Moses, Assumption of

▪ pseudepigraphal work

      a pseudepigraphal work (not in any biblical canon), a prophecy of the future relating to Israel, put into the mouth of Moses and addressed to Joshua just before the great lawgiver died. Using Moses' predictions and instructions to Joshua as a framework, the book's unknown author sets forth a brief history of Israel from Moses to the messianic age as viewed in apocalyptic terms. The tone of the work is decidedly negative toward the fusion of politics with religion and condemns the Hasmonean leaders who ruled Judaea after the Maccabean revolt of 167–142 BC. The most striking feature of the work is the writer's scathing condemnation of the priesthood before, during, and after the Maccabean period, obviously meant as an attack on the Sadducean high priests of his own time.

      The narrative loses its concreteness after it reaches the time of Herod's sons. The author predicts that eventually the true Jewish religion will be persecuted by a mighty king, and in response a certain Taxo of the tribe of Levi shall appear, exhorting his seven sons to withdraw with him to a cave and die rather than transgress the law of God; God will avenge them, the author claims, and then the kingdom of God shall be established.

      The book was originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic, although the only extant text is a Latin translation made from a previous Greek translation. The book does not mention the actual ascension of Moses, but it is clear from other evidence that the work must have described the actual assumption in chapters that have been lost. Several passages, moreover, are incomplete.

      References in the work to the death of King Herod the Great and other events of the year 4/3 BC indicate that the book was written in that year or shortly thereafter, probably in Palestine. There is evidence that the Assumption of Moses was written by a sympathizer or member of the Essene sect, the members of which deplored the introduction of nationalism into Judaism and were characterized by strict observance of Mosaic Law and a heightened interest in messianism.

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