The Testament of Judah, Part 1 - The Voice of Christian Israel 10-17-2010

Greg Howard and William Finck discuss the first half of the apocryphal Testament of Judah. For the full text of the Testament of Judah see http://newensign.christogenea.org/testament-of-judah 

Below are William Finck's notes for the program:

Voice of Christian Israel – 10/17/2010

Before we begin, I would like to make a quick personal statement. I myself do not accept the Testaments of the Patriarchs to have been originated with the Patriarchs themselves. Rather I believe that they were created in the 2nd or perhaps the early 1st centuries BC. Their value is that they reflect the beliefs of at least some of the people of ancient pre-Herodian Judaea concerning the covenants, race, and other things, at a time when Judaea was undergoing a transformation into a multi-ethnic polyglot political entity. Therefore I believe that they are basically an early form of propaganda, however they are important to us because they help us understand pre-Christ Christian attitudes extant at the time. I would also like to say that no early Hebrew copy of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is extant, but only Greek copies, and these works, popular among early Christians, may not have existed in Hebrew. However there are a couple of fragmentary works found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, notably those known as The Last Words of Judah and The last Words of Joseph, which bear similarities, and which may even be different versions of the same works.

THE TESTAMENT OF JUDAH
The Fourth Son of Jacob and Leah.
CHAP. I.

[Editors note:]
Judah, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah. He is the giant, athlete, warrior; he recounts heroic deeds. He runs so fast that he can outstrip a hind.
[Pretty much as he was portrayed in other apocryphal literature, such as Jasher]

THE copy of the words of Judah, what things he spake to his sons before he died.

2 They gathered themselves together, therefore, and came to him, and he said to them: Hearken, my children, to Judah your father.

3 I was the fourth son born to my father Jacob; and Leah my mother named me Judah, saying, I give thanks to the Lord,

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because He hath given me a fourth son also.

4 I was swift in my youth, and obedient to my father in everything.

5 And I honoured my mother and my mother's sister.

6 And it came to pass, when I became a man, that my father blessed me, saying, Thou shalt be a king, prospering in all things. [This is the Charles translation. The Charlesworth edition has the declaration “You shall be King”.]

[This begins Chapter 2 in the Charlesworth edition:]

7 And the Lord showed me favour in all my works both in the field and in the house.

8 I know that I raced a hind, and caught it, and prepared the meat for my father, and he did eat.

9 And the roes I used to master in the chase, and overtake all that was in the plains.

10 A wild mare I overtook, and caught it and tamed it.

11 I slew a lion and plucked a kid out of its mouth.

12 I took a bear by its paw and hurled it down the cliff, and it was crushed.

13 I outran the wild boar, and seizing it as I ran, I tore it in sunder.

14 A leopard in Hebron leaped upon my dog, and I caught it by the tail, and hurled it on the rocks, and it was broken in twain

15 I found a wild ox feeding in the fields, and seizing it by the horns, and whirling it round and stunning it, I cast it from me and slew it.

[Let me remark that all of these stories are very much like the Heroic Literature of the Greeks, which we see in the days of Homer and Hesiod but which was repeated throughout the Hellenistic era. I believe that the Greeks had for their model many of the early Biblical stories, the Samson account being the best known of them because that one is actually in the Bible today. The Assyrians and Sumerians also had such stories, extant in accounts such as the story of Gilgamesh. All of these non-Biblical stories display the human propensity for elaboration which we still have today.]

16 And when the two kings of the Canaanites came sheathed, in armour against our flocks, and much people with them, single handed I rushed upon the king of Hazor, and smote him on the greives and dragged him down, and so I slew him.

17 And the other, the king of Tappuah, as he sat upon his horse, I slew, and so I scattered all his people.

18 Achor, the king, a man of giant stature, I found, hurling javelins before and behind as he sat on horseback, and I took up a stone of sixty pounds weight, and hurled it and smote his horse, and killed it.

19 And I fought with this other for two hours; and I clave his shield in twain, and I chopped off his feet, and killed him.

20 And as I was stripping off his breastplate, behold nine men his companions began to fight with me,

21 And I wound my garment on my hand; and I slung stones at them, and killed four of them, and the rest fled.

22 And Jacob my father slew Beelesath, king of all the kings, a giant in strength, twelve cubits high.

23 And fear fell upon them, and they ceased warring against us.

[Of course, none of these stories are actually apparent in the Scripture itself.]

24 Therefore my father was free from anxiety in the wars when I was with my brethren.

25 For he saw in a vision concerning me that an angel of might followed me everywhere, that I should not be overcome. [The “guardian angel” concept stressed in Catholicism has some merit in Scripture, i.e. Matt. 18:10. I would caution that we do not have enough information to understand it well.]

26 And in the south there came upon 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.

[Similar stories appear in the Book of Jasher, which was probably written not long after 40 BC. That book mentions events such as the Punic Wars and Caesar's conquest of Britain.]

27 And I went up upon the wall, and I slew four mighty men.

28 And so we captured Hazor, and took all the spoil. [The Charlesworth edition has “captives” here, rather than spoil. I must ask, why would Jacob and his sons take such a spoil? Charlesworth also has “liberated” in the place of captured, a statement with sure Hellenistic overtones.]

29 And the next day we departed to Aretan, a city strong and walled and inaccessible, threatening us with death.

30 But I and Gad approached on the east side of the city, and Reuben and Levi on the west.

31 And they that were upon the wall, thinking that we were alone, were drawn down against us.

32 And so my brothers secretly climbed up the wall on

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both sides by stakes, and entered the city, while the men knew it not.

33 And we took it with the edge of the sword.

34 And as for those who had taken refuge in the tower, we set fire to the tower and took both it and, them.

35 And as we were departing the men of Tappuah seized our spoil, and seeing this we fought with them.

36 And we slew them. all and recovered our spoil.

[The Charlesworth edition has “As we were leaving, the men of Tappual killed them and burned their city, plundering everything that was in it”, and leaves the account with that.]

37 And when I was at the waters of Kozeba, the men of Jobel came against us to battle.

38 And we fought with them and routed them; and their allies from Shiloh we slew, and we did not leave them power to come in against us.

39 And the men of Makir came upon us the fifth day, to seize our spoil; and we attacked them and overcame them in fierce battle: for there was a host of mighty men amongst them, and we slew them before they had gone up the ascent.

40 And when we came to their city their women rolled upon us stones from the brow of the hill on which the city stood.

41 And I and Simeon had ourselves behind the town, and seized upon the heights, and destroyed this city also.

42 And the next day it was told us that the king of the city of Gaash with. a mighty host was coming against us.

43 I, therefore, and Dan feigned ourselves to be Amorites [by their dress], and as allies went into their city.

44 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.

45 And we drew near to Thamna, where was all the substance of the hostile kings.

46 Then being insulted by them, I was therefore wroth, and rushed against them to the summit; and they kept slinging against me stones and darts.

47 And had not Dan my brother aided me, they would have slain me.

48 We came upon them, therefore, with wrath, and they all fled; and passing by another way, they fought my father, and he made peace with them.

49 And we did to them no hurt, and they became tributary to us, and we restored to them their spoil.

50 And I built Thamna, and my father built Pabael.

[These stories are very much like so many Greek heroic tales, such as the famous Seven Against Thebes told by Aeschylus, a story also told in Euripides' play Phoenician Women. In the real Bible, we do not see any accounts such as these. Neither do they appear in Josephus or the Dead Sea Scrolls. Rather, we see that Jacob was a peaceful man, who actually feared warring with his neighbors. Jacob was quite upset that Simeon and Levi even fought against the men of Shechem after the rape of Dinah. At Genesis 34:18 we read: “ 30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. 31 And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot?” I think that what we have here may be some 2nd century BC propaganda, perhaps even written to justify the conquest of the surrounding Canaanite and Edomite cities of Judaea by John Hyrcanus, which took place circa 130-125 BC. According to the introduction to The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs found in the Lost Books of the Bible and the Missing Books of Eden, that is indeed when these books are believed to have been written by those scholars who produced that volume.]
51 I was twenty years old when this war befell. And the Canaanites feared me and my brethren.

52 And I had much cattle, and I had for chief herdsman Iram the Adullamite.

53 And when I went to him I saw Parsaba, king of Adullam; and he spake unto us, and he made us a feast; and when I was heated he gave me his daughter Bathshua to wife.[The name Parsaba is unknown to us from our Bibles today. In both the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint and in Jasher the name is Hirah. Sadly, the entire chapter is wanting in the Dead Sea Scrolls.]

54 She bare me Er, and Onan and Shelah; and two of them the Lord smote: for Shelah lived, and his children are ye.

CHAP. II.
[Editor's note:]
Judah describes some archaeological findings, a city with walls of Iron and gates of brass. He has an encounter with an adventuress.

AND eighteen years my father abode in peace with his brother Esau, and his sons with us, after that we came from Mesopotamia, from Laban.

2 And when eighteen years were fulfilled, in the fortieth year of my life, Esau, the brother of my father, came upon us with a mighty and strong people.

3 And Jacob smote Esau with

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an arrow, and he was taken up wounded on Mount Seir, and as he went he died at Anoniram.

[Of course none of this is Scriptural. There is a parallel in Chapter 57 of Jasher.]

4 And we pursued after the sons of Esau.

5 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 it.

6 And when they opened not to us in twenty days, I set up a ladder in the sight of all and with my shield upon my head I went up, sustaining the assault of stones, upwards of three talents weight; and I slew four of their mighty men.

7 And Reuben and Gad slew six others.

8 Then they asked from us terms of peace; and having taken counsel with our father, we received them as tributaries.

9 And they gave us five hundred cors of wheat, five hundred baths of oil, five hundred measures of wine, until the famine, when we went down into Egypt.

10 And after these things my son Er took to wife Tamar, from Mesopotamia, a daughter of Aram. [In the Book of Jasher, Chapter 45, she is a daughter of Elam.]

11 Now Er was wicked, and he was in need concerning Tamar, because she was not of the land of Canaan.

12 And on the third night an angel of the Lord smote him.

13 And he had not known her according to the evil craftiness of his mother, for he did not wish to have children by her.

14 In the days of the wedding feast I gave Onan to her in marriage; and he also in wickedness knew her not, though he spent with her a year.

15 And when I threatened him he went in unto her, but he spilled the seed on the ground, according to the command of his mother, and he also died through wickedness.

16 And I wished to give Shelah also to her, but his mother did not permit it; for she wrought evil against Tamar, because she was not the daughters of Canaan, as she also herself was.

17 And I knew that the race of the Canaanites was wicked, but the impulse of youth blinded my mind.

18 And when I saw her pouring out wine, owing to the intoxication of wine I was deceived, and took her although my father had not counselled it.

19 And while I was away she went and took for Shelah a wife from Canaan.

20 And when I knew what she had done, I cursed her in the anguish of my soul.

21 And she also died through her wickedness together with her sons.

22 And after these things, while Tamar was a widow, she heard after two years that I was going up, to shear my sheep, and adorned herself in bridal array, and sat in the city Enaim by the gate.

23 For it was a law of the Amorites, that she who was about to marry should sit in fornication seven days by the gate.

24 Therefore being drunk with wine, I did not recognize her; and her beauty deceived me, through the fashion of her adorning.

25 And I turned aside to her, and said: Let me go in unto thee.

26 And she said: What wilt thou give me? And I gave her my staff, and my girdle, and the diadem of my kingdom in pledge.

27 And I went in unto her, and she conceived.

28 And not knowing what I had done, I wished to slay her; but she privily sent my pledges, and put me to shame.

29 And when I called her, I heard also the secret words which I spoke when lying with

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her in my drunkenness; and I could not slay her, because it was from the Lord.

30 For I said, Lest haply she did it in subtlety, having received the pledge from another woman.

31 But I came not again near her while I lived, because I had done this abomination in all Israel.

32 Moreover, they who were in the city said there was no harlot in the gate, because she came from another place, and sat for a while in the gate.

33 And I thought that no one knew that I had gone in to her.

34 And after this we came into Egypt to Joseph, because of the famine.

35 And I was forty and six years old, and seventy and three years lived I in Egypt.

CHAP. III.

He counsels against wine and lust as twin evils. "For he who is drunken reverenceth no man." (Verse 13).

AND now I command you, my children, hearken to Judah your father, and keep my sayings to perform all the ordinances of the Lord, and to obey the commands of God.

2 And walk not after your lusts, nor in the imaginations of your thoughts in haughtiness of heart; and glory not in the deeds and strength of your youth, for this also is evil in the eyes of the Lord.

3 Since I also gloried that in wars no comely woman's face ever enticed me, and reproved Reuben my brother concerning Bilhah, the wife of my father, the spirits of jealousy and of fornication arrayed themselves against me, until I lay with Bathshua the Canaanite, and Tamar, who was espoused to my sons.

4 For I said to my father-in-law: I will take counsel with my father, and so will I take thy daughter.

5 And he was unwilling but he showed me a boundless store of gold in his daughter's behalf; for be was a king.

6 And he adorned her with gold and pearls, and caused her to pour out wine for us at the feast with the beauty of women.

7 And the wine turned aside my eyes, and pleasure blinded my heart.

8 And I became enamoured of and I lay with her, and transgressed the commandment of the Lord and the commandment of my fathers, and I took her to wife.

9 And the Lord rewarded me according to the imagination of my heart, inasmuch as I had no joy in her children.

10 And now, my children, I say unto you, be not drunk with wine; for wine turneth the mind away from, the truth, and inspires the passion of lust, and leadeth the eyes into error.

11 For the spirit of fornication hath wine as a minister to give pleasure to the mind; for these two also take away the mind of man.

12 For if a man drink wine to drunkenness, it disturbeth the mind with filthy thoughts leading to fornication, and heateth the body to carnal union; and if the occasion of the lust be present, he worketh the sin, and is not ashamed.

13 Such is the inebriated man, my children; for he who is drunken reverenceth no man.

14 For, lo, it made me also to err, so that I was not ashamed of the multitude in the city, in that before the eyes of all I turned aside unto Tamar, and I wrought a great sin, and I uncovered the covering of my sons' shame.

15 After I had drunk wine I

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reverenced not the commandment of God, and I took a woman of Canaan to wife.

16 For much discretion needeth the man who drinketh wine, my children; and herein is discretion in drinking wine, a man may drink so long as he preserveth modesty.

17 But if he go beyond this limit the spirit of deceit attacketh his mind, and it maketh the drunkard to talk filthily, and to transgress and not to be ashamed, but even to glory in his shame, and to account himself honourable.

18 He that committeth fornication is not aware when he suffers loss, and is not ashamed when put to dishonour.

This proves beyond doubt that New Testament definition of fornication which is indeed race mixing, i.e. 1 Corinthians 10 and Jude 7.

19 For even though a man be a king and commit fornication, he is stripped of his kingship by becoming the slave of fornication, as I myself also suffered.

20 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.

21 And indeed I repented of these things; wine and flesh I eat not until my old age, nor did I behold any joy.

22 And the angel of God showed me that for ever do women bear rule over king and beggar alike.

23 And from the king they take away his glory, and from the valiant man his might, and from the beggar even that little which is the stay of his poverty.

24 Observe, therefore, my children, the right limit in wine; for there are in it four evil spirits--of lust, of hot desire, of profligacy, of filthy lucre.

25 If ye drink wine in gladness, be ye modest in the fear of God.

26 For if in your gladness the fear of God departeth, then drunkenness ariseth and shamelessness stealeth in.

27 But if ye would live soberly do not touch wine at all, lest ye sin in words of outrage, and in fightings and slanders, and transgressions of the commandments of God, and ye perish before your time.

28 Moreover, wine revealeth the mysteries of God and men, even as I also revealed the commandments of God and the mysteries of Jacob my father to the Canaanitish woman Bathshua, which God bade me not to reveal.

29 And wine is a cause both of war and confusion.

30 And now, I command you, 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.

31 For I know that because of these two things shall my race fall into wickedness.

32 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.


The Voice of Christian Israel program ended with a discussion here at this point in the Testament of Judah.