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Testament of Asher

Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs

About this book
Chapter 6

1 So you also, my children, pay attention to the commandments of the Lord, following the truth with integrity. 2 For the two-faced are guilty of a double sin: they both do the evil thing and take pleasure in those who do it, following the example of the spirits of dishonesty and fighting against mankind. 3 So keep the law of the Lord, my children, and do not treat evil as if it were good; instead look to what is truly good and keep it in all the commandments of the Lord, making it your way of life and finding your rest in it. 4 For the final ends of people reveal their righteousness or unrighteousness, when they meet the angels of the Lord and of Satan.⁠ 5 For when the soul departs troubled, it is tormented by the evil spirit that it also served in its lusts and evil deeds. 6 But if a person is peaceful and joyful, he meets the angel of peace, who leads him into eternal life.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Enoch 40:8 and Testament of Asher 6:6

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses · Pseudepigrapha, Testaments

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Summary

1 Enoch 40 describes four angels with roles such as interceding and restraining adversaries. The Testament of Asher also refers to four archangels with distinct functions, following Jewish traditions that expanded and added details to angelic traditions.

Passages

1 Enoch 40:8

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
6 The third voice I heard praying and interceding for those who dwell on the earth and making requests in the name of the Lord of Spirits. 7 The fourth voice I heard fending off the Satans, forbidding them to come before the Lord of Spirits to accuse those who dwell on the earth. 8 After that I asked the angel of peace who went with me, who showed me everything that is hidden: 'Who are these four presences I have seen, whose words I have heard and written down?'
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

Testament of Asher 6:6

Pseudepigrapha, Testaments · Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
4 For the final ends of people reveal their righteousness or unrighteousness, when they meet the angels of the Lord and of Satan. 5 For when the soul departs troubled, it is tormented by the evil spirit that it also served in its lusts and evil deeds. 6 But if a person is peaceful and joyful, he meets the angel of peace, who leads him into eternal life.
100 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Testament of Asher

References

"... Michael has a specific connection to trees and medicine. Thus he teaches agriculture in Vita 22:2; reveals the fruits of the tree to be eaten in the future by the righteous in 1 Enoch 25, and is one of the four who plant the trees in paradise in 3 Baruch 4:7; he helps Eve (together with other angels) to give birth to Cain ... Perhaps the archangel in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 is originally connected with Michael who is portrayed as blowing the trumpet to call to judgment (Apocalypse of Moses 22:1). The 'angel of peace' Compare Testament of Dan 6:1-5; Testament of Asher 6:5; Testament of Benjamin 6:1) identifies the four faces with the four archangels (l Enoch 40:8), i.e., he himself is not to be confused with Michael. The 'interceding angel' (1 Enoch 89:76; 90:14; Testament of Levi 5:6) could well be Michael, but he is not called so, although there are some resemblances: e.g. in Testament of Asher 6:5, entering into, eternal life, or the dualism with 'Belial' in Testament of Benjamin 6:1 ..."
Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and and Pieter W. van der Horst, eds., Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2nd extensively rev. ed. (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 572.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Enoch 40:8 and Testament of Asher 6:6

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