Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| The Testament of Levi Concerning the Priesthood and Arrogance.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
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 he 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,61
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 Aspis62
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 shalt see four other
heavens brighter than these, and without comparison, when thou shalt
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;63
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 seven64
| 64 For the Jewish
idea of seven heavens, cf. Clement of Alexandra, Strom., iv. 7;
and Wetstein’s note on 2 Cor. xii. 2; [also vol. vii. note 11,
this series; and vol. ii. note 7, p. 438, this series]. | 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,65
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 grave66
spoiled in the suffering of the Most High,67
| 67 [ἐπὶ
τῳ πάθει τοῦ
῾Υψισοῦ. Compare
Tatian, vol. ii. p. 71, this series.] | 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.68
| 68 This document,
the idea of which is that of a book containing what is fore-ordained in
heaven as to the course of the future, is one often appealed to in
Apocalyptic literature, when some oracular declaration of weighty
import is needed. Thus, in the Book of Enoch, the angel Uriel
tells Enoch that the tablets contain all wisdom, the dying Enoch tells
his children that the tablets are the source of all understanding, etc.
(see, e.g., cc. 81. 1; 93. 2; 106. 19, ed. Dillmann). In the Book
of Jubilees, again, it is said that inscribed on the tablets are, e.g.,
the punishment of the angels who sinned with mortal women, the plan of
the division of weeks, the name of Abraham as the friend of God, etc.
(cc. 5, 6, 19). See also Test. Asher, 2, 7,
infra. | 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.69
6. And
when I came to my father I found a brazen shield;70
| 70 ἀσπίς. The Latin version gives
the other meaning to ἀσπίς here, of asp or viper.
The epithet χαλκῆν, however, renders
“shield” much more probable, as there seems nothing in the
context pointing to the “brazen serpent.” |
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.71
| 71 A quotation from
1 Thess. ii. 16, where the context also is similar to
the present. [See Lardner’s refutation of the learned Grabe
on this quotation, vol. ii. p. 359.] |
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.72
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,73
| 73 On the possible
reference here to the elements of the Eucharist, see Grabe’s
note, Spicilegium, in loc. | 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,74
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.75
And His appearing shall be
unutterable, as of an exalted76
| 76 Or, if we follow the
reading of Cd. Oxon., “Prophet of the Most High.” | 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 after77
| 77 Or rather, with Cd.
Oxon., “with our father.” | 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;78
| 78 We constantly
find Peter, in the Clementine Homilies and Recognitions,
combining with the Agapæ the practice of bathing. Cf., e.g.,
Recog., iv. 3, v. 36. | 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.79
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.80
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.81
| 81 This document is
frequently quoted in the Testaments: cf. Sim. 5;
Levi 14, 16; Judah 18; Dan 5; Naph. 4;
Benj. 9. Most of these citations, however, are not to be
found in the work as it has come down to us. We must therefore
either assume the reference to some other books of Enoch not now
extant, or rather perhaps that they are general appeals to the spirit
of the book, regarded as a great fount of prophecy. |
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 His82
| 82 Read αὐτοῦ with Cd.
Oxon. | 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.83
| 83 [John i. 4–9; viii. 12; ix.
5, etc.] | 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
excesses84
| 84 The word πλεονξία, like
the English “excess,” has not unfrequently special
reference to sins of sensuality. Cf. Bible:Col.3.5 Bible:1Thess.4.6">1 Cor. v. 11; Eph. iv. 19; v. 3, 5; Col.
iii. 5; 1 Thess. iv. 6,
the context in all of which passages points strongly to this
conclusion. See Suicer’s Thesaurus, s.v. | 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;85
and at last, as
ye suppose, ye will slay Him, not understanding His resurrection,
wickedly taking upon your own heads the innocent blood.86
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.87
| 87 [John iii. 5; Isa. xii. 3; 1 Pet. iii.
20.] |
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,88
in the fulness of days. And His
star shall arise in heaven,89
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.90
| 90 An additional clause
occurs here in Cd. Oxon., which generally has a tendency to omit; the
copyist of Cd. Cam. having possibly looked on to the same initial words
in the next clause: “And in His priesthood shall the
Gentiles be multiplied in knowledge on the earth and shall be
enlightened through the grace of the Lord; but Israel shall be minished
in ignorance, and be darkened in sorrow.” | 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
remove91
| 91 The reading of Cd. Oxon.
here, ἀποστήσει,
is to be preferred to Cd. Cam., στήσει.
Grosseteste’s Latin version, in all probability made from the
latter, has stare faciet. [See p. 7, note 1,
supra.] | the threatening sword against Adam; and He
shall give to His saints to eat from the tree of life,92
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.93
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.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
