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| The Testament of Judah Concerning Fortitude, and Love of Money, and Fornication.
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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.94
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 shalt 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 rushed 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,95
| 95 In c. 5 we find this
name, with a slight variety of spelling, as that of a place over which
this king may have ruled. It is doubtless equivalent to the
Hebrew Tappuah, a name of several cities mentioned in the Old
Testament. See Josh. xv.
34; xvi. 8; xvii. 8; 1 Chron. ii. 43. Cf. Thapha,
Jubilees, 34. | 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,96
| 96 Cd. Oxon. reads
ἑτέραν; but cf. Aresa,
Jubilees, 34. | 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,97
the men of Jobel came against us to battle,
and we fought with them; and their allies from Selom98
| 98 Cf. Selo,
Jubilees, l.c. |
we slew, and we allowed them no means of escaping, and of coming
against us. And the men of Machir99
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
cities100
| 100 Cd. Oxon. reads
Γαᾶς
πόλις
βασιλέων. Cf.
Josh. xxiv. 30; Judg. ii. 9; 2
Sam. xxiii. 30.
Cf. also “Gaiz,” Jubilees, l.c. | of the two kings with a great host were coming
against us. I therefore and Dan feigned 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,101
| 101 The Timnah of the
Old Testament, which name is, however, borne by several places.
Most probably it is the Timnah near Bethshemesh, on the north frontier
of Judah, in the neighbourhood, that is, of many of the other
localities mentioned in the Testaments. This may be the
same as the Timnathah on the Danite frontier (Josh. xix. 43), and with the Timnathah where
Samson’s wife dwelt (Judg. xiv. 1 sqq ). The geographical
position of Timnath-serah is against the allusion being to it
here. Cf., however, Jubilees, c. 34, where
Thamnathares is one of the hostile towns. | 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.102
| 102 Cf. Robel,
Jubilees, l.c. | 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 Iran103
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 Iramna104
| 104 Cd. Oxon. ἐν
᾽Ανονιράμ,
probably per incuriam scribæ, for ἐπάνω
᾽Ιράμ | 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.105
| 105 This seems to arise
from the wish to disconnect Israel as far as possible from non-Shemite
associations. Cf. the Targum of Onkelos on Gen. xxxviii. 6.
“Judah took a wife for Er, his first-born, a daughter of the
great Shem, whose name was Tamar.” | 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,106
| 106 διέφθειρε
δὲ τὸ σπέρμα
ἐπὶ τὴν
γὴν | …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.107
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.108
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 so ever 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,
and109
| 109 Cd. Oxon. here reads the
additional clause ζημιούμενος
οὐκ
αἰσθάνεται
καὶ ἄδοξον
οὐκ
αἰσχύνεται.
Κἂν γάρ τις
βασιλεύσῃ,
πορνεύων—perhaps
omitted from Cd. Cant. through the homœoteleuton. | uncovereth his nakedness, hath become the
servant of fornication, and escapeth not110
| 110 Cd. Oxon. omits the
negative. The βασίλεια will
then be that from which the man falls by his sin. | 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 (1) 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. But111
| 111 Cd. Oxon. reads
τί δὲ
λέγω; μηδ᾽ ὅλως
πίνετε, which seems much more
suitable to the context. |
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.112
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.113
| 113 [Num.
xv. 25 and Acts iii. 17.] | 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.114
| 114 [See cap. 13, p.
19, supra.] |
20. 115
| 115 Cd. Oxon. omits the
whole of this chapter. | 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 shalt 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.116
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; ye117
| 117 The reading of Cd.
Oxon. is doubtless to be preferred, which joins κλῄδοσι και
δαίμοσι
πλάνης to what precedes | will make your
daughters singing girls118
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 men119
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. 120
| 120 Cd. Oxon. omits from
here to end of c. 25. | 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,121
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.122
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 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,123
| 123 i.e., for the purpose
of embalmment. |
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.
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