ii. The Hebrew Testament of Naphtali, whicli (ja.ster (PSBA xvi.) regarded as the source of our present Test. Naphtali. Charles rightly denies this view, and demonstrates the wide diversity between them, but perhaps wrongly assigns it to a late date.
iii. Various passages in Jewish literature, in particular the Midrash iVajjissati, which is very useful in regard to the war-passages in Test. Judah. *
The work now exists in (a) Greek, (6) Armenian, (c) Slavonic, and many mediieval and modern versions.
(a) The primary authority now extant for the text is the Greek version, which Charles divides into two main divisions, the a text and the ^ text. The latter has its best representative in the famous Cambridge MS 6 (10th cent.), used by Grosseteste for his Latin version and by Sinker (who cites it as C) for what was till recently the standard work on the Testaments. Charles prefers the a text, re- presented by three MSS, the earliest c being of the 13th cent., which he uses as the basis of his text. Kor a spirited attack on his position see J. W. Hunkin in JThSt xvi. 80-97. The variations in the 9 Greek MSS are beyond number, and present a most intricate problem to the critical student. A glance at Charles's Greek Versions shows at times one to half a dozen variations at almost every word.
(b) The Armenian version exists in 12 MSS, and falls into two main divisions, one recension being current in biblical MSS (corresponding roughly to the Greek p text), and the other in non-biblical MSS. The Armenian vension is of special value in that it omits, or presents in a shorter form, several of the Christian interpolations (see § 8). It also alone preserves Test. Jos. xix. 3-7, without which the whole chapter is unintelligible.
(c) The Slavonic version is derived from the so- called Palea, historical narratives and chronicles based on various sources, and it is extant in a long and a short recension. This version represents a late form of text, and is not critically of much value.
7. Influence on the NT. — (a) Diction. — The in- lluence of the Testaments on the Gospels is very clearly dealt with in Charles's edition, pp. Ixxviii- xcix. In the rest of the NT two of the most re- markable passages are those which Charles adduces to prove that St. Paul used the Testaments in the Greek translation and in the o not the /3 recension (ib. Ixxxv). Conybeare in his review (Rev. of Theol. and Philos. iv. 373-382) has shown how difficult it is to accept the latter statement.
The first instance is 1 Th 2'". The words (ipeaaev ok ^tt' auT0i)s ^ (i/>7T? (tov Qeov, D, etc.) ^h ri\o^ are (lirticult to explain on the accepted view of the early date of the Epistle. In Tc.tt. Levi, vi. 11, on the other hand, the reference is obvious and appro-
* For all these documents see Charles, Greek Versions oj the Testaments, pp. li-Ivii, 236-2S(i.
564 TESTAMENTS OF 12 PATRIAKCHS TESTAMENTS OF 12 PATRLAKCHS
priate. It pres»p))oses a slightly different text in Gn SO', nan vri instead of ntsn -.ti. There is a curious resemblance to the phrase in Wis 19', but both there and in Ps 78" the words and the reference are different. In Test. Levi, vi. 11 the /3 texts read Kvplov, and the a texts tov Qtov. (In 1 Th 2" the Western text, alone contains the latter.) On the other hand, afc/read l<p$aff£ Si awroi/s, not ^tt' ain-ovs, so that the balance of evidence is against Charles's view that the a text was followed. St. I'aul appears to be qiioting, with grim irony, the de- scription of the Shechemites' doom in the Testa- ments (or some earlier work), with the aii])lication changed to the doom of the exclusive Jews, who would fain imitate the violent deed of Levi.
The second instance is Ro 1^-: ov ij.6pov avTairoiouaiv dXXi Ka.1 <Tvv€v5oKov(Ttv rots Trp<i<7uov(rLv {woLovvTes . . . avvevSoKovvTe^, B Clem. Rom. [?], also, with ovk evd-qaav earlier, D, Lat. Vers. etc.). Here the parallel in the Testaments — Test. Asher, vi. 2, Kal TTpdffiTovcn t6 KaKdv, Kal avvevdoKovtri rois Trpdaffoi'ffit^ — is less appropriate to its context, and is omitted by A (Arm. version) as well as ijr. But four other MSS of the fi text support the a text here. It is not a clear case of quotation by St. Paul.
Other noteworthy parallels are — 2 Co 6"- ", tIs KQivtxjvia tpoirl 7rp6y ctkotos ; r/y Si ai'fj.fpihi'T}<Tt.% X.piffTod ■wphs BfXiap ; || Test. Levi, xix. 1, ' Choose for your- selves eitlier the light or the darkness, either the law of the Lord or the works of Beliar.' Also Ro 12', ' present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable (spiritual) service (worship)' |i Test. Levi, iii. 6, ' ottering to the Lord a sweet-smelling savour, a reasonable (\oyiK7]v) and bloodless sacrifice' ('offer- ing,' ;3). Ro 12'^', i'Iko iv T(f ayaSip t6 KaKdv || Test. Bcnj. iv. ,S, oStos t6 dya$6f iroiuiv vlk^ t6 KaKdv. 1 Co 13', (ri iydirri) oi) Xoyl^'erai t6 KaKdv || Test. Zeh. viii. 5, d7a7rare aWT/Xoi/s, Kal /xr} Xoyi^eaffe ^KaffTos KaKiav irpb^ rbv ddeXfpbv aurov. 2 Co 7'**, ij yap Kara. Sedv \uTnj /xerdvoiav els ffiar-qpiav . . . ipyd^erai || Test. Gad, ^' 7, ij yap Kara Sebv d\i]6fis p-erdvoLa . . . od-qyei ri dia^oiiXiov irp&s (TuiTijpLav. Ph 2'^, ' among whom ye are seen (or 'shine ye') as lights (^wcrr^pej) in the world ' || Test. Levi, xiv. 3, 'so also ye are (or 'be ye') the lights ((^wo-rijpes) of Israel.' In 1 and 2 Tim. Charles notes four almost exact parallels :