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In Amos 5:26, Israelites are condemned for carrying images of foreign gods during their wilderness journey, and this act becomes a sign of judgment. The pseudepigraphal Jewish text the Testament of Moses reuses this imagery, describing a future punishment where people must again carry pagan idols in public.
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Amos 5:26
Hebrew Bible
25 You did not bring me sacrifices and grain offerings during the 40 years you spent in the wilderness, family of Israel. 26 You will pick up your images of Sikkuth, your king, and Kiyyun, your star god, which you made for yourselves, 27 and I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord. He is called the God of Heaven’s Armies.
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Testament of Moses 8
Assumption of Moses
Pseudepigrapha
And there shall come upon them a second visitation and wrath, such as has not befallen them from the beginning until that time, in which He will stir up against them the king of the kings of the earth and one that rules with great power, who shall crucify those who confess to their circumcision: and those who conceal (it) he shall torture and deliver them up to be bound and led into prison. And their wives shall be given to the gods among the Gentiles, and their young sons shall be operated on by the physicians in order to bring forward their foreskin. And others amongst them shall be punished by tortures and fire and sword, and they shall be forced to bear in public their idols, polluted as they are like those who keep. them. And they shall likewise be forced by those who torture them to enter their inmost sanctuary, and they shall be forced by goads to blaspheme with insolence the word, finally after these things the laws and what they had above their altar.
Date: 20-50 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The punishment “by torments, fire, and sword” is traditional; compare Daniel 11:33; Jubilees 23:13, 22 (which also include, among other disasters, captivity; see Ascension of Moses 8:2b). The combination “fire and sword” is a stock phrase, very common in Latin. Less strictly bound together, the two words are found in Ezekiel 23:25; Nahum 3:15; compare Hebrews 11:34. In 8:4, it is prophesied that the people will be forced to carry publicly images of the pagan gods. To this, one may compare the compulsion to take part in the Dionysiac procession mentioned in 2 Maccabees 6:7 (where also a connection is made with tormenting: ἠγοντο δὲ μετὰ πυκρᾶς ἀνάγκης κτλ. ... ἠναγκάζοντο ... πομπεύειν). For the practice of “carrying idols,” see Amos 5:26 ..."
* 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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