Texts in Conversation
The Testament of Judah warns that love of money leads to idolatry and madness, using language similar to 1 Timothy, which calls the desire for wealth the root of all evil. Both present greed as more than a personal failure.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Testament of Judah 19
Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
Pseudepigrapha
1 My children, the love of money leads to idolatry, because when people are led astray by money, they call gods those who are not gods, and it drives the one who has it into madness. For the sake of money I lost my children, and if my repentance, my humbling of myself, and my father's prayers had not been accepted, I would have died childless. 2 But the God of my fathers had mercy on me, because I had done it in ignorance. 3 The prince of lies blinded me, and I sinned as a mortal man, corrupted by sins, and I learned my own weakness while I had thought myself invincible.
1 Timothy 6:10
New Testament
8 But if we have food and shelter, we will be satisfied with that. 9 Those who long to be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evils. Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains. 11 But you, as a person dedicated to God, keep away from all that. Instead pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, endurance, and gentleness.
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Notes and References
"... Placing the parables of the Rich Fool and Lazarus and the Rich Man in close proximity also invites readers to consider whether the man in 12:16–21 neglects to care for the poor. Such a question becomes common throughout the parable’s history of interpretation ... On several occasions Cyprian utilizes the parable, like Clement and Cassian, as a warning against luxury and greed. After citing 1 Timothy 6:10 - “for lust of money is the root of all evil”8—he refers to Luke 12:20 to aver that riches are the “root of seductive evils” ... Although François Bovon follows Jülicher and others in describing the parable as “une histoire exemplaire,” he acknowledges the importance of wisdom parallels and identifies specific aspects of the parable as having their “equivalent” in Hebrew and Jewish wisdom. He cites several such parallels (in a footnote) to show that Luke 12:15 and 16–21 fit into Israel’s “wisdom tradition.” (These include Psalm 49:7, 11, 17–20; Sirach 11:18–19; Testament of Judah 18–19; 1 Enoch 94:6–11; 97:8–10; James 5:1–6. He also refers to the beatitude and woe in Luke 6:20, 24 and “all the Lucan texts on riches.”) ..."
Rindge, Matthew S.
Jesus’ Parable of the Rich Fool: Luke 12:13-34 among Ancient Conversations on Death and Possessions
(pp. 10-11, 31-32) Society of Biblical Literature, 2011
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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