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| - The writing of the testaments appear to go back much further than those of the twelve sons of Jacob. Testaments supposedly written by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have been discovered and translated. [1] These Testaments, however, are generally viewed by many scholars as spurious writings, with the exception of the Testament of the patriarch Jacob, which we find at least partially recorded in the Bible book of Genesis, as well as in scholarly manuscripts [See The Lost Books of the Bible and The Forgotten Books of Eden, by Rutherford Hayes Platt, 1998] and Michael Stone [See reference below.] The testaments, on the whole, became the subject of analysis and debate following their discovery amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls, but what is very intriguing is the fact that much of the biographical informa
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| abstract
| - The writing of the testaments appear to go back much further than those of the twelve sons of Jacob. Testaments supposedly written by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have been discovered and translated. [1] These Testaments, however, are generally viewed by many scholars as spurious writings, with the exception of the Testament of the patriarch Jacob, which we find at least partially recorded in the Bible book of Genesis, as well as in scholarly manuscripts [See The Lost Books of the Bible and The Forgotten Books of Eden, by Rutherford Hayes Platt, 1998] and Michael Stone [See reference below.] The testaments, on the whole, became the subject of analysis and debate following their discovery amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls, but what is very intriguing is the fact that much of the biographical information about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jacob's twelve sons that we find in the Testaments, also appears in Old Testament. Acknowledgement seems due to the founding forefathers of the Israelites, without whose wisdom, I believe, these subsequent texts [Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs] might not have been written. [2] 1. Abraham was the progenitor of the Israelites [as well as the Ishmaelites and Edomites].He was monotheistic. Abraham was called by God from his birth city of Ur [Mesopotamia] to travel to the land of Canaan. Here, Abraham entered into a covenant with God in for recognizing Him as the soles supreme universal deity and authority. God promised Abraham that he would be blessed with an innumerable progeny. According to Jewish tradition (based on the Anno Mundi era), Abraham lived AM 1948–2123 (1812 BCE to 1637 BCE). Christian traditional dates are about 2000 BCE to 1825 BCE. [3] Abram was 100 and Sarai 90 when God promised them a son. At this time, God also changed Abram's name to Abraham (father of many nations), and Sarai's to Sarah (from "my princess" to "princess"). As promised by God, Sarah bore Abraham a son whose name was Isaac (in Hebrew, Yitzchak). This name comes from the word "laughter," expressing Abraham's joy at having a son in his old age. (Gen 17-18). [Note also that Ishmael, the son of Abraham and his concubine Hagar was the forefather of the Arabic nations.] [4] Also see 2.Isaac, as mentioned earlier, was born to Abraham and Sarah in their old age. Isaac became the subject of the most difficult test of Abraham's faith when God commanded him to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering. (Gen 22). In regards to the Testament of Isaac, James Charlesworth (The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research, pp. 123-124)writes: "While this writing is extant in Ethiopic and Arabic (see M. R. James, The Testament of Abraham [T&S 2] Cambridge: CUP, 1892; pp. 6f., 157), the major version is the Coptic, extant in Bohairic and Sahidic." [5] 3. Jacob [Israel], the second son of Isaac and brother of Esau, received the first-son birthright after Esau sold it to him in exchange for a bowl of lentil stew. Jacob was also the recipient of a blessing intended for Esau. Because of this "stolen" blessing, Esau vowed to take revenge on Jacob causing him to flee and live with his unclein Haran. Here he met and fell in love with his his uncle's younger daughter, Rachel and wanted to marry her. However, his uncle had Jacob to first marry Rachel's older sister, Leah, and later permitted him to marry Rachel. In addition to these two marriages, Jacob married Rachel and Leah's maidservants, Bilhah and Zilphah. Between these four women, Jacob fathered 12 sons and one daughter. [The twelve sons of Jacob are as follows: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph and Benjamin.][See Jacob's blessings [Testament] at Genesis 49.1-33. terpretation+/+Old+Testament%22&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 [ <a href="http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/testjacob.html]">http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/testjacob.html]</a> [6]
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