III. LiinijiuKjc in ir/iick the Work was Written The
Ten/iinients, as we have it now, was no doubt written in the Hellenistic Greek, in whicli we now possess the work. (Jrabe maintained that it was originally writ- ten in Hebrew and was translated into Greek with the canonical books of the (Md Test. But against this view it has been argued that already the title of the book, oi (Ua^)/fc"ai Tojv iji' Uarpiapxioi', indicates its Greek orig- inal, because the Hebrew r"3"]2 or mi^ would have been presented by the Greek tuXoylat, ijToXai, or j-iap- Tvpia. We also find a number of instances of parono- masia, hardly possible on the hypotliesis of a Hebrew original. Such are a^trfiv . . . vov^frtiv, cKpaipetriQ . . . avaipKnq (Test, ./nilafi, note 23), Xtj^ui^ . . . Xotjxog {ibiil.) ; iv T(t^H . . . drriKTOv {Xapht. note 2), ra^ic . . . (iTaS.ia {ibi(J. 3). We find various expressions pertain- ing to the (ireek philosophy, as Sia^ytaic, a'i<7Srt]atg, (fivaiQ TtXoQ, Cial^ot'Xiuv, nv^iiiovXtiniv rivt. Taking all in all, we are led to the supposition that it was orig- inally written in tJreek (see Nitzsch, De Test. XII Patr. I Witemb. 1810], p. IG; Vorstman, Disquis. de Testam. XII I'dtriarch. p. 8 sq.).
IV. Contents of the Testaments. — The work professes to be, as its name implies, the utterances of the dying patriarchs, the sons of .Jacob, to their children. In these are given, more or less briefly, the narrative of their lives, with some particidars not to be found in the .-cri|)lural account, and there are biiiit thereon various moral precepts for the guidance of their descendants, who may thereby be preserved from the snares into which their fathers fell. '• Still," says Vorstman, "all the pa- triarchs are convinced that their children will deal wick- edly, falling away from ( iod, detiling themselves with the sins of every nation. They therefore prophesy what is to come; they foretell the troubles impending on their children. I5ut they venture to raise more joyous strains than these, (iod himself is to put an end to their trou- bles; he will visit his people; he will break the power of sin. Prophecies of a Messiah are brought forward by the patriarchs. With such hopes they die. Their dis- courses, therefore, may justly be called Testaments, when at the point of death they speak to their children their last words. They leave to them nothing save injunc- tions and prophecies. The words of Benjamin (c. 10) will apply equally to all : rai'ira ji'ip dvri waarji; kXjj- povojiiai: vjiai; CtSanKuj."
V. .'\te.fsianic Ideas of the Book. — The ^Messianic views are strongly tinged by national feeling. The Messiah, combining in himself the functions of high-]iriest and of king, is to arise from the tribe of Levi as well as from the tribe of .Judah. Siill there is a tendency through- out which aims at teaching that his high-priestly office is greater than his kingly one. The Jlessianic passages having reference to the jjromised Messiah of Israel may be divided into such as speak of him as divine— as (iod coming into the world in the likeness of man — and into such as refer to him as man alone. Of the latter we read in Test. Levi. e. l(i, "And the man {eivSpa) who rcneweth the law by the pr)wer of the Most High shall ye call a deceiver ; and at last, as ye sujjiiose, ye will slay him, not knowing his resurrection {di'dtrTtjfia), wickedly taking the innocent blood upon your own heads. And because of him shall your holy jdaces be desolate." . . . .Judah (c. 24) says, "And after these things a star shall arise to you out of .Jacob in peace, and a man (dv^pwirot;') shall rise up of my seed, as a sun of righteousness, walking with the sons of men in
meekness and righteousness, and no sin shall be found in him." Najjhtali says (c. 4), " Until the compassion {oTrXdyxvoi') of the Lord shall come, a man (dv^pw- TToc) working righteousness and showing mercy to all that are afar oft'aiul to those that are near."
Such are the only passages which dwell merely on the human nature of the Messiah. Let us look at those which refer to his divine nature. Thus the jiatriarch Dan (c. t>) bids his children "draw near to God and to the angel that intercedeth for you (r<>7 9f(/j Kai tijj ayyi- Xip Ti{i TTrtpairoi'ji/ti'f/j i'^idr). He is called " the me- diator between God and men" (oj'inft," fffrt /.ttffiriig Gtov Kai dvSrpojTTwiA. "His name .shall be in every place in Israel, and among the Gentiles, Saviour" (ri St 6vo- f.ia aiiTur tarai tv Trnj'Tl roTTi/j 'lrron;/X Kai tvTolg t^ff- ai 1,wTlip). Levi (c. 4") speaks of the ]\Iessiah as v'tii: Kvpiov. Simeon (c. C) speaks of '■ the Lord, the Great God of Israel, who shall appear upon the earth as man, and who shall save all the (Jenfiles and the race of Is- rael." Judah (c. 22) tells his children, "Among the Gentiles shall my kingdom he consummated, imtil the salvation shall have come to Israel; until the appearing of the (iod of righteousness to give (luietness in peace to Jacob and all nations." Asher (c. 7) tells his chil- dren that they should be dispersed throughout the world until "the Most High should visit the earth, himself coming as a man (ai^S-poJTrof). eating and drink- ing with men. . . . He shall save I^rael and all the (ien- tiles; God speaking in the person of man" (Hfcf tic di'- Cpa VTroKpu'ufitvoi:). Joseph (c. 19 ) says to his children, "And I saw that from Judah was born a virgin wearing a linen garment, and from her went forth a lamb with- out spot" («//vt)c dj-ieopioc). That reference is here made to the sinlessness of the Messiah there can be no doubt. Ilagenbach (in his Doymt'Wiesrhn-hie, p. 143, ed, 3) refers to Hippoh'tus as furnishing the first instance of the application of the word "spotless" to our Lord, but we have here an earlier example. Thus Benjamin (c. 3) speaks of "the Lamb fif God and the Saviour of the world," that " spotless he shall be delivered up for the wicked, and sinless shall he die for the ungodly." Levi tells his children that they shall slay the Messiah and "wickedly take the innocent (d^i^oc) blood upon their heads." Judah (c. 24) says, "No sin shall be found in him."