AtadT]Kr) is of course often 'used in the NT in the OT sense, Lk 1", Ac 3=», Ro 9^ Eph 2"^. In some passages engagement and testamentary disposition seem to be combined (He 9", 1 Co 11"), the diaSriKTi being a testament in the light of the death, an engagement in the liglit of the blood shed as a pledge (Evans). The sense of ' will,' the ordinary Gr. sense, is an exclusively NT usage ; and this usage varies in its aspect according to the con- ceptions of the readers for whom the Epistles in which it occurs were designed. Thus the Epistle to the Hebrews — even if it was intended for a Church in Jerusalem and not in Rome — was written to a people wlio knew only the Roman will, out of which the rabbinical will in Palestine arose, and on which it was modelled. Hence the will there spoken of is regarded as in force only after the maker's death (9'°-"), and consequently the writer is led to argue that a death is connected with every Divine SiaB-qKri, specially with the last will, that of Christ ; and according to Roman law the last will was alone valid. In Gal 3", on the other hand, where again a human will, a will dealing with an inheritance (3'*), furnishes the parallel, the writer conceives of a will known to his readers as irrevocable and unaUeralile, even by the maker, when once it has been made b}' him and ratified by public authority, and argues from this analog that the Law could not, as a hostile codicil, abrogate the Promise. Further, the devolution under this will was a devolution of religious responsibilities and rights, and those who inherited these under the will became there and then soni as inheriting and continuing the faith of Abraham (3'). Such a will was not Roman but Greek, or rather Graico-Syrian, and its regulations are found in the Roman-Syrian law-book, which recognized Grteco-Syrian law as still largely in force in the Eastern provinces. This law regarded will-making as per se son-making ; and where sons were thus made by adoption (tial 4"), which was not a Jewish practice of any importance, they could not he put away ; they were even in a better position than sons by birth. Thus the line of thought is that the believing Gentiles inlieriting and continuing the faith of Abraham became thereby adopted sons, with a title more secure than the ' Jews by nature.' But at Ko 8", ' If sons, then heirs,' the idea is
TESTS. OF XU PATRIAECUS
TESTS. OF XII rATRIAFX'HS 721
reversed. Here we are in the atmospliere of Itoinan law ; and the idea in Roman law was that children must inherit.
It is noticeable that the Latin word fccdus, signifying a covenant between parties, is also ai)iilied to an indupendent, 'onesided' disposition, arrangement, ini|iosition. When Lucretius (ii. 2o4) writes ol fwdcra fati he means nothing else than the arrangements imposed by fate ; and Vergil {Gcorg. i. 60) and Ovid (Met. x. 353), as well as Lucretius (v. 9"24), speak of the fa-ilcra imposed by nature. But the classical u.sage of iiaOriKri as 'will,' and the close connexion of the word in tlie OT with the idea of nXJjpos (inherit- ance), together with the intensification in the NT of the idea of sonship, combined to bring testa- meniiim into greater favour than fceilus as the rendering of Siadr/Kr), especially as /irdtis suggested equality and testamentum superiorit}-. Unally, as a consequence, testamentum became the title of the documents containing the attested promises of blessings willed by God and bequeathed to us in the death of Christ.
LiTERATrRB. — Ranisay, Bigtorieal Commentary on Galatiant ; Xliltcis, lieichttrec/it tmd Volktrecht ; Bruns and Saclmii, Ein ifiiriitch-rdmufchei lUc/'tshucft aus dem /iinften Jahrlivndert \ Crenier. Bibl.-Tfteol. Wort^rbuch ; the publications by Orenfell and Hunt on the E^'^Titian papyri ; aod the various Com* mentaries and Bible Dictionaries. J, MaSSIE.
TESTAMENTS OF THE XII PATRIARCHS.—
i. TiTLi: AND Contexts. — This most valuable pseudepigraph has never received the attention it deserves, but the next few years will witness a full atonement for past neglect. This writing consists, £is the title indicates, of the dying com- mands of the twelve sons of Jacob to their children. The idea is in part derived from the Testament of Jacob in Gn 49. Each Testament treats of some virtue or vice which finds special illustration in the life of this or that patriarch. In some cases the virtue or vice in question ap- pears in the title. Tliis holds true of the Greek MS C throughout. But in this rc-'pect C is late ; for in 0 * and R all mention of the virtues and vices is omitted, and where they appear in P (as they do in a few cases) they differ in all but two iiist:inies from C. In the Armenian Version tlie titles of Simeon, Benjamin, Issachar, and Zebulun contain no reference to ethical characteristics, and those of Le^^ and Gad differ from their forms in CP. It is probable, therefore, that tlie name of each Testament was originally merely AiaO^mj in the Greek Version, followed by the name of the particular patriarch to wliom it was ascribed, and nKiis in the original with a similar sequence. (Conijiare the Hebrew title of the Testament of Naphtali "SnDi nKiis, published by Gaster, and ob- i-erve that "ns is used technically of a man's bust will and testament, 2 S 17^, 2 K 20', Is 38'). According to K, it is true that the title of each Testament is merely tlie name of the patriarch. The title of the entire work was probalily ' The Twelve Patriarchs' ; for it is mentioned simply as UnTpidpxai in the Stichometry of Nicephorus, the Synopsis Athanasii, and other lists.