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Shepherd of Hermas

About this book
Chapter 7

1 “But you, Hermas, must no longer bear a grudge against your children, or let your sister have her way, so that they may be purified from their former sins. For they will receive just discipline, unless you yourself hold a grudge against them. Bearing a grudge leads to death. But you, Hermas, have had great tribulations of your own, because of the transgressions of your family, since you had no concern for them. For you were neglectful of them, and got entangled in your evil business affairs. 2 But here is your salvation: that you did not depart from the living God, and that in your simplicity and your great self-control you have been saved, if you remain in these virtues; and they save all who do such things, and walk in guilelessness and simplicity. These people prevail over all wickedness, and continue on to eternal life. 3 Blessed are all who do righteousness. They will never be destroyed. 4 But you shall say to Maximus, “Look, tribulation is coming upon you, if you decide to deny a second time. The Lord is near those who turn to Him, as it is written in Eldad and Modat,⁠ who prophesied to the people in the wilderness.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Shepherd of Hermas 7:4 and Pseudo Jonathan Numbers 11:26

Early Christian · Targum

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Summary

The Shepherd of Hermas quotes a lost book of Eldad and Medad's prophecies, similar to a prophecy attributed to them in the Aramaic translation of Numbers in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan. Numbers itself never records what they prophesied.

Passages

Shepherd of Hermas 7:4

Early Christian
2 But here is your salvation: that you did not depart from the living God, and that in your simplicity and your great self-control you have been saved, if you remain in these virtues; and they save all who do such things, and walk in guilelessness and simplicity. These people prevail over all wickedness, and continue on to eternal life. 3 Blessed are all who do righteousness. They will never be destroyed. 4 But you shall say to Maximus, “Look, tribulation is coming upon you, if you decide to deny a second time. The Lord is near those who turn to Him, as it is written in Eldad and Modat, who prophesied to the people in the wilderness.”
90–140 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Shepherd of Hermas

Pseudo Jonathan Numbers 11:26

Targum
And the Spirit of prophecy resting upon them, Eldad prophesied, and said: Behold, Mosheh shall be gathered from the world; and Jehoshua bar Nun, the minister of the camps, will be established after him, and will lead the people of the house of Israel into the land of Kenaan, and make it their inheritance. Medad prophesied, and said: Behold, quails come up from the sea, and cover all the camp of Israel; but they will be to the people (a cause of) an offence. And both of them prophesied together, and said: Behold, a king will arise from the land of Magog, at the end of the days, and will assemble kings crowned with crowns, and captains wearing armour, and him will all nations obey. And they will set battle in array in the land of Israel against the children of the captivity; but already is it provided that in the hour of distresses all of them shall perish by the burning blast of the flame that cometh forth from beneath the Throne of Glory; and their carcases shall fall upon the mountains of the land of Israel, and the wild beasts of the field and the fowls of the sky shall come and consume their dead bodies. And afterward will all the dead of Israel live (again), and be feasted from the ox which hath been set apart for them from the beginning, and they shall receive the reward of their works.
300–1200 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Pseudo Jonathan Numbers

References

“... The expansion in this verse in the Pal. Tgs. reflects the literary remains of a book mentioned in the Athanasian Synopsis of the New Testament. The only extant phrase from that lost book is possibly preserved in The Shepherd of Hermas (Visions 2.3.4); (see K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, 22f.): “‘the Lord (kupios) is near those who turn to him’ as it is written in the Book of Eldad and Medad . . .” (note the Ps.-J. parallel: “the Lord (kurios) is near them at the hour of distress”). The reference in Num 11:26-27 is “a fertile field for aggadic interpretation” (Aberbach (1971) EJ vol. 6, 575-576). Ps.-J., Nf, and Frg.Tgs. (PV) contain the details of the prophecy of Eldad and Medad. There are variations in the form of the text, with Ps.-J. aligning its text with Frg.Tg. (V), while Nf’s text alligns itself with Frg.Tg. (P). Common to all the Targums is a prophecy about (a) the arrival of the quail, (b) the death of Moses and the succession of Joshua bar Nun, and (c) the coming of Gog and Magog or a king of Magog against the Israelites, who are delivered by a King Messiah (Nf, Frg.Tgs.) or the Lord (Ps.-J.). ...”
Martin McNamara and Ernest G. Clarke, Targum Neofiti 1: Numbers; Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Numbers (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1995), 220.
“... Several scholars have noted the resemblance between Hermas’s quotation from Eldad and Modad and a clause in Targum Pseudo-Jonathan’s account of their prophecy about Gog: Hermas: “The Lord is near to those who return (to him).” Tg. Ps.-J. Num 11:26: “the Lord is near them at the hour of distress.” But the resemblance is not so close as may at first appear: (1) It is remarkable that of five words in the clause in the Targum no less than three are Greek loanwords. [...] But only one of these corresponds to the Greek of Hermas’s quotation: Hermas: “The Lord (kurios) is near (engus) to those who turn (to him).” Tg. Ps.-J. Num 11:26: “the Lord (qiris = kurios) is near (’itimos =hetoimos) them at the hour of distress (‘anikin = anankē).” Hermas does speak just before this of “tribulation,” but the word is thlipsis, not anankē. The two passages in English translation look closer than they really are, because ’itimos has been translated as “near,” whereas hetoimos in Greek means “ready.” It is not easy to find a suitable English equivalent, but presumably the sense is “ready to help.” ...”
Richard Bauckham, James R. Davila, and Alexander Panayotov, eds., Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013), 1:248–249.

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Shepherd of Hermas 7:4 and Pseudo Jonathan Numbers 11:26

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