These Jewish writings were composed at various times from perhaps 100 BC into the Christian era. They were not even considered authentic enough to be included in the Greek Septuagint and thus into the Roman Catholic canon. I thought it might be interesting to see if any of them possessed the sort of literary symmetry found in the books of the OT and NT. As two likely candidates, I examined two of the twelve writings supposedly containing the last will and testaments of the twelve founders of the tribes of Israel. Each of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs follows the same general pattern:
The Patriarch calls his sons together.
He relates pertinent events in his life (lacking in the Testament of Asher).
He warns them against a particular vice or exhorts them to be virtuous.
He prophesies the future of his sons.
He exhorts them again (also lacking in the Testament of Asher).
He dies and is buried.
With such a strict structure in place, it is of interest to see if there are also any underlying symmetrical patterns in place. And if there are, does this perhaps help resolve the question as to whether suspected later Christian interpolations (given in italics below) were added to an originally Jewish text. The short Testament of Asher was chosen as a typical example for analysis, with the following results:
The Testament of Asher
A. Patriarch with his sons (vv. 1-2) “I will declare to you”
B. Two inclinations (vv. 3-10)
1. Evil actions (vv. 11-17) “This...hath two aspects, but the whole is evil.” (6x)
2. Such men are hares (vv. 18-19) “clean, unclean, ” “God...in the commandments”
3. Double-faced men (vv. 20-22) “my children”
1'. Good actions (vv. 23-25) Two aspects “but the whole is good (3x)
2'. Such men are like stags and hinds (v. 26) “clean, unclean,” “God...by His commandments”
3'. Be single-minded (vv. 27-32) “my children” (2x)
B'. Eternal consequences of actions (vv. 33-37) “meet the angel(s)” (2x), “evil” (2x), and an inclusio: “my children”
1. Negative consequences (vv. 38-39) “I know you shall sin,” “ye shall be scattered”
2. Positive consequences (vv. 40-41) “He shall save Israel”
3. Exhortation to “little children” (v. 42)
1'. Negative consequences (vv. 43-44) “I know you shall be disobedient,” “ye shall be scattered”
2'. Positive consequences (v. 45) “The Lord will gather...Jacob”
A'. Patriarch with his sons (vv. 46-48) “When he had said these things to them”
Section B'2 prophesies God coming down to earth as a man and saving both Israel and the Gentiles. The standard scholarly position is that this is a typical Christian interpolation in an earlier Jewish document. However, if the above analysis is correct, one can see that there is no way to remove vv. 40-41 without disrupting the symmetrical literary pattern. This could indicate that either (a) an originally Jewish writing was thoroughly reworked by a later Christian hand, (b) it was a Christian document to start with, or (c) it is a genuine prophecy of Christ's coming. However, the departures in the Testament of Asher from the general structure of the Twelve Testaments noted at the start of this discussion may label it as an outlier, in which case the above options do not necessarily apply to the other Testaments.
Testament of Benjamin
Since this document follows the general pattern much closer than the Testament of Asher and since it contains even more extensive prophecies of Christ, it was chosen as the next test case. Fortunately, in this case there are a number of verbal clues to guide the proper division of the writing.
A. Benjamin's birth (1:1) “125 years”
B. Keep the commandments (1:2-20)
Prophecy of Christ (1:21)
C. Two ways (1:22-2:3)
1. Doing “good” (1:22-39) “good” (10x)
2. Doing evil (1:40-46) “evils” (2x), ”seven” (4x), “Beliar” (3x)
3. Conclusion (2:1-4) “evil-doing,” “love,” “fornication,” “defilement” – 2x each
Prophecies of Christ (2:5-10)
B'. Keep the commandments (2:11-29)
1. Exhortations (2:11-17)
Prophecies of Christ (2:18-23)
1'. Exhortations (2:24-25)
Prophecies of Christ (2:26-29)
A'. Benjamin's death (2:30-33) “125 years”
(a) Section B is unified by the following chiastic references to the patriarchs:
Jacob (v. 2)
Joseph (v. 4)
Joseph...brother (v. 7)
Joseph (v. 12)
Joseph my brother (v. 14)
Joseph (v. 18)
Jacob (v. 19)
(b) Sections B and B' are seen as parallels by the numerous references to the patriarchs in both and the similar pronouncements “I was called Benjamin” (1:6) and “I shall no longer be called a ravening wolf” (2:25).
(c) The six occurrences of “my children” appear at the exact center of B and the beginnings of C1, C2, C3, B'1, and B'1'. Their immediate contexts also form a chiastic set:
love...commandments (1:12)
see (1:22)
flee (1:41)
flee (2:1)
know (2:12)
walk in commandments (2:24)
Units B' 1 and 1' begin with references to Jacob/Israel.
One could argue that the above structure makes sense even if the suspected Christian additions are included. Thus, (a) Section B', as it is, forms a regular a-b-a-b pattern and (b) the prophecies at 1:21 and 2:5-10 could be considered as either a framework for Section C or as parallel codas to sections B and C, respectively. Working against that analysis are the considerations that (a) none of the verses in italics is involved in any of the various word patterns listed above and (b) these prophecies do not fit in thematically with any of the other material in sections B, C or B'. So the evidence is again ambiguous if only structural considerations are taken into account.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments