Texts in Conversation
In 4Q213b from the Dead Sea Scrolls, Levi’s vision is followed by Isaac’s blessing and Jacob’s tithe. The Testament of Levi adds a vision for Jacob, giving the father his own revelation that Levi will serve as priest.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
4Q213b 1 4
Aramaic Levi c
Dead Sea Scrolls, Biblical Retellings
2 [… And those seven departed from me,] and I awoke from my sleep. Then 3 [I said, “This is a vision, and so I am amazed that I should have any vision at all.”] And I hid this too in my heart, and to no one 4 [did I reveal it. And we went to my father Isaac, and he too blessed me in this way. Then,] when Jacob my father was tithing 5 [everything that he had, according to his vow, I was first at the head of] the priesthood, and to me, of all his sons, he gave 6 [an offering to God. He clothed me in the garment of the priesthood and consecrated me, and I became a priest of] the eternal God […]
Testament of Levi 9:4
Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs
Pseudepigrapha, Testaments
1 And after two days Judah and I went up with our father Jacob to Isaac our grandfather. 2 And my grandfather blessed me according to all the words of the visions I had seen. 3 And he would not come with us to Bethel. 4 And when we came to Bethel, my father saw a vision concerning me, that I should be their priest to God. 5 And he rose early in the morning and paid tithes of everything to the Lord through me.
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Notes and References
“... This word is unexplained in
ALD: no vow has been mentioned, at least in the surviving text: see
Introduction, pp. 15–16, 40. In TPL 9:3–4 we read “And when we
came to Bethel, my father Jacob saw in a vision concerning me that
I should be a priest for them to God. And after having risen early
in the morning he paid tithes of all to the Lord through me”.139
Observe that no hint of a vow occurs in TPL either, but there is a
vision of Levi’s destined priesthood, as a result of which Jacob pays
him tithes. It is not unreasonable to speculate that ALD also origi-
nally had a dream vouchsafed to Jacob before this point in the story,
and that this was the context of the missing vow. ...”
Greenfield, Jonas C.
The Aramaic Levi Document: Edition, Translation, Commentary
(p. 148) Brill, 2004
* 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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