Page:Legends of Old Testament Characters.djvu/251

XXIX.]  of Potipherah, and the Priest of On made a great supper, and gave his daughter to Joseph, and he called Joseph the lord of lords, and Asenath he called the daughter of the Most High.

 XXIX.

THE TESTAMENTS OF THE TWELVE PATRIARCHS.

THE "Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs" is one of the seventy-two apocryphal books of the Old Testament which were at one time in circulation, and, according to Epiphanius, it formed one of the twenty-two canonical books sent by the Jews to Ptolemy, king of Egypt.

It is a work of Jewish origin, which has been tampered with and interpolated by Christian copyists. S. Augustine numbers it with the Apocrypha; he says, "There are the apocryphal books of the Old Testament: the works falsely attributed to Enoch, the Patriarchs, the Discourse of Joseph, the Assumption of Moses, the pseudographia of Abraham, Eldad and Medad, Elias the prophet, the prophet Zephaniah, Zechariah, Baruch, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, and Daniel." Curiously enough, the Testament of the Patriarchs contains a large number of alleged quotations from the Book of Enoch, which are not, however, to be found in that book as we now have it.

This Testament was read by the Jews at the time of Christ's coming, and S. Paul seems to have been acquainted with it, for he quotes it, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead;" and again he quotes the Testament of Levi, "The wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." S. Jerome remarks on this, "The Apostle Paul quoted from the hidden prophets and from those books which are called Apocrypha," and he adds, "That he did so in several other places is very evident." And Origen says, "It is evident that many examples were quoted and inserted in the New Testament by the Apostles and the Evangelists from those Scriptures 