The Priesthood of Christ, an idea so fully de-
* ' Blessed is the man who does not defile the holy spirit of God which hath been put and breathed into him, and blessed is he who returns it to its Creator as pure as it was on the day when He entrusted it (to him).'
TESTAAIENTS OF 12 PATRIAKCHS TESTAMEA'TS OF 12 PATRIARCHS 565
veloped in the Epistle to the Hebrews, was until recently a conception the development of which could not he explained except as the synthesis of tlie thought of Christ as the perfect i>llering for sin with tlie thought of Ilim as the Divinely ap- pointed and perfect Agent of the Father. The conception, however, receives new light from recent research into the theological views of the Macca- brean period, when a priestly family ruled and were so highly gifted as to come to be regarded in the person of one or two kings as the embodiment of the Messianic idea. Ps 110 has a new appro- priateness in view of this unprecedented situation. There the Me.ssianic victor King is addressed, ' Tlio\i art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek' ; hence the continual emphasis — in Test. Jiciib. vi. 7-12, Test. Levi, xviii.. Test. Jud. XXV. 1, 2, Test. Jos. xix. 11 (o)— on the pre- eminence of Levi. The most astonishing passage, however, is Test. Jud. xxi. 1-5 : ' I command you, love Levi, that ye may abide, and exalt not your- selves against him, lest ye be utterly destroyed. For to me [Judah] 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,' etc.
The striking prerogatives and powers which Charles (Testaments, p. xcviii) regards as ascribed to the Illessiah tend to diminish seriously on a careful examination of the text (see g 8). Possibly tliere remain his freedom from sin, new priesthood, and prophetic office.
More important, because more reliable, is the light thrown by the angelology of the Testaments on the NT doctrine of Christ, especially as the unique and only Heavenly Intercessor. In Test. Levi, iii. 5f. the angels of the presence 'minister and make propitiation to the Lord for all the sins of ignorance of the righteous. And they otter to the Lord a sweet-smelling savour, a reasonable (XoyiK-qv) and bloodless sacrifice ' (' offering,' /3). In Test. Levi, v. 6 an angel (Michael or the angel of peace) ' intercedeth (/3) for the nation of Israel that they may not be smitten utterly (of. Test. Dan, vi. 5), for every evil spirit attacketh it.' In Test. Drin, vi. 2 prayer to tliis angel is commanded — 'draw near unto God and to the angel that inter- cedeth {;8) for you, for he is a mediator between God and man,' etc. It is just this Jewish doctrine that is combated in 1 Ti 2', He l*"", etc.
The 'angel of peace' has a national and a personal function. He 'shall strengthen Israel, that it fall not into the extremity of evil' (Tes^. Dan, vi. 5) ; he guides the soul of the good man {Test. Benj. vi. 1), and at death meets his soul and leads him into ('eternal,' a) \\ie(Test. Asher, vi. 7).
Angels are divided in Test. Levi, iii. 5-8 into 'angels of the presence' (/3), or 'archangels' (a), and, in a lower heaven, 'thrones and dominions' (cf. Col 1", Eph 1-'), but the angelology of the book is far less developed than that of 1 Enoch.
The text of Test. Levi, ii. 7-iii. 8 has undergone a great deal of alteration, but in ii. 7-9 the a. text clearly speaks of three heavens only, the older view, while the /3 text in ii. 9 and both texts in iii. 1-8 now speak of seven. St. Paul in 2 Co 12^ seems to regard the third as the highest heaven.
The doctrine of sin is very full and varied. In the main it is traced to the action of the spirits of error, and their head, Beliar (see Test. Eeuh. iii. 3-6, Test. Sim. ii. 7, iv. 9, Test. Jud. xix. 4, etc. ). Each sin has its own particular spirit, and several are attached to various organs of the body. Sin is also traced to man's free will, which can exclude all evil desire (Test, llenb. iv. 9), need not be in the power of any evil spirit (Test. Benj. vi. 1 ; cf. iii. 3, 4), and is free to choose good ami evil (Test. Jud.
XX. 2, ' in the midst is the spirit of the under- standing of the mind, to which it behjiiguth to turn whithersoever it will'). The will determines the iiuiility of the action (Test. Asher, i. ti, ' if the soul take i)leasure in the good, all its actions are in righteousness'). Inasmuch, however, as two inclinations appear to be born with a man, the evil as well as the good, the problem of freewill is not consistently or thoroughly faced. Thus God knows the inclination (Test. Naph. ii. 5), yet tries it by temptation (Test. Jos. ii. 6). Sin blinds the inclination (Test. Jud. xviii. 3), which in turn blinds the mind (xi. 1). The (evil) inclination can be destroyed by good works (Test. Asher, iii. 2).