And now, my children, I bid you to keep the commands of the Lord,
and to show mercy upon your neighbour, and to have compassion towards all,
not towards men only, but also towards beasts. For for this thing's sake
the Lord blessed me; and when all my brethren were sick I escaped without
sickness, for the Lord knoweth the purposes of each. Have therefore
compassion in your hearts, my children, because even as a man doeth to his
neighbour, even so also will the Lord do to him. For the sons of my
brethren were sickening, were dying on account of joseph, because they
showed not mercy in their hearts; but my sons were preserved without
sickness, as ye know. And when I was in Canaan, by the sea-coast, I caught
spoil of fish for Jacob my father; and when many were choked in the sea, I
abode unhurt.
6. I was the first who made a boat to sail upon the sea, for the Lord
gave me understanding and wisdom therein; and I let down a rudder behind
it, and I stretched a sail on an upright mast in the midst; and sailing
therein along the shores, I caught fish for the house of my father until we
went into Egypt; and through compassion, I gave of my fish to every
stranger. And if any man were a stranger, or sick, or aged, I boiled the
fish and dressed them well, and offered them to all men as every man had
need, bringing them together and having compassion upon them. Wherefore
also the Lord granted me to take much fish: for he that imparteth unto his
neighbour, receiveth manifold more from the Lord. For five years I caught
fish, and gave thereof to every man whom I saw, and brought sufficient for
all the house of my father. In the summer I caught fish, and in the winter
I kept sheep with my brethren.
7. Now I will declare unto you what I did, I saw a man in distress and
nakedness in wintertime, and had compassion upon him, and stole away[2] a
garment secretly from my house, and gave it to him who was in distress. Do
you therefore, my children, from that which God bestoweth upon you, show
compassion and mercy impartially to all men, and give to every man with a
good heart. And if ye have not at the time wherewith to give to him that
asketh you, have compassion for him in bowels of mercy. I know that my hand
found not at the time wherewith to give to him that asked me, and I walked
with him weeping for more than seven furlongs, and my bowels yearned
towards him unto compassion.
8. Have therefore yourselves also, my children, compassion towards
every man with mercy, that the Lord also may have compassion upon you, and
have mercy upon you; because also in the last days God sendeth His
compassion on the earth, and wheresoever He findeth bowels of mercy, He
dwelleth in him. For how much compassion a man hath upon his neighbours, so
much also hath the Lord upon him. For when we went down into Egypt, Joseph
bore no malice against us, and when he saw me he was filled with
compassion. And looking towards him, do ye also, my children, approve
yourselves without malice, and love one another; and reckon not each one
the evil of his brother, for this breaketh unity, and divideth all kindred,
and troubleth the soul: for he who beareth malice hath not bowels of mercy.
9. Mark the waters, that they flow together, and sweep along stones,
trees, sand; but if they are divided into many streams, the earth sucketh
them up, and they become of no account. So also shall ye be if ye be
divided. Divide not yourselves into two heads, for everything which the
Lord made hath but one head; He gave two shoulders, hands, feet, but all
the members are subject unto the one head. I have learnt by the writing of
my fathers, that in the last days ye will depart from the Lord, and be
divided in Israel, and ye will follow two kings, and will work every
abomination, and every idol will ye worship, and your enemies shall lead
you captive, and ye shall dwell among the nations with all infirmities and
tribulations and anguish of soul. And after these things ye will remember
the Lord, and will repent, and He will lead you back; for He is merciful
and full of compassion, not imputing evil to the sons of men, because they
are flesh, and the spirits of error deceive them in all their doings, And
after these things shall the Lord Himself arise to you,[1] the Light of
righteousness, and healing[2] and compassion shall be upon His wings. He
shall redeem all captivity of the sons of men from Beliar, and every spirit
of error shall be trodden down. And He shall bring back all the nations to
zeal for Him, and ye shall see God in the fashion of a man[3] whom the Lord
shall choose, Jerusalem is His name. And again with the wickedness of your
words will ye provoke Him to anger, and ye shall be cast away, even unto
the time of consummation.
10. And now, my children, grieve not that I am dying, nor be troubled
in that I am passing away from you. For I shall arise once more in the
midst of you, as a ruler in the midst of his sons; and I will rejoice in
the midst of my tribe, as many as have kept the law of the Lord, and the
commandments of Zebulun their father.[4] But upon the ungodly shall the
Lord bring everlasting fire, and will destroy them throughout all
generations. I am hastening away unto my rest, as did my fathers; but do ye
fear the Lord your God with all your strength all the days of your life.
And when he had said these things he fell calmly asleep, and his sons laid
him in a coffin; and afterwards they carried him up to Hebron, and buried
him with his fathers.
VII.--THE TESTAMENT OF DAN CONCERNING ANGER AND LYING.
1. The record of the words of Dan, which he spake to his sons in his
last days. In the hundred and twenty-fifth year of his life he called
together his family, and said: Hearken to my words, ye sons of Dan; give
heed to the words of the mouth of your father. I have proved in my heart,
and in my whole life, that truth with just dealing is good and well-
pleasing to God, and that lying and anger are evil, because they teach man
all wickedness. I confess this day to you, my children, that in my heart I
rejoiced concerning the death of Joseph, a true and good man; and I
rejoiced at the selling of Joseph, because his father loved him more than
us. For the spirit of jealousy and of vainglory said to me, Thou also art
his son. And one of the spirits of Beliar wrought with me, saying, Take
this sword, and with it slay Joseph; so shall thy father love thee when he
is slain. This is the spirit of anger that counselled me, that even as a
leopard devoureth a kid, so should I devour Joseph. But the God of Jacob
our father gave him not over into my hands that I should find him alone,
nor suffered me to work this iniquity, that two tribes should be destroyed
in Israel.[1]
2. And now, my children, I am dying, and I tell you of a truth, that
unless ye keep yourselves from the spirit of lying and of anger, and love
truth and long-suffering, ye shall perish. There is blindness in anger, my
children, and no wrathful man regardeth any, person with truth: for though
it be a father or a mother, he behaveth towards them as enemies; though it
be a brother, he knoweth him not; though it be a prophet of the Lord, he
disobeyeth him; though a righteous man, he regardeth him not; a friend he
doth not acknowledge. For the spirit of anger encompasseth him with the
nets of deceit, and blindeth his natural eyes, and through lying darkeneth
his mind, and giveth him a sight of his own making. And wherewith
encompasseth he his eyes? In hatred of heart; and he giveth him a heart of
his own against his brother unto envy.
3. My children, mischievous is anger, for it becometh as a soul to the
soul itself; and the body of the angry man it maketh its own, and over his
soul it getteth the mastery, and it bestoweth upon the body its own power,
that it may work all iniquity; and whenever the soul doeth aught, it
justifieth what has been done, since it seeth not. Therefore he who is
wrathful, if he be a mighty man, hath a treble might in his anger; one by
the might and aid of his servants, and a second by his wrath, whereby he
persuadeth and overcometh in injustice: and having a third of the nature of
his own body, and of his own self working the evil. And though the wrathful
man be weak, yet hath he a might twofold of that which is by nature; for
wrath ever aideth such in mischief. This spirit goeth always with lying at
the right hand of Satan, that his works may be wrought with cruelty and
lying.
4. Understand ye therefore the might of wrath, that it is vain. For it
first of all stingeth him in word: then by deeds it strengtheneth him who
is angry, and with bitter punishments disturbeth his mind, and so stirreth
up with great wrath his soul. Therefore, when any one speaketh against you,
be not[1] ye moved unto anger, And if any man praiseth you as good, be not
lifted up nor elated, either to the feeling or showing of pleasure.[2] For
first it pleaseth the hearing, and so stirreth up the understanding to
understand the grounds for anger; and then, being wrathful, he thinketh
that he is justly angry. If ye fall into any loss or ruin, my children, be
hot troubled; for this very spirit maketh men desire that which hath
perished, in order that they may he inflamed by the desire. If ye suffer
loss willingly, be not vexed, for from vexation he raiseth up wrath with
lying. And wrath with lying is a twofold mischief;[3] and they speak one
with another that they may disturb the mind; and when the soul is
continually, disturbed, the Lord departeth from it, and Beliar ruleth over
it.
5. Observe, therefore, my children, the commandments of the Lord, and
keep His law; and depart from wrath, and hate lying, that the Lord may
dwell among you, and Beliar may flee from you. Speak truth each one with
his neighbour, so shall ye not fall into lust and confusion; but ye shall
be in peace, having the God of peace, so[4] shall no war prevail over yon.
Love the Lord through all your life, unit one another with a true heart.
For I know that in the last days ye will depart from the Lord, and will
provoke Levi unto anger, and will fight against Judah; but ye shall not
prevail against them. For an angel of the Lord shall guide them both; for
by them shall Israel stand. And whensoever ye depart from the Lord, ye will
walk in all evil, working the abominations of the Gentiles, going[5] astray
with women of them that are ungodly; and the spirits of error shall work in
you with all malice. For I have read in the book of Enoch the righteous,
that your prince is Satan, and that all the spirits of fornication and
pride shall be subject unto Levi, to lay a snare for the sons of Levi, to
came them to sin before the Lord. And my sons will draw near unto Levi, and
sin with them in all things; and the sons of Judah will be covetous,
plundering other men's goods like lions. Therefore shall ye be led away
with them in captivity, and there shall ye receive all the plagues of
Egypt, and all the malice of the Gentiles: and so, when ye return to the
Lord, ye shall obtain mercy, and He shall bring you into His sanctuary,
calling peace upon you; and there shall arise unto you from the tribe of
Judah and of Levi the salvation of the Lord;[6] and He shall make war
against Beliar, and He shall give the vengeance of victory to our coasts.
And the captivity shall He take from Beliar, even the souls of the saints,
and shall turn disobedient hearts unto the Lord, and shall give to them who
call upon Him everlasting peace; and the saints shall rest in Eden, and the
righteous shall rejoice in the new Jerusalem, which shall be unto the glory
of God for ever and ever. And no longer shall Jerusalem endure desolation,
nor Israel be led captive; for the Lord shall be in the midst of her,
dwelling among men,[7] even the Holy One of Israel reigning over them[8] in
humility and in poverty;[9] and he who believeth on Him shall reign in
truth in the heavens.
6. And now, my children, fear the Lord, and take heed unto yourselves
of Satan and his spirits; and draw near unto God, and to the Angel[10] that
intercedeth for you, for He is a Mediator between God and man for the peace
of Israel. He shall stand up against the kingdom of the enemy; therefore is
the enemy eager to destroy all that call upon the Lord. For he knoweth that
in the day on which Israel shall believe,[11] the kingdom of the enemy
shall be brought to an end; and the very angel of peace shall strengthen
Israel, that it fall not into the extremity of evil. And it shall be in the
time of the iniquity of Israel, that the Lord will depart from them, and
will go after him that doeth His will, for unto none of His angels shall it
be as unto him. And His name shall be in every place of Israel, and among
the Gentiles--Saviour. Keep therefore yourselves, my children. from every
evil work, and cast away wrath and all lying, and love truth and long-
suffering; and the things which ye have heard from your father, do ye also
impart to your children, that the Father of the Gentiles may receive you:
for He is true and long-suffering, meek and lowly, and teacheth by His
works the law of God. Depart, therefore, from all unrighteousness, and
cleave unto, the righteousness of the law of the Lord: and bury me near my
fathers.
7. And when he had said these things he kissed them, and slept the long
sleep.[12] And his sons buried him, and after that they carried up his
bones to the side of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. Nevertheless, as Dan
had prophesied unto them that they should forget the law of their God, and
should be alienated from the land of their inheritance, and from the race
of Israel, and from their kindred, so also it came to pass.
VIII.--THE TESTAMENT OF NAPHTALI CONCERNING NATURAL GOODNESS.
1. The record of the testament of Naphtali, what things he ordained at
the time of his death in the hundred and thirty-second year of his life.
When his sons were gathered together in the seventh month, the fourth day
of the month, he, being yet in good health, made them a feast and good
cheer. And after he was awake in the morning, he said to them, I am dying;
and they believed him not. And he blessed the Lord; and affirmed that after
yesterday's feast he should die. He began then to say to his sons: Hear, my
children; ye sons of Naphtali, hear the words of your father. I was born
from Bilhah; and because Rachel dealt craftily, and gave Bilhah in place of
herself to Jacob, and she bore me upon Rachel's lap, therefore was I called
Naphtali.[1] And Rachel loved me because I was born upon her lap; and when
I was of young and tender form, she was wont to kiss me, and say, Would
that I might see a brother of thine from my own womb, like unto thee:
whence also Joseph was like unto me in all things, according to the prayers
of Rachel. Now my mother was Bilhah, daughter of Rotheus the brother of
Deborah, Rebecca's nurse, and she was born on one and the self-same day
with Rachel. And Rotheus was of the family of Abraham, a Chaldean, fearing
God, free-born and noble; and he was taken captive, and was bought by
Laban; and he gave him Aena his handmaid to wife, and she bore a daughter,
and called her Zilpah, after the name of the village in which he had been
taken captive. And next she bore Bilhah, saying, My daughter is eager after
what is new, for immediately that she was born she was eager for the
breast.
2. And since I was swift on my feet like a deer, my father Jacob
appointed me for all errands and messages, and as a deer[2] did he give me
his blessing. For as the potter knoweth the vessel, what it containeth, and
bringeth clay thereto, so also doth the Lord make the body in accordance
with the spirit, and according to the capacity of the body doth He implant
the spirit, and the one is not deficient from the other by a third part of
a hair; for by weight, and measure, and rule is every creature of the Most
High.[3] And as the potter knoweth the use of each vessel, whereto it
sufficeth, so also doth the Lord know the body, how far it is capable for
goodness, and when it beginneth in evil; for there is no created thing and
no thought which the Lord knoweth not, for He created every man after His
own image. As man's strength, so also is his work; and as his mind, so also
is his work; and as his purpose, so also is his doing; as his heart, so
also is his mouth; as his eye, so also is his sleep; as his soul, so also
is his word, either in the law of the Lord or in the law of Beliar. And as
there is a division between light anti darkness, between seeing and
hearing, so also is there a division between man and man, and between woman
and woman; neither is it to be said that there is any superiority in
anything, either of the face or of other like things.[4] For God made all
things good in their order, the five senses in the head, and He joineth on
the neck to the head, the hair also for comeliness, the heart moreover for
understanding, the belly for the dividing of the stomach, the calamus[5]
for health, the liver for wrath, the gall for bitterness. the spleen for
laughter, the reins for craftiness, the loins for power, the ribs for
containing, the back for strength, and so forth. So then, my children, be
ye orderly unto good things in the fear of God, and do nothing disorderly
in scorn or out of its due season. For if thou bid the eye to hear, it
cannot; so neither in darkness can ye do the works of light.
3. Be ye not therefore eager to corrupt your doings through excess, or
with empty words to deceive your souls; because if ye keep silence in
purity of heart, ye shall be able to hold fast the will of God, and to cast
away the will of the devil. Sun and moon and stars change not their order;
so also ye shall not change the law of God in the disorderliness of your
doings. Nations went astray, and forsook the Lord, and changed their order,
and followed stones and stocks, following after spirits of error. But ye
shall not be so, my children, recognising in the firmament, in the earth,
and in the sea, and in all created things, the Lord who made them all, that
ye become not as Sodom, which changed the order of its nature. in like
manner also the Watchers[6] changed the order of their nature, whom also
the Lord cursed at the flood, and for their sakes made desolate the earth,
that it should be uninhabited and fruitless.
4. These things I say, my children, for I have read in the holy writing
of Enoch that ye yourselves also will depart from the Lord, walking
according to all wickedness of the Gentiles, and ye will do according to
all the iniquity of Sodom. And the Lord will bring captivity upon you, and
there shall ye serve your enemies, and ye shall be covered with all
affliction and tribulation, until the Lord shall have consumed you all. And
after that ye shall have been diminished and made few, ye will return and
acknowledge the Lord your God; and He will bring you back into your own
land, according to His abundant mercy. And it shall be, after that they
shall come into the land of their fathers, they will again forget the Lord
and deal wickedly; and the Lord shall scatter them upon the face of all the
earth, until the compassion of the Lord shall come, a Man working
righteousness and showing mercy unto all them that are afar off, and them
that are near.
5. For in the fortieth year of my life, I saw in a vision that the sun
and the moon were standing still on the Mount of Olives, at the east of
Jerusalem. And behold Isaac, the father of my father, saith to us, Run and
lay hold of them, each one according to his strength; and he that seizeth
them, his shall be the sun and the moon. And we all of us ran together, and
Levi laid hold of the sun, and Judah outstripped the others and seized the
moon, and they were both of them lifted up with them. And when Levi became
as a sun, a certain young man gave to him twelve branches of palm; and
Judah was bright as the moon, and under his feet were twelve rays. And Levi
and Judah ran, and laid hold each of the other. And, lo, a bull upon the
earth, having two great horns, and an eagle's wings upon his back; and we
wished to seize him, but could not. For Joseph outstripped us, and took
him, and ascended up with him on high. And I saw, for I was there, and
behold a holy writing appeared to us saying: Assyrians, Medes, Persians,
Elamites, Gelachaeans, Chaldeans, Syrians, shall possess in captivity the
twelve tribes of Israel.
6. And again, after seven months, I saw our father Jacob standing by
the sea of Jamnia, and we his sons were with him. And, behold, there came a
ship sailing by, full of dried flesh, without sailors or pilot: and there
was written upon the ship, Jacob. And our father saith to us, Let us embark
on our ship. And when we had gone on board, there arose a vehement storm,
and a tempest of mighty wind; and our father, who was holding the helm,
flew away from us. And we, being tost with the tempest, were borne along
over the: sea; and the ship was filled with water and beaten about with a
mighty wave, so that it was well-nigh broken in pieces. And Joseph fled
away upon a little boat, and we all were divided upon twelve boards, and
Levi and Judah were together. We therefore all were scattered even unto
afar off. Then Levi, girt about with sackcloth, prayed for us all unto the
Lord. And when the storm ceased, immediately the ship reached the land, as
though in peace. And, lo, Jacob our father came, and we rejoiced with one
accord.
7. These two dreams I told to my father; and he said to me, These
things must be fulfilled in their season, after that Israel hath endured
many things. Then my father saith unto me, I believe that Joseph liveth,
for I see always that the Lord numbereth him with you. And he said,
weeping, Thou livest, Joseph, my child, and I behold thee not, and thou
seest not Jacob that begat thee. And he caused us also to weep at these
words of his, and I burned in my heart to declare that he had been sold,
but I feared my brethren.
8. Behold, my children, I have shown unto you the last times, that all
shall come to pass in Israel. Do ye also therefore charge your children
that they be united to Levi and to Judah. For through Judah shall salvation
arise unto Israel, and in Him shall Jacob be blessed. For through his tribe
shall God be seen dwelling among men on the earth, to save the race of
Israel, and He shall gather together the righteous from the Gentiles. If ye
work that which is good, my children, both men and angels will bless you;
and God will be glorified through you among the Gentiles, and the devil
will flee from you, and the wild beasts will fear you, and the angels will
cleave to you. For as if a man rear up a child well, he hath a kindly
remembrance thereof; so also for a good work there is a good remembrance
with God. But him who doeth not that which is good, men and angels shall
curse and God will be dishonoured among the heathen through him, and the
devil maketh him his own as his peculiar instrument, and every wild beast
shall master him, and the Lord will hate him. For the commandments of the
law are twofold, and through prudence must they be fulfilled. For there is
a season for a man to embrace his wife, and a season to abstain
therefrom[1] for his prayer. So then there are two commandments; and unless
they be done in due order, they bring about sin. So also is it with the
other commandments. Be ye therefore wise in God, and prudent, understanding
the order of the commandments. and the laws of every work, that the Lord
may love you.
9. And when he had charged them with many such words, he exhorted them
that they should remove his bones to Hebron, and should bury him with his
fathers. And when he had eaten and drunken with a merry heart, he covered
his face and died. And his sons did according to all things whatsoever
Napthtali their father had charged them.
IX.--THE TESTAMENT OF GAD CONCERNING HATRED.
1. The record of the testament of Gad, what things he spake unto his
sons, in the hundred and twenty-seventh year of his life, saying: I was the
seventh son born to Jacob, and I was valiant in keeping the flocks. I
guarded at night the flock; and whenever the lion came, or wolf, or
leopard, or bear, or any wild beast against the fold, I pursued it, and
with my hand seizing its foot, and whirling it round, I stunned it, and
hurled it over two furlongs, and so killed it. Now Joseph was feeding the
flock with us for about thirty days, and being tender, he fell sick by
reason of the heat. And he returned to Hebron to his father, who made him
lie down near him, because he loved him. And Joseph told our father that
the sons of Zilpah and Bilhah were slaying the best of the beasts,[1] and
devouring them without the knowledge of Judah and Reuben. For he saw that I
delivered a lamb out of the mouth of the bear, and I put the bear to death;
and the lamb I slew, being grieved concerning it that it could not live,
and we ate it, and he told our father. And I was wroth with Joseph for that
thing until the day that he was sold into Egypt. And the spirit of hatred
was in me, and I wished not either to see Joseph or to hear him. And he
rebuked us to our faces for having eaten of the flock without Judah. And
whatsoever things he told our father, he believed him.
2. I confess now my sin, my children, that oftentimes I wished to kill
him, because I hated him to the death, and there were in no wise in me
bowels of mercy towards him. Moreover, I hated him yet more because of his
dreams; and I would have devoured him out of the land of the living, even
as a calf devoureth the grass from the earth. Therefore I and Judah sold
him to the Ishmaelites for thirty[2] pieces of gold, and ten of them we
hid, and showed the twenty to our brethren: and so through my covetousness
I was fully bent on his destruction. And the God of my fathers delivered
him from my hands, that I should not work iniquity in Israel.
3. And now, my children, hearken to the words of truth to work
righteousness, and all the law of the Most High, and not go astray through
the spirit of hatred, for it is evil in all the doings of men. Whatsoever a
man doeth, that doth the hater abhor: though he worketh the law of the
Lord, he praiseth him not; though he feareth the Lord, and taketh pleasure
in that which is righteous, he loveth him not: he dispraiseth the truth, he
envieth him that ordereth his way aright, he delighteth in evil-speaking,
he loveth arrogance, for hatred hath blinded his soul; even as I also
looked on Joseph.
4. Take heed therefore, my children, of hatred; for it worketh iniquity
against the Lord Himself: for it will not hear the words of His
commandments concerning the loving of one's neighbour, and it sinneth
against God. For if a brother stumble, immediately it wisheth to proclaim
it to all men, and is urgent that he should be judged for it, and be
punished and slain. And if it be a servant, it accuseth him to his master,
and with all affliction it deviseth against him, if it be possible to slay
him. For hatred worketh in envy, and it ever sickeneth with envy against
them that prosper in well-doing, when it seeth or heareth thereof. For as
love would even restore to life the dead, and would call back them that are
condemned to die, so hatred would slay the living, and those that have
offended in a small matter it would not suffer to live. For the spirit of
hatred worketh together with Satan through hastiness[3] of spirit in all
things unto men's death; but the spirit of love worketh together with the
law of God in long-suffering unto the salvation of men.[4]
5. Hatred is evil, because it continually abideth with lying, speaking
against the truth; and it maketh small things to be great, and giveth heed
to darkness as to light, and calleth the sweet bitter, and teacheth
slander, and war, and violence, and every excess of evil; and it filleth
the heart with devilish poison. And these things I say to you from
experience, my children, that ye may flee hatred, and cleave to the love of
the Lord. Righteousness casteth out hatred, humility destroyeth hatred. For
he that is just and humble is ashamed to do wrong, being reproved not of
another, but of his own heart, because the Lord vieweth his intent: he
speaketh not against any man, because the fear of the Most High overcometh
hatred. For, fearing lest he should offend the Lord, he will not do any
wrong to any man, no, not even in thought. These things I learnt at last,
after that I had repented concerning Joseph. For true repentance after a
godly sort destroyeth unbelief, and driveth away the darkness, and
enlighteneth the eyes, and giveth knowledge to the soul, and guideth the
mind to salvation; and those things which it hath not learnt from man, it
knoweth through repentance. For God brought upon me a disease of the heart;
and had not the prayers of Jacob my father intervened, it had hardly failed
that my spirit had departed. For by what things a man transgresseth, by the
same also is he punished.[1] For in that my heart was set mercilessly
against Joseph, in my heart too I suffered mercilessly, and was judged for
eleven months, for so long a thee as I had been envious against Joseph
until he was sold.
6. And now, my children, love ye each one his brother, and put away
hatred from your hearts, loving one another in deed, and in word, and in
thought of the soul. For in the presence of our father I spake peaceably
with Joseph; and when I had gone out, the spirit of hatred darkened my
mind, and moved my soul to slay him. [2]Love ye therefore one another from
your hearts; and if a man sin against thee, tell him of it gently, and
drive out the poison of hatred, and foster not guile in thy soul. And if he
confess and repent, forgive him; and if he deny it, strive not with him,
lest he swear, and thou sin doubly. Let not a stranger hear your secrets
amid your striving, lest he hate and become thy enemy, and work great sin
against thee; for ofttimes he will talk guilefully[3] with thee, or evilly
overreach thee, taking his poison from himself. Therefore, if he deny it,
and is convicted and put to shame, and is silenced, do not tempt him on.
For he who denieth repenteth, so that he no more doeth wrong against thee;
yea also, he will honour thee, and fear thee, and be at peace with thee.
But if he be shameless, and abideth in his wrongdoing, even then forgive
him from the heart, and give the vengeance to God.
7. If a man prospereth more than you, be not grieved, but pray also for
him, that he may have perfect prosperity. For perchance it is expedient for
you thus; and if he be further exalted, be not envious, remembering that
all flesh shall die: and offer praise to God, who giveth things good and
profitable to all men. Seek out the judgments of the Lord, and so shall thy
mind rest and he at peace. And though a man become rich by evil means, even
as Esau the brother of my father, be not jealous; but wait for the end of
the Lord. For either He taketh His benefits away from the wicked, or
leaveth them still to the repentant, or to the unrepentant reserveth
punishment for ever. For the poor man who is free from envy, giving thanks
to the Lord in all things, is rich among all men, because he hath not evil
jealousy of men. Put away, therefore, hatred from your souls, and love one
another with uprightness of heart.
8. And do ye also tell these things to your children, that they honour
Judah and Levi, for from them shall the Lord raise up a Saviour to
Israel.[4] For I know that at the last your children shall depart from
them, and shall walk in all wickedness, and mischief, and corruption before
the Lord. And when he had rested for a little while, he said again to them,
My children, obey your father, and bury me near to my fathers. And he drew
up his feet, and fell asleep in peace. And after five years they carried
him up, and laid him in Hebron with his fathers.
X.--THE TESTAMENT OF ASHER CONCERNING TWO FACES OF VICE AND VIRTUE.
1. The record of the testament of Asher, what things he spake to his
sons in the hundred and twentieth year of his life. While he was still in
health, he said to them: Hearken, ye children of Asher, to your father, and
I will declare to you all that is right in the sight of God. Two ways[1]
hath God given to the sons of men, and two minds, and two doings, and two
places, and two ends. Therefore all things are by twos, one corresponding
to the other. There are two ways of good and evil, with which are the two
minds in our breasts distinguishing them. Therefore if the soul take
pleasure in good, all its actions are in righteousness; and though it sin,
it straightway repenteth. For, having his mind set upon righteousness, and
casting away maliciousness, he straightway overthroweth the evil, and
uprooteth the sin. But if his mind turn aside in evil, all h s doings are
in maliciousness, and he driveth away the good, and taketh unto him the
evil, and is ruled by Beliar; and even though he work what is good, he
perverteth it in evil. For whenever he beginneth as though to do good, he
bringeth the end of his doing to work evil, seeing that the treasure of the
devil is filled with the poison of an evil spirit.
2. There is then, he saith, a soul which speaketh the good for the sake
of the evil, and the end of the doing leadeth to mischief.[2] There is a
man who showeth no compassion upon him who serveth his turn in evil; and
this thing hath two aspects, but the whole is evil, And there is a man that
loveth him that worketh evil; he likewise dwelleth in evil, because he
chooseth even to die in an evil cause for his sake: and concerning this it
is clear that it hath two aspects, but the whole is an evil work. And
though there is love, it is but wickedness concealing the evil, even as it
beareth a name that seemeth good, but the end of the doing tendeth unto
evil. Another stealeth, worketh unjustly, plundereth, defraudeth, and
withal pitieth the poor: this, too, hath a twofold aspect, but the whole is
evil. Defrauding his neighbour he provoketh God, and sweareth falsely
against the Most High, and yet pitieth the poor: the Lord who commandeth
the law he setteth at nought and provoketh, and refresheth the poor; he
defileth the soul, and maketh gay the body; he killeth many, and he pitieth
a few: and this, too, hath a twofold aspect. Another committeth adultery
and fornication, and abstaineth from meats; yet in his fasting he worketh
evil, and by his power and his wealth perverteth many, and out of his
excessive wickedness worketh the commandments: this, too, hath a twofold
aspect, but the whole is evil. Such men are as swine or hares;[1] for they
are half clean, but in very deed are unclean. For God in the Heavenly[2]
Tablets hath thus declared.
3. Do not ye therefore, my children, wear two faces like unto them, of
goodness and of wickedness; but cleave unto goodness only, for in goodness
doth God rest, and men desire it. From wickedness flee away, destroying the
devil by your good works; for they that are double-faced serve not God, but
their own lusts, so that they may please Beliar and men like unto
themselves.
4. For good men, even they that are single of face, though they be
thought by them that are double-faced to err, arc just before God. For many
in killing the wicked do two works, an evil by a good; but the whole is
good, because he hath uprooted and destroyed that which is evil. One man
hateth him that showeth mercy, and doeth wrong to the adulterer and the
thief: this, too, is double-faced, but the whole work is good, because he
followeth the Lord's example, in that he receiveth not that which seemeth
good with that which is really bad.[3] Another desireth not to see good
days with them that riot, lest he defile his mouth and pollute his soul:
this, too, is double-faced, but the whole is good, for such men are like to
stags and to hinds, because in a wild condition they seem to be unclean,
but they are altogether clean; because they walk in a zeal for God, and
abstain from what God also hateth and forbiddeth by His commandments, and
they ward off the evil from the good.
5. Ye see therefore, my children, how that there are two in all things,
one against the other, and the one is hidden by the other.[4] Death
succeedeth to life, dishonour to glory, night to day, and darkness to
light; and all things are under the day, and just things trader life:
wherefore also everlasting life awaiteth death. Nor may it be said that
truth is a lie, nor right wrong; for all truth is under the light, even as
all things are under God. All these things I proved in my life, and I
wandered not from the truth of the Lord, and I searched out the
commandments of the Most High, walking with singleness of face according to
all my strength unto that which is good.
6. Take heed therefore ye also, my children, to the commandments of the
Lord, following the truth with singleness of face, for they that are
double-faced receive twofold punishment. Hate the spirits of error, which
strive against men. Keep the law of the Lord, and give not heed unto evil
as unto good; but look unto the thing that is good indeed, and keep it in
all commandments of the Lord, having your conversation unto Him, and
resting in Him: for the ends at which men aim do show their righteousness,
and know the angels of the Lord from the angels of Satan. For if the soul
depart troubled, it is tormented by the evil spirit which also it served in
lusts and evil works; but if quietly and with joy it hath known the angel
of peace, it shall comfort him in life.
7. Become not, my children, as Sodom, which knew not the angels of the
Lord, and perished for ever, For I know that ye will sin, and ye shall be
delivered into the hands of your enemies, and your land shall be made
desolate, and ye shall be scattered unto the four corners of the earth. And
ye shall be set at nought in the Dispersion as useless water, until the
Most High shall visit the earth; and He shall come as man, with men eating
and drinking, and in peace breaking the head of the dragon through water.
He shall save Israel and all nations, God speaking in the person of man.
Therefore tell ye these things to your children, that they disobey Him not.
For I have read in the Heavenly Tablets that in very deed ye will disobey
Him, and act ungodly against Him, not giving heed to the law of God, but to
the commandments of men. Therefore shall ye be scattered as Gad and as Dan
my brethren, who shall know not their own lands, tribe, and tongue. But the
Lord will gather you together in faith through the hope of His tender
mercy, for the sake of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.[1]
8. And when he had said these things unto them, he charged them,
saying: Bury me in Hebron. And he fell into a peaceful sleep, and died; and
after this his sons did as he had charged them, and they carried him up and
buried him with his fathers.
XI.--THE TESTAMENT OF JOSEPH CONCERNING SOBRIETY.
1. The record of the testament of Joseph. When he was about to die he
called his sons and his brethren together, and said to them: My children
and brethren, hearken to Joseph the beloved of Israel; give ear, my sons,
unto your father. I have seen in my life envy and death, and I wandered not
in the truth of the Lord. These my brethren hated me, and the Lord loved
me: they wished to slay me, and the God of my fathers guarded me: they let
me down into a pit, and the Most High brought me up again: I was sold for a
slave, and the Lord made me free: I was taken into captivity, and His
strong hand succoured me: I was kept in hunger, and the Lord Himself
nourished me: I was alone, and God comforted me: I was sick, and the Most
High visited me: I was in prison, and the Saviour showed favour unto me; in
bonds, and He released me; amid slanders, and He pleaded my cause; amid
bitter words of the Egyptians, and He rescued me; amid envy and guile, and
He exalted me.
2. And thus Potiphar[1] the chief cook[2] of Pharaoh entrusted to me
his house, and I struggled against a shameless woman, urging me to
transgress with her; but the God of Israel my father guarded me from the
burning flame. I was cast into prison, I was beaten, I was mocked; and the
Lord granted me to find pity in the sight of the keeper of the prison. For
He will in no wise forsake them that fear Him, neither in darkness, nor in
bonds, nor in tribulations, nor in necessities. For not as man is God
ashamed, nor as the son of man is He afraid, nor as one that is earth-born
is He weak, or can He be thrust aside; but in all places is He at hand, and
in divers ways doth He comfort, departing for a little to try the purpose
of the soul. In ten temptations He showed me approved, and in all of them I
endured; for endurance is a mighty charm, and patience giveth many good
things.
3. How often did the Egyptian threaten me with death !How often did she
give me over to punishment, and then call me back, and threaten me when I
would not company with her !And she said to me, Thou shalt be lord of me,
and all that is mine, if thou wilt give thyself unto me, and thou shall be
as our master. Therefore I remembered the words of the fathers of my father
Jacob, and I entered into my chamber[3] and prayed unto the Lord; and I
fasted in those seven years, and I appeared to my master as one living
delicately, for they that fast for God's sake receive beauty of face.[4]
And if one gave me wine, I drank it not; and I fasted for three days, and
took my food and gave it to the poor and sick. And I sought the Lord early,
and wept for the Egyptian woman of Memphis, for very unceasingly did she
trouble me, and at night she came to me under the pretence of visiting me;
and at first, because she had no male child, she feigned to count me as a
son. And I prayed unto the Lord, and she bare a male child; therefore for a
thee she embraced me as a son, and I knew it not. Last of all, she sought
to draw me into fornication. And when I perceived it, I sorrowed even unto
death; and when she had gone out I came to myself, and I lamented for her
many days, because I saw her guile and her deceit. And I declared unto her
the words of the Most High, if haply she would turn from her evil lust.
4. How often has she fawned upon me with words as a holy man, with
guile in her talk, praising my chastity before her husband, while desiring
to destroy me when we were alone. She lauded me openly as chaste, and in
secret she said unto me, Fear not my husband; for he is persuaded
concerning thy chastity, so that even should one tell him concerning us he
would in no wise believe. For all these things I lay upon the ground in
sackcloth, and I besought God that the Lord would deliver me from the
Egyptian. And when she prevailed nothing, she came again to me under the
plea of instruction, that she might know the word of the Lord. And she said
unto me, If thou wiliest that I should leave my idols, be persuaded by me,
and I will persuade my husband to depart from his idols, and we will walk
in the law of thy Lord. And I said unto her, The Lord willeth not that
those who reverence Him should be in uncleanness, nor doth He take pleasure
in them that commit adultery. And she held her peace, longing to accomplish
her evil desire. And I gave myself yet more to fasting and prayer, that the
Lord should deliver me from her.
5. And again at another time she said unto me, If thou wilt not commit
adultery, I will kill my husband, and so will I lawfully take thee to be my
husband. I therefore, when I heard this, rent my garment, and said, Woman,
reverence the Lord, and do not this evil deed, lest thou be utterly
destroyed; for I will declare thy ungodly thought unto all men. She
therefore, being afraid, besought that I would declare to no one her
wickedness. And she departed, soothing me with gifts, and sending to me
every delight of the sons of men.
6. And she sendeth to me food sprinkled with enchantments. And when the
eunuch who brought it came, I looked up and beheld a terrible man giving me
with the dish a sword, and I perceived that her scheme was for the
deception of my soul. And when he had gone out I wept, nor did I taste that
or any other of her food. So then after one day she came to me and observed
the food, and said unto me, What is this; that thou hast not eaten of the
food? And I said unto her, It is because thou filledst it with death; and
how saidst thou, I come not near to idols but to the Lord alone? Now
therefore know that the God of my father hath revealed unto me by an angel
thy wickedness, and I have kept it to convict thee, if haply thou mayest
see it and repent. But that thou mayest learn that the wickedness of the
ungodly hath no power over them that reverence God in chastity, I took it
and ate it before her, saying, The God of my fathers and the Angel of
Abraham shall be with me. And she fell upon her face at my feet, and wept;
and I raised her up and admonished her, and she promised to do this
iniquity no more.
7. But because her heart was set upon me to commit lewdness, she
sighed, and her countenance fell. And when her husband saw her, he said
unto her, Why is thy countenance fallen? And she said, I have a pain at my
heart, and the groanings of my spirit do oppress me; and so he comforted
her who was not sick. Then she rushed in to me while her husband was yet
without, and said unto me, I will hang myself, or cast myself into a well
or over a cliff, if thou wilt not consent unto me. And when I saw the
spirit of Beliar was troubling her, I prayed unto the Lord, and said unto
her, Why art thou troubled and disturbed, blinded in sins? Remember that
if thou killest thyself, Sethon, the concubine of thy husband, thy rival,
will beat thy children, and will destroy thy memorial from off the earth.
And she said unto me, Lo then thou lovest me; this alone is sufficient for
me, that thou carest for my life and my children: I have expectation that I
shall enjoy my desire. And she knew not that because of my God I spake
thus, and not because of her. For if a man hath fallen before the passion
of a wicked desire, then by that hath he become enslaved, even as also was
she. And if he hear any good thing with regard to the passion whereby he is
vanquished, he receiveth it unto his wicked desire.
8. I declare unto you, my children, that it was about the sixth hour
when she departed from me; and I knelt before the Lord all that day, and
continued all the night; and about dawn I rose up weeping, and praying for
a release from the Egyptian. At last, then, she laid hold of my garments,
forcibly dragging me to have connection with her. When, therefore, I saw
that in her madness she was forcibly holding my garments, I fled away
naked. And she falsely accused me to her husband, and the Egyptian cast me
into the prison in his house; and on the morrow, having scourged me, the
Egyptian [1] sent me into the prison in his house. When, therefore, I was
in fetters, the Egyptian woman fell sick from her vexation, and listened to
me how I sang praises unto the Lord while I was in the abode of darkness,
and with glad voice rejoiced and glorified my God only because by a pretext
I had been rid of the Egyptian woman.
9. How often hath she sent unto me, saying, Consent to fulfil my
desire, and I will release thee from thy bonds, and I will free time from
the darkness! And not even in thoughts did I incline unto her. For God
loveth him who in a den of darkness fasteth with chastity, rather than him
who in secret chambers liveth delicately without restraint. And whosoever
liveth in chastity, and desireth also glory, and if the Most High knoweth
that it is expedient for him, He bestoweth this also upon him, even as upon
me. How often, though she were sick, did she come down to me at unlooked-
for times, and listened to my voice as I prayed !And when I heard her
groanings I held my peace. For when I was in her house she was wont to bare
her arms, and breasts, and legs, that I might fall before her; for she was
very beautiful, splendidly adorned for my deception. And the Lord guarded
me from her devices. [2]
10. Ye see therefore, my children, how great things patience worketh,
and prayer with fasting. And if ye therefore follow after sobriety and
purity in patience and humility of heart, the Lord will dwell among you,
because He loveth sobriety. And wheresoever the Most High dwelleth, even
though a man fall into envy, or slavery, or slander, the Lord who dwelleth
in him, for his sobriety's sake not only delivereth him from evil, but also
exalteth and glorifieth him, even as me. For in every way the man is
guarded, whether in deed, or in word, or in thought. My brethren know how
my father loved me, and I was not exalted in my heart; although I was a
child, I had the fear of God in my thoughts. For I knew that all things
should pass away, and I kept myself within bounds, and I honoured my
brethren; and through fear of them I held my peace when I was sold, and
revealed not my family to the Ishmaelites, that I was the son of Jacob, a
great man and a mighty.
11. Do ye also, therefore, have the fear of God in your works, and
honour your brethren. For every one who worketh the law of the Lord shall
be loved by Him. And when I came to the Indocolpitae with the Ishmaelites,
they asked me, and I said that I was a slave from their house, that I might
not put my brethren to shame. And the eldest of them said unto me, Thou art
not a slave, for even thy appearance doth make it manifest concerning thee.
And he threatened me even unto death. But I said that I was their slave.
Now when we came into Egypt, they strove concerning me. which of them
should buy me and take me. Therefore it secured good to all that I should
remain in Egypt with a merchant of their trade, until they should return
bringing merchandise. And the Lord gave me favour in the eyes of the
merchant, and he entrusted unto me his house. And the Lord blessed him by
my means, and increased him in silver and gold, and I was with him three
months and five days.
12. About that time the Memphian wife of Potiphar passed by with great
pomp, and cast her eyes upon me, because her eunuchs told her concerning
me. And she told her husband concerning the merchant, that he had become
rich by means of a young Hebrew, saying, And they say that men have indeed
stolen him out of the land of Canaan. Now therefore execute judgment with
him, and take away the youth to be thy steward; so shall the God of the
Hebrews bless thee, for grace from heaven is upon him.
13. And Potiphar was persuaded by her words, and commanded the merchant
to be brought, and said unto him, What is this that I hear, that thou
stealest souls out of the land of the Hebrews, and sellest them for
slaves? The merchant therefore fell upon his face, and besought him,
saying, I beseech thee, my lord, I know not what thou sayest. And he said,
Whence then is thy Hebrew servant? And he said, The Ishmaelites entrusted
him to me until they should return. And he believed him not, but commanded
him to be stripped and beaten. And when he persisted, Potiphar said, Let
the youth be brought. And when I was brought in, I did obeisance to the
chief of the eunuchs -- for he was third in rank with Pharaoh, being chief
of all the eunuchs, and having wives and children and coucubines. And he
took me apart from him, and said unto me, Art thou a slave or free? And I
said, A slave. And he said unto me, Whose slave art thou? And I said unto
him, The Ishmaelites'. And again he said unto me, How becamest thou their
slave? And I said, They bought me out of the land of Canaan. And he
believed me not, and said, Thou liest: and he commanded me to be stripped
and beaten.
14. Now the Memphian woman was looking through a window while I was
being beaten, and she sent unto her husband, saying, Thy judgment is
unjust; for thou dost even punish a free man who hath been stolen, as
though he were a transgressor. And when I gave no other answer though I was
beaten, he commanded that we should be kept in guard, until, said he, the
owners of the boy shall come. And his wife said unto him, Wherefore dost
thou detain in captivity this noble child, who ought rather to be set at
liberty, and wait upon thee? For she wished to see me in desire of sin, and
I was ignorant concerning all these things. Then said he to his wife, It is
not the custom of the Egyptians to take away that which belongeth to others
before proof is given. This he said concerning the merchant, and concerning
me, that I must be imprisoned.
15. Now, after four and twenty days came the Ishmaelites; and having
heard that Jacob my father was mourning because of me, they said unto me,
How is it that thou saidst that thou wept a slave? and lo, we have learnt
that thou art the son of a mighty man in the land of Canaan, and thy father
grieveth for thee in sackcloth. And again I would have wept, but I
restrained myself, that I should not put my brethren to shame. And I said,
I know not, I am a slave. Then they take counsel to sell me, that I should
not be found in their hands. For they feared Jacob, lest he should work
upon them a deadly vengeance. For it had been heard that he was mighty with
the Lord and with men. Then said the merchant unto them, Release me from
the judgment of Potiphar. They therefore came and asked for me, saying, He
was bought by us with money, And he sent us away.
16. Now the Memphian woman pointed me out to her husband, that he
should buy me; for I hear, said she, that they are selling him. And she
sent a eunuch to the Ishmaelites, and asked them to sell me; and since he
was not willing to traffic with them, he returned. So when the eunuch had
made trial of them, he made known to his mistress that they asked a large
price for their slave. And she sent another eunuch, saying, Even though
they demand two minae of gold, take heed not to spare the gold; only buy
the boy, and bring him hither. And he gave them eighty pieces of gold for
me, and told his mistress that a hundred had been given for me. And when I
saw it I held my peace, that the eunuch should not be punished.
17. Ye see, my children, what great things I endured that I should not
put my brethren to shame. Do ye also love one another, and with long-
suffering hide ye one another's faults. For God delighteth in the unity of
brethren, and in the purpose of a heart approved unto love. And when my
brethren came into Egypt, and learnt that I returned their money unto them,
and upbraided them not, yea, that I even comforted them, and alter the
death of Jacob I loved them more abundantly, and all things whatsoever he
commanded I did very abundantly, then they marvelled. For I suffered them
not to be afflicted even unto the smallest matter; and all that was in my
hand I gave unto them. Their children were my children, and my children
were as their servants; their life was my life, and all their suffering was
my suffering, and all their sickness was my infirmity. My land was their
land, my counsel their counsel, and I exalted not myself among them in
arrogance because of my worldly glory, but I was among them as one of the
least.
18. If ye also therefore walk in the commandments of the Lord, my
children, He will exalt you there, and will bless you with good things for
ever and ever. And if any one seeketh to do evil unto you, do ye by well-
doing pray for him, and ye shall be redeemed of the Lord from all evil.
For, behold, ye see that through long-suffering I took unto wife even the
daughter of my [1] master. And a hundred talents of gold were given me with
her; for the Lord made them to serve me. And He gave me also beauty as a
flower above the beautiful ones of Israel; and He preserved me unto old age
in strength and in beauty, because I was like in all things to Jacob.
19. Hear ye also, my children, the visions which I saw. There were
twelve deer feeding, and the nine were divided and scattered in the land,
likewise also the three. And I saw that from Judah was born a virgin
wearing a linen [2] garment, and from her went forth a Lamb, without spot,
and on His left hand there was as it were a lion; and all the beasts rushed
against Him, and the lamb overcame them, and destroyed them, and trod them
under foot. And because of Him the angels rejoiced, and men, and all the
earth. And these things shall take place in their season, in the last days.
Do ye therefore, my children, observe the commandments of the Lord, and
honour Judah and Levi; for from them shall arise unto you the Lamb of God,
by grace saving all the Gentiles and Israel. For His kingdom is an
everlasting kingdom, which shall not be shaken; but my kingdom among yogi
shall come to an end as a watcher's [3] hammock, which after the summer
will not appear.
20. I know that after my death the Egyptians will afflict you, but God
will undertake your cause, and will bring you into that which He promised
to your fathers. But carry ye up my bones with you; [4] for when my bones
are taken up, the Lord will be with you in light, and Beliar shall be in
darkness with the Egyptians. And carry ye up Zilpah your mother, and lay
her near Bilhah, by the hippodrome, by the side of Rachel. [5] And when he
had said these things, he stretched out his feet, and slept the long sleep.
And all Israel bewailed him, and all Egypt, with a great lamentation. For
he felt even for the Egyptians even as his own members, and showed them
kindness, aiding them in every work, and counsel, and matter.
XII. -- THE TESTAMENT OF BENJAMIN CONCERNING A PURE MIND.
1. The record of the words of Benjamin, which he set forth to his sons,
after he had lived a hundred and twenty years. And he kissed them, and
said: As Isaac was born to Abraham in his hundredth year, so also was I to
Jacob. Now since Rachel died in giving me birth, I had no milk; therefore I
was suckled by Bilhah her handmaid. For Rachel remained barren for twelve
years after that she had borne Joseph: and she prayed the Lord with fasting
twelve days, and she conceived and bare me. For our father loved Rachel
dearly, and prayed that he might see two sons born from her: therefore was
I called the son of days, which is Benjamin. [1] 2. When therefore I went
into Egypt, and Joseph my brother recognised me, he said unto me, What did
they tell my father in that they sold me? And I said unto him, They dabbled
thy coat with blood and sent it, and said, Look if this is the coat of thy
son. And he said to me, Even so, brother; for when the Ishmaelites took me,
one of them stripped off my coat, and gave me a girdle, and scourged me,
and bade me run. And as he went away to hide my garment, a lion met him,
and slew him; and so his fellows were afraid, and sold me to their
companions.
3. Do ye also therefore, my children, love the Lord God of heaven, and
keep His commandments, and be followers of the good and holy man Joseph;
and let your mind be unto good, even as ye know me. He that hath his mind
good seeth all things rightly. Fear ye the Lord, and love your neighbour;
and even though the spirits of Beliar allure you into all troublous
wickedness, yet shall no troublous wickedness have dominion over you, even
as it bad not over Joseph my brother. How many men wished to slay him, and
God shielded him !For he that feareth God and loveth his neighbour cannot
be smitten by Beliar's spirit of the air, being shielded by the fear of
God; nor can he be ruled over by the device of men or of beasts, for he is
aided by the love of the Lord which he hath towards his neighbour. For he
even besought our father Jacob that he would pray for our brethren, that
the Lord would not impute to them the evil that they devised concerning
Joseph. And thus Jacob cried out, My child Joseph, thou hast prevailed over
the bowels of thy father Jacob. And he embraced him, and kissed him for two
hours, saying, In thee shall be fulfilled the prophecy of heaven concerning
the Lamb of God, even the Saviour of the world, that spotless shall He be
delivered up for transgressors, and sinless [2] shall He be put to death
for ungodly men in the blood of the covenant, for the salvation [3] of the
Gentiles and of Israel, and shall destroy Beliar, and them that serve him.
4. Know ye, my children, the end of the good man? Be followers of his
compassion in a good mind, that ye also may wear crowns of glory. The good
man hath not a dark eye; for he showeth mercy to all men, even though they
be sinners, even though they devise evil concerning him. So he that doeth
good overcometh the evil, being shielded by Him that is good; and he loveth
the righteous as his own soul. If any one is glorified, he envieth him not;
if any one is enriched, he is not jealous; if any one is valiant, he
praiseth him; he trusteth and laudeth him that is sober-minded; he showeth
mercy to the poor; he is kindly disposed toward the weak; he singeth the
praises of God; as for him who hath the fear of God, he protecteth him as
with a shield; him that loveth God he aideth; him that rejecteth the Most
High he admonisheth and turneth back; and him that hath the grace of a good
spirit, he loveth even as his own soul.
5. If ye have a good mind, my children, then will both wicked men be at
peace with you, and the profligate will reverence you and turn unto good;
and the covetous shall not only cease from their inordinate desire, but
shall even give the fruits of their covetousness to them that are
afflicted. If ye do well, even the unclean spirits shall flee from you;
yea, the very beasts shall flee from you in dread. For where the reverence
for good works is present unto the mind, darkness fleeth away from him. For
if any one is injurious to a holy man, he repenteth; for the holy man
showeth pity on his reviler, and holdeth his peace. And if any one betray a
righteous soul, and the righteous man, though praying, be humbled for a
little while, yet not long after he appeareth far more glorious, even as
was Joseph my brother.
6. The mind of the good man is not in the power of the deceit of the
spirit of Beliar, for the angel of peace guideth his soul. He gazeth not
passionately on corruptible things, nor gathereth together riches unto
desire of pleasure; he delighteth not in pleasure, he hurteth not his
neighbour, be pampereth not himself with food, he erreth not in the pride
of his eyes, for the Lord is his portion. The good mind admitted not the
glory and dishonour of men, neither knoweth it any guile or lie, fighting
or reviling; for the Lord dwelleth in him and lighteth up his soul, and he
rejoiceth towards all men at every time. The good mind hath not two
tongues, of blessing and of cursing, of insult and of honour, of sorrow and
of joy, of quietness and of trouble, of hypocrisy and of truth, of poverty
and of wealth; but it hath one disposition, pure and un-corrupt, concerning
all men. It hath no double sight, [4] nor double hearing; for in everything
which he doeth, or speaketh, or seeth, he knoweth that the Lord watcheth
his soul, and he cleanseth his mind that he be not condemned by God and
men. But of Beliar every work is twofold, and hath no singleness.
7. Flee ye therefore, my children, the evil-doing of Beliar; for it
giveth a sword to them that obeyeth, and the sword is the mother of seven
evils. First the mind conceiveth through Beliar, and first there is envy;
secondly, desperation; thirdly, tribulation; fourthly, captivity; fifthly,
neediness; sixthly, trouble; seventhly, desolation. Therefore also Cain is
delivered over to seven vengeances by God, for in every hundred years the
Lord brought one plague upon him. Two hundred years he suffered, and in the
nine hundredth year he was brought to desolation at the flood, for Abel his
righteous brother's sake. In seven [1] hundred years was Cain judged, and
Lamech in seventy times seven; because for ever those who are likened unto
Cain in envy unto hatred of brethren shall be judged with the same
punishment.
8. Do ye also therefore, my children, flee ill-doing, envy, and hatred
of brethren, and cleave to goodness and love. He that hath a pure mind in
love, looketh not after a woman unto fornication; for he hath no defilement
in his heart, because the Spirit of God resteth in him. For as the sun is
not defiled by shining over dung and mire, but rather drieth up both and
driveth away the ill smell: so also the pure mind, constrained among the
defilements of the earth, rather edifieth, and itself suffereth no
defilement.
9. Now I suppose, from the words of the righteous Enoch, that there
will be also evil-doings among you: for ye will commit fornication with the
fornication of Sodom, and shall perish all save a few, and will multiply
inordinate lusts with women; and the kingdom of the Lord shall not be among
you, for forthwith He will take it away. Nevertheless the temple of God
shall be built in your portion, and shall be glorious among you. For He
shall take it, and the twelve tribes shall be gathered together there, and
all the Gentiles, until the Most High shall send forth His salvation in the
visitation of His only-begotten one. And He shall enter into the front [2]
of the temple, and there shall the Lord be treated with outrage, and He
shall be lifted up upon a tree. And the veil of the temple shall be rent,
and the Spirit of God shall descend upon the Gentiles as fire poured forth.
And He shall arise from the grave, and shall ascend from earth into heaven:
and I know how lowly He all be upon the earth, and how glorious in the
heaven.
10. Now when Joseph was in Egypt, I longed to see his visage and the
form of his countenance; and through the prayers of Jacob my father I saw
him, while awake in the daytime, in his full and perfect shape. Know ye
therefore, my children, that I am dying. Work therefore truth and
righteousness each one with his neighbour, and judgment unto faithful
doing, and keep the law of the Lord and His commandments; for these
things do I teach you instead of all inheritance. Do ye also therefore give
them to your children for an everlasting possession; for so did both
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. All these things they gave us for an
inheritance, saying, Keep the commandments of God until the Lord shall
reveal His salvation to all nations. Then shall ye see Enoch, Noah, and
Shem, and Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, arising on the right hand in
gladness. Then shall we also arise, each one over our tribe, worshipping
the King of heaven, who appeared upon the earth in the form of a man of
humility. And as many as believed on Him on the earth shall rejoice with
Him; [3] and then shall all men arise, some unto glory and some unto shame.
And the Lord shall judge Israel first, even for the wrong they did unto
Him; for when He appeared as a deliverer, God in the flesh, they believed
Him not. And then shall He judge all the Gentiles, as many as believed Him
not when He appeared upon earth. And He shall reprove Israel among the
chosen ones of the Gentiles, even as He reproved Esau among the Midianites,
who deceived their brethren, so that they fell into fornication and
idolatry; and they were alienated from God, and became as they that were no
children in the portion of them that fear the Lord. But if ye walk in
holiness in the presence of the Lord, ye shall dwell in hope again in me,
and all Israel shall be gathered unto the Lord.
11. And I shall no longer be called a ravening wolf [4] on account of
your ravages, but a worker of the Lord, distributing food to them that work
what is good. And one [5] shall rise up from my seed in the latter times,
beloved of the Lord, hearing upon the earth His voice, enlightening with
new knowledge all the Gentiles, bursting in upon Israel for salvation with
the light of knowledge, and tearing it away from it like a wolf, and giving
it to the synagogue of the Gentiles. And until the consummation of the ages
shall he be in the synagogues of the Gentiles, and among their rulers, as a
strain of music in the mouth of all; [6] and he shall be inscribed in the
holy books, both his work and his word, and he shall be a chosen one of God
for ever; and because of him my father Jacob instructed me, saying, He
shall fill up that which lacketh of thy tribe.
12. And when he finished his words, he said: I charge you, my children,
carry up my bones out of Egypt, and bury me at Hebron, near my fathers. So
Benjamin died a hundred and twenty-five years old, in a good old age, and
they placed him in a coffin. And in the ninety-first year of the departure
of the children of Israel from Egypt, they and their brethren brought up
the bones of their fathers secretly in a place which is called Canaan; and
they buried them in Hebron, by the feet of their fathers. And they returned
from the land of Canaan, and dwelt in Egypt until the day of their
departing from the land of Egypt.
Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland, beginning in
1867. (ANF 8, Roberts and Donaldson). The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The electronic form of this document is copyrighted.
Copyright (c) Eternal Word Television Network 1996.
Provided courtesy of:
EWTN On-Line Services
PO Box 3610
Manassas, VA 22110
Voice: 703-791-2576
Fax: 703-791-4250
Data: 703-791-4336
FTP: ftp.ewtn.com
Telnet: ewtn.com
WWW:
http://www.ewtn.com.
Email address:
[email protected]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
