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PAUL AND THE RHETORIC OF REVERSAL: KERYGMATIC ...

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destruction and jealousy, to fake words and conceal words from family and friends.<br />

Seventh, the spirit of injustice, with which come stealing and profiteering, in order<br />

that a person might achieve the pleasures of their heart. For the spirit of injustice<br />

works together with the other spirits, through bribery. On top of all of these is the<br />

spirit of sleep, the eighth spirit, which comes together with deception and fantasy.<br />

The Testament of Benjamin concludes and sums up the concerns of the Twelve Patriarchs<br />

under the heading of a “pure mind”. Once again there seems to be a movement from passion<br />

and greed through to sins of interaction:<br />

Testament of Benjamin 6:1-6<br />

The mind of the good person is not in the hand of the spirit of deception, Beliar. For<br />

the angel of peace guides their soul. They do not look passionately at perishable<br />

things, or gather wealth for the love of pleasure. They do not delight in pleasure, or<br />

grieve their neighbour, or fill themselves with food. They do not stray into the<br />

superficialities of what is seen, for the Lord is their portion. The good mind does not<br />

wait on the praise or dishonour of humans, and does not know any deceit or falsehood<br />

or fighting or reviling, for the Lord dwells in it and enlightens its soul; and it rejoices<br />

with all people at all times.<br />

Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr suggests that the topics of the ethical lists of the Testaments of the<br />

Twelve Patriarchs, in their common ordering, may be represented in the first column of the<br />

table below. 99 Interestingly Niebuhr demonstrates a general movement, beginning with<br />

prohibitions of sexual immorality, adultery, greed, selfishness (in failing to show merciful<br />

provision for the bodily needs of others) and covetous desire, and moving subsequently to<br />

interpersonal issues of daily interaction such as stealing, arrogant behaviour, lying, evil speech,<br />

zeal, envy, deceit, and fighting. The other columns compare this ethical arrangement with a<br />

number of ethical sections of the Pauline Corpus:<br />

99 Column 1 reproduced from Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr, Gesetz und Paränese, 161.<br />

244

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