When Naphtali grew old and felt his strength fading, he gathered his children and gave them one final command. It was not about silver or gold. "I speak to you about a very easy matter," he said. "Fear God. Serve Him. Cling to Him." His sons protested—had they ever strayed? "God and I are witnesses that you speak truth," Naphtali replied, "but I dread the future."
Then he told them his visions. In the first, Jacob told his twelve sons to seize whatever they could. Levi grabbed a staff, leaped onto the sun, and rode it. Judah did the same with the moon. Nine other brothers each mounted a star. Only Joseph remained on the ground. "What good is heaven to the earth-born?" he asked. Then a mighty winged bull appeared, and Joseph rode it for four hours—walking, running, flying—until he overtook Judah and beat him with his staff, seizing ten of his twelve rods. Ten brothers abandoned Judah and Levi to follow Joseph. Only Benjamin refused. Then a violent storm tore them all apart.
The second vision was more ominous. The twelve brothers stood with Jacob at the shore of the Great Sea. A ship sailed past with no crew. Jacob stripped off his clothes and plunged in, and they all followed. Once aboard, Jacob told them to read the name on the mast. It read: "This ship belongs to the son of Berakhel"—the one whom God had blessed. Jacob rejoiced.
But then a storm smashed the ship to pieces. Jacob was separated from his sons. Levi put on sackcloth and prayed, and God sent a great wind that brought the wreckage to shore. This testament, preserved in the Chronicles of Jerahmeel—a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899—contains a version of the Testament of Naphtali older and more detailed than the Greek version known to scholars.
XXXVIII. (1) When Naphtali grew old and came to an
old age, and had completed his years of strength, and
fulfilled the duty of the earth-born man, he began to
command his children, and he said unto them, ' My
children, come and draw near and receive the command of
your father.' They answered, and said, ' Lo, we hearken
to fulfil all that thou wilt command us.' And he said unto
them, ' I do not command you concerning my silver, nor
concerning my gold, nor concerning all my substance that I
leave unto you here under the sun, nor do I command you
any difficult thing which you may not be able to accomplish;
but I speak to you about a very easy matter, which you can
easily fulfil.'
88 [XXXVIII. 2
(2) His sons answered, and said a second time, ' Speak,
0 father, for we listen. Then he said unto them, ' I leave
you no command save concerning the fear of God; Him
ye shall serve, to Him ye shall cling.' They said unto him,
' What need hath He of our service?' And he answered,
' It is not that God hath need of any creature, but that all
the creatures need Him. Neither hath He created the
world for naught, but that His creatures should fear Him,
and that none should do to his neighbour what he would not
have done to himself.' They then said, ' Our father, hast
thou, forsooth, seen us departing from thy ways, or from
the ways of our fathers, either to the right or to the
left ?' And he answered, ' God and I are witnesses that it
is even as ye say; but I dread only the future, that ye
may not err after the gods of strange nations; that ye
should not go in the ways of the peoples of the lands, and
that you should not join the children of Joseph; only
the children of Levi and the children of Judah shall you
join.'
(3) They said to him, ' What dost thou see that thou
commandest us concerning it ?' He answered, ' Because
I see that in the future the children of Joseph will
depart from the Lord, the God of their fathers, and
induce the children of Israel to sin, and will cause them
to be banished from the good land into another that
is not ours, as we have been exiled through him to the
bondage of Egypt. I will also tell you the vision I have
seen. WlienI was pasturing the flock I saw my twelve (?)
brothers feeding with me in the field; and lo, our father
came, and said to us, "My children, go (run) and let
everyone lay hold here before me on anything that he can
get." And we answered, and said, " What shall we take
possession of, as we do not see anything else but the sun,
the moon, and the stars ?" And he said, " Take hold of
them." When Levi heard it, he took a staff (rod) in his
hands, and jumped upon the sun and rode on it. When
Judah saw it, he did in like wise; he also took a rod and
jumped upon the moon, and rode on it. So also every one
XXXVIII. G] 89
of the nine tribes rode upon his star and his planet in the
heavens; Joseph alone remained upon the earth.
(4) ' Jacob, our father, said to him, " My son, why hast
thou not done as thy brothers?" He answered, "What
availeth the woman-born in heaven, as in the end he must
needs stand upon the earth?" Whilst Joseph was speaking,
behold there stood near by him a mighty bull with wings
like the wings of a stork, and his horns were like unto the
horns of the Eeem. And Jacob said to him, " Get up, my
son Joseph, and ride upon him," And Joseph got up and
mounted upon the bull. And Jacob left us. For about
four hours Joseph gloried in the bull; now he walked and
ran, anon he flew up with him, till he came near to Judah,
and with the staff he had in his hands he began to beat his
brother Judah. Judah said to him, " My brother, why
dost thou beat me ?" He answered, "Because thou boldest
in thy hands twelve rods, and I have only one; give them
unto me, and then there will be peace."
(5) ' But Judah refused to give them to him, and Joseph
beat him till he had taken from him ten against his will,
and had left only two wdth him. Joseph then said to his
ten brothers, " Wherefore run ye after Judah and Levi ?
Depart from them at once !" W^hen the brothers of Joseph
heard his words, they departed from Judah and Levi like
one man, and followed Joseph, and there remained with
Judah only Benjamin and Levi. When Levi beheld this,
he descended from the sun full of anger (sadness). And
Joseph said unto Benjamin, " Benjamin, my brother, art
thou not my brother ? Come thou also with me." But
Benjamin refused to go with Joseph. When the day drew
to an end, there arose a mighty storm, which separated
Joseph from his brothers, so that no two were left together.
When I beheld this vision, I related it unto my father Jacob,
and he said unto me, " My son, it is only a dream, which
will not come to pass (will neither ascend nor descend), for
it hath not been repeated."
(G) ' Not a long period, however, elapsed after that
before I saw another vision. We were standing all together
90 [XXXVIII. 6
with our father Jacob, at the shore of the Great Sea. And,
behold, there was a ship saihng in the middle of the sea
without a sailor and a man (pilot). Our father said to us,
" Do ye see what I am seeing?" We answered, " We see
it." He then said to us, " Look what I am doing, and do
the same." He took off his clothes, threw himself into the
sea, and we all followed him. The first were Levi and
Judah and they jumped in (to the ship), and Jacob with
them. In that ship there was all the goodness of the world.
Jacob said, "Look at the mast and see what is written on
it; for there is no ship on which the name of the master
should not be written on the mast."
(7) ' Levi and Judah looked up, and they saw there was
written, " This ship and all the good therein belongs to the
son of Berakhel (the one whom God had blessed)." When
Jacob heard that, he rejoiced very much, bowed down and
thanked God, and said, "Not only hast Thou blessed me on
earth, but Thou hast blessed me on the sea too !" He
then said, " My children, be men, and whatever each one
of you will seize, that shall be his share." Thereupon Levi
ascended the big mast and sat upon it; the second after him
to ascend the other mast was Judah, and he sat upon it.
My other brothers then took each his oar, and Jacob our
father grasped the two rudders to steer the ship by them.
Joseph alone was left, and Jacob said unto him, "My son
Joseph, take thou also thine oar." But Joseph refused.
When my father saw that Joseph refused to take his oar,
he said unto him, " Come here, my son, and grasp one of
the rudders which I hold in my hands, and steer the ship,
whilst thy brothers row with the oars until you reach land."
And he taught each one of us, and he said to us, " Thus ye
shall steer the ship, and ye will not be afraid of the waves
of the sea, nor of the blast of the wind when it shall rise
against you.'''
(8) ' When he had made an end of speaking, he dis-
appeared from us. Joseph grasped both the rudders, one
with the right hand and one with the left, and my other
brothers were rowing, and the ship sailed on and floated
xxxviii. 10] 91
over the waters. Levi and Judah sat upon the mast to look
out for the way (course) the ship was to take. As long as
Joseph and Judah were of one mind, so that when Judah
showed to Joseph which was the right way, Joseph accord-
ingly directed thither the ship, the ship sailed on peaceably
without hindrance. After a while, however, a quarrel arose
between Joseph and Judah, and Joseph did not steer any
longer the ship according to the words of his father, and to
the teaching of Judah; and the ship went wrong, and the
waves of the sea dashed it on a rock, so that the ship
foundered.
(9) ' Levi and Judah then descended from the mast to
save their lives, and every one of the brothers went to the
shore to save himself. Behold, there came our father,
Jacob, and found us cast about, one here and the other
there. He said to us, " What is the matter with you, my
sons? Have you not steered the ship as it ought to be
steered, and as I had taught you ?" We answered, " By
the life of thy servants, we did not depart from anything
that thou hast commanded us, but Joseph transgressed the
word (sinned in the affair), for he did not keep the ship
right according to thy command, and as he was told (taught)
by Judah and Levi, for he was jealous of them." And he
(Jacob) said unto us, " Show me the place (of the ship)."
And he saw, and only the tops of the masts were visible.
But lo, the ship floated on the surface of the water. My
father whistled, and we gathered round him. He again
threw himself into the sea as before, and he healed (repaired)
the ship, and entered it; and he reproved Joseph, and
said, "My son, thou shalt no more deceive and be jealous
of thy brothers, for they were nearly lost through thee."
(10) ' When I had told this vision to my father he
clapped his hands and he sighed, and his eyes shed tears.
I waited for awhile, but he did not answer. So I took the
hand of my father to embrace it, and to kiss it, and I said
to him, " 0 servant of the Lord, why do thine eyes shed
tears?" He answered, "My son, the repetition of thy
vision hath made my heart sink within me, and my body
92 [XXXVIII. 10
is shaken with tremor by reason of my son Joseph, for I
loved him above you all; and for the wickedness of my son
Joseph you will be sent into captivity, and you will be
scattered among the nations. For thy first and second
visions are both but one." I therefore command you not to
unite (combine) with the sons of Joseph, but only with
Levi and Judah. I further tell you that my lot will be in
the best of the middle of the land, and ye shall eat and be
satisfied with the choice of its products. But I warn you
not to kick in your fatness and not to rebel and not to
oppose the will of God, who satisfies you with the best of
His earth; and not to forget the Lord your God, the God
of your fathers, who was chosen by our father Abraham
when the nations of the earth were divided in the time of
Phaleg.
(11) ' At that time the Lord — blessed be He ! — came down
from His high heavens, and brought down with Him seventy
ministering angels, Michael being the first among them. He
commanded them to teach the seventy descendants of Noah
seventy languages. The angels descended immediately and
fulfilled the command of their Creator. The holy language,
the Hebrew, remained only in the house of Sem and Eber,
and in the house of our father Abraham, who is one of their
descendants.
(12) ' On that day the angel Michael took a message
from the Lord, and said to each of the seventy nations
separately, "You know the rebellion you undertook and
the treacherous confederacy into which you entered against
the Lord of heaven and earth, now choose to-day whom
you will worship and who shall be your Protector in
heaven." Nimrod, the wicked, answered, " I do not know
anyone greater than those who taught me and my nation
the languages of Kush." In like manner answered also
Put, and Mizraim, and Tubal, and Javan, and Meseh, and
Tiras; and every nation chose its own angel, and none of
them mentioned the name of the Lord, blessed be He !
(13) ' But when Michael said unto our father Abraham,
^' Abram, whom dost thou choose, and whom wilt thou
XXXVITI. 15] 93
worship?" Abram answered, " I choose and I will worship
only Him who said and the world was created, Him who has
created me in the womb of my mother, body within body,
Him who has given unto me spirit and soul — Him I choose
and to Him will I cling, I and my seed after me, all the days
of the world." Then He divided the nations and apportioned
to every nation its lot and share; and from that time all
the nations separated themselves from the Lord, blessed be
He ! Only Abraham and his house remained with his Creator
to worship Him, and after him Isaac and Jacob and myself.
I therefore conjure you not to err and not to Avorship any
other god than that one chosen by your fathers.
(14) ' For ye shall know there is no other god like unto
Him, and no other who can do like His works in heaven
and on earth, and there is none to do such wondrous and
mighty deeds like unto Him. A portion only of His power
you can see in the creation of man; how many remarkable
wonders are there not in him ! He created him perfect from
head to foot; to listen with the ears, to see with the eyes,
to understand with his brains, to smell with his nose, to
bring forth the voice with his windpipe, to eat and drink
with his gullet, to speak with his tongue, to pronounce with
his mouth, to do work with his hands, to think with his
heart, to laugh with his spleen, to be angry with his liver,
to digest with his belly (stomach), to walk with his feet, to
breathe with his lungs, to be counselled by his kidneys, and
none of his members changes its function, but every one
remains at its own.
(15) 'It is therefore proper for man to bear in mind all
these things — to remember who hath created him, and who
it is that hath wrought him out of a drop in the womb of the
woman, and who it is that bringeth him out into the light of
the world, and who hath given him the sight of the eyes and
the walking of the feet, and who stand eth him upright and
hath given him intelligence for doing good deeds, and hath
breathed into him a living soul and the spirit of purity.
Blessed is the man who does not defile the Divine spirit
which hath been put and breathed into him, and blessed is
94 [XXXIX. 1
he who returns it as pure as it was on the day when it was
entrusted to (him by his) Creator.'
These are the words of Naphtah, the son of Israel, which
he (commended) to his sons; they are sweeter than honey to
the palate.
