(c) The Slavonic Version. — This version exists in two recensions, which are published by Tichon- rawow in his Monunvnts of Old Russian Apoc- rijphal Literature [1863], i. 96-145 and 146-232. A\ itii the help of Bonwetsch, Bousset tested this version and found it worthless for textual purposes. It is most nearly related to the Greek text of O (P).
(/) No earlier Latin Version is known than that of Robert Grosseteste. This was made from C, and is valueless, therefore, from a critical stand- point.
vi. Value of the Testaments. — This work has been simply a sealed book till the present, owing to the difficulty of discriminating the various elements in the text. Now that we have achieved this task in its main outlines, we discover that we have in the groundwork of the Testa- ments a unique work of the 2nd cent. B.C. ; for, with the excei'tion of Jubilees, it constitutes the only Apology in Jewish literature for the religious and civil hegemony of the Maccabees from the Pharisaic standpoint. To the few Jewish inter- polations which belong to the ne.\t cent. * large interest attaches ; for these, like Eth. Enoch 91- 104 and the Psalms of Solomon, constitute an unmeasured attack on every office — prophetic, priestly, or kingly — administered by the Alacca- bees. But, turning aside from the historical to the religious bearings of the book, we may notice shortly its eschatologj', its teaching on the various heavens, and its peculiar view as to the twelve tribes of Israel.
(a) The Eschatology. — We shall confine our atten- tion to three Messianic passages, hevi 18, Jud. 24. 25, and Dan 5^*-. Accordmg to Levi 18, the Messiah is to spring from Levi and be the eternal High Priest and civil ruler of the nation, Levi 18". During his rule sin should gradually cease, Levi 18" ; Beliar be bound, Levi 18*'* " ; the gates of Paradise be opened and the saints eat of the tree of life, Levi 18"'^. We have here an eternal Messianic kingdom on earth as in Eth. Enoch 83-90. In Jud. 24. 25 and Dan ga-ss t^i,g forecast is on the whole the same, save that the Messiah is to spring not from Levi but from Judah (Jud. 24", Dan o^t), as no doubt also in Eth. Enoch 90''- **. These hymns would be earlier, if we are right, than that in Levi 18, and would thus be written before enthusiasm for John Hjrcanus had reached its height. According to these hymns, the resurrection (of the righteous?) is to take place during the Messiah's reign (Jud. 25), the evil spirits are to be cast into eternal fire (Jud. 25">), the saints to live in Eden (Dn 5^), and all the nations to rejoice (Jud. 25'"), and God to abide with men (Dan 5^'). Here also we have an eternal Messianic kingdom on earth, in which the Gentiles paiticipate.
• There are seven other MSS known to ncholara Two of these have been collated by Conybeare, belonging respectively to the London Bible Society and to Lord Zouche ; see ZXTn [IIKIUJ, 108-110.
t In Dan the text says 'Judah and Levi' Since this is the order of these names in the Christian interpolations, we must emend the phrase into 'Levi and Judah,* or simply 'Levi' or 'Judah.' But, since the Messiah is nowhere else in the Testa, ments said to be sprung from 'Levi and Judah' (though it is declared that by means of LeW and Judah God will deliver Israel), we must'fall back simply on 'Levi' or 'Judah' as ths original text. We take it that 'and Levi' is an intrusion ber& See p. 723>> note {.
TESTIMONY
TETKAECH
725
(4) The three heavens and the seven heavens. — From R and the Armenian Version of Levi 2. 3 It is now clear that these chapters contained origin- ally a description of only three heavens. R* alone preserves the true text here ; for the two recensions of the Arm. a and § are both confused and corrupt, the former mentionini; only two heavens, and tlie latter four. It was Lueken (Michael [1S9S], 92) who first recognizeJ this fact. Its furtlier eluci- dation we owe to Buusset (ZNTW 159-163). Thus it appears that a belief in the three heavens pre- vailed early in the 'Jnd cent. B.C. It has thus an older attestation in .J udaism tlian that of the seven heavens, but which is in re.ality the earlier we cannot at present say.
(c) The Twelve Tribes. — The Twelve Tribes are Bupi>osed to be in existence at the date of the composition of this work, and in Palestine. Thus in iSapht. 5" the Syrians are said to hold sway over them. In Keub. 6'^ the high priestly ruler (i.e. John Hyrcanus) is ' to judge and oiler sacritice for all Israel till the consummation of the times ' ; and ' to bless Israel and Judah ' (Reub. 6"). The very fact that the book is addressed to the Twelve Tribes, although it speaks of the ultimate dispersion or destruction of Reuben (6"), Dan, Gad, and Asher (Asher 7"), points in the same direction. Bousset calls attention to the fact that the Letter of Aris- teas states that Eleazar the high priest sent six men of each of the Twelve Tribes to Ptolemy. This naturally presupposes the presence of the Twelve in Palestine or its neighbourhood. The idea that the Jewish kingdom embraced once again the entire nation, could easily arise when the Maccabees ex- tended their sway northwards over Samaria and Galilee and eastwards beyond the Jordan. This displaced the older belief that nine tribes were eiiil in captivity (see Eth. Enoch 89'^, written 20 to 30 years before the Testaments). But with the growin" degradation of the later Maccabees the older idea revives. According to the Psalms of Solomon (17^- **■"), the dispersed tribes are to be brought back. This thought reappears frequently in the 1st cent. A.D., and then in new forms. The nine or ten tribes were in the far East enjoying great prosperity (Philo, Leg. nd Gaium, 31 ; Jos. Ant. XI. v. 2 ; Sib. Or. ii. 170-173), or, according to a later view, they were lost, and their place of abode was unknown to men, but God was keeping them safely till the Messianic times (4 Ezr 13^"'"). This form of the idea, which is now the current one, is not attested till after the fall of Jerusalem, A.D. 70.