On a Sunday afternoon, probably in the spring of A.D. 56, St. Paul, having torn himself away from the Christians of Troas, walked or rode the 20 miles of Roman highway which connected that city with Assos, first ])assing along the western side of Mt. Ida, then through the rich Valley of the Tuzla, and finally reaching the Via Sacra, or Street of Tombs, which still extends a great dis-
ASSUMPTION OF MOSES
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tance to the N.W. of Assos. lii the haven he joined his sliip, which had meanwhile taken his com j)an ions round tlie long promontory of Lectum
(Ac 20i=*'- ).
LiTERATiRE. — J. T. Clarke, Assos, 2 vols., Boston, 1882 and ls9S ; C. Fellows, Trare/s and Researches in Asia Minw, London, ls52 ; Murray's Handbook of Asia Minor.
James Strahan.
ASSUMPTION OF MOSES.— A curious state of affairs exists with regard to the so-called ' Assump- tion of Moses.' The title is incorrectly applied to what is really the ' Testament of Moses,' a work which is extant in a more or less complete form in a Latin fragment discovered hy Ceriani in a 6th cent. ISIS in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, and published by him in 1861. The true ' Assumption ' survives only in quotations and references in the NT and early Christian writers ; but from certain facts it appears that it was at a very early date appended to the ' Testament.' For example, in Ceriani's Latin MS in 10'" we have the reading 'From my death [assumption] until His advent.' Here the duplicate reading ' assumption ' would appear to be an attempt to prepare for the account of the Assumption appended to the Testament. Moreover, as early as St. Jude's Epistle, we Hnd quotations from both works in close juxtaposition. Under these circumstances, the present article in- cludes an account of botli works.
Both works alike must have been written in the 1st cent. A.D., and the former, if not the latter, in Hebrew, between the years 7 and 29. A Greek ver- sion of both, of the same century, is presupposed by the quotations and parallels in Ac T^**, Jude ^- '^- '*, 2 Barucli, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen. Tlie author was a Pharisaic Quietist. His silence with regard to the Maccab.'ean rising and its leaders is most significant. There could be no severer censure on the political and bellicose Pharisees of liis time. For him Eleazar and his seven sons had been the true heroes, and not Judas and his brethren. He expects the ultimate triumph of Israel, Vmt this is to be brouglit about by Divine intervention and not by the sword, and tiie human conditions pre- requisite are a stricter observance of the Law and a national lepentance.
The work is of great value in the stress it lays on sj)iritual religion and quietism. In this and in its singular freedom from the Jewish doctrine of merit it affords a parallel to NT teaching. On the other hand, it is thoroughly Judaic in its exaltation of the person of Moses, wiiich seems to be set up as a Jewish counterpart to that of our Lord, while the ore-existence of Moses and Jerusalem is expressly asserted in I'^- '".
1. Contents (historical and other allusions are explained in brackets). — i. In the 2500th year from the Creation, after the Exodus, ^Nloses calls Joshua and appoints him his successor as minister of the people and of the tabernacle of the testimony, at the same time committing to his charge certain books which were to be preserved in the place which God had made from the beginning of the world (Jerusalem). — ii. After Josliua has secured to Israel their inheritance, the people are to be ruled for eighteen years (i.e. the fifteen judges, and the three kings, Saul, David, and Solomon) by chiefs and kings, and for nineteen years (the nineteen kings of Israel) the ten tribes shall break away. The t^\ o tribes maintain t he Tern pi eworsliip for twenty years (reigns), of which, however, four are evil ami idola- trous.— iii. Then a king from tlie East (Nebuchad- rezzar) shall come and burn their ' colonj' ' (Jeru- salem ) and the Temple and remove the sacred vessels. The two tribes are carried into captivity, and con- fess their punishment to be just, as also do the ten tribes. — iv. At the end of the 77 years' captivity, one who is over them (Daniel) will pray for them.
A king (Cyrus) has compassion on them, and parts of the two tribes return, while the ten increase among the Gentiles in their captivity. — v. Even the faithful two tribes sin, and are punished through the kings who share in their guilt (the Seleucids). They are divided as to the truth, and pollute the altar with their non-Aaronic priests, ' not priests but slaves, sons of slaves' (Jason and Menelaus). — viii. A ' second visitation ' follows. The king of the kings of the earth (Antiochus Epiplianes) cruellies those who confess to circumcision, and compels them to blaspheme the law and bear idols, and persecutes them with tortures. — ix. Thereupon a man of the 'iribe of Levi, named Taxo ( = Eleazar), exhorts his seven sons to fast for three days and on the fourth to go into a cave and die rather than transgi'ess the commands of the Lord of lords. ^ — vi. Next there are raised up kings bearing rule who call themselves priests of the Most High God (the Maccabees). They work iniquity in the Holy of Holies. They are succeeded by an insolent king not of the race of the priests (Herod), who will carry out secret massacres and rule for 34 years. His children are to reign for shorter periods. A power- ful king of the West (Varus, governor of Syria) in- vades the land, burns part of tlie Temple, and cruci- fies some of the people. — vii. The times shall then be ended. Destructive and impious men (Sadducees) shall rule — treacherous, hypocritical, gluttons, op- pressing the poor, and laAvless. Though unclean in hand and mind, they say, ' Do not touch me, lest thou shouldest pollute me.' — x. Then God's king- dom shall appear, and Satan shall be no more, and the angel who has l)een appointed chief (Michael) shall avenge them of their enemies. The earth is shaken, the sun and moon fail, and the sea and the waters dry up. The Gentiles are punished, and Israel is happy, and triumphs over the Eagle (Rome), is raised to the stars, and beholds his enemies in Gehenna and rejoicesover them. Until thisadvent of God there shall be 250 times from Moses' death. — xi. Joshua mourns that he is not able to take Moses' place as guide and teacher, jirophet and advocate. The Amorites will assail Israel when Mo.ses is not among them. — xii. Moses replies by placing Joshua in liis own seat, and assures him that all is foreseen and controlled by God.