TESTAMENTS OF THE 12 PATRIARCHS (1st-2nd century) Questions

[alon]

Aug 29, 2019 6:35:40 GMT -8 rakovsky said:

Good job finding the verse in Corinthians and discussing how badmouthing other Christians can make you look bad. I went to an Evangelical school for a few months but wasn't really a fan, one reason being that they portrayed Catholics as bad, sometimes using insignificant anecdotes, and I didn't have a reason to feel that way about Catholics. The badmouthing had the opposite effect in that it pushed me away. It's too bad because looking back they were better than some other schools, like actually Catholic schools in the 1970s or earlier that hit kids. Ideally, their classrooms should have had a balanced discussion on Catholicism.

I wonder whether in his Testament Joseph is directing his instructions to his spiritual children, in the sense that we are "sons of Abraham" in a spiritual sense. The Testament of Joseph has:

When he was about to die he called his sons and his brethren together, and said to them:-- "My brethren and my children, Hearken to Joseph the beloved of Israel; Give ear, my sons, unto your father. ...

The eunuch therefore went and gave them eighty pieces of gold, and he received me; but to the Egyptian woman he said: I have given a hundred. And though I knew (this) I held my peace, lest the eunuch should be put to .

Ye see, therefore, my children, what great things I endured that I should not put my brethren to . Do ye also, therefore love one another, and with long-suffering hide ye one another's faults. For God delighteth in the unity of brethren, and in the purpose of a heart that takes pleasure in love."

It sounds like he is implying that both his children and his brothers should hide each others' faults in a way similar to how he hid the Eunuch's price cheating and his brothers' enslavement of him. And if his brothers and children should hide eachothers' faults, it sounds like Joseph sees this as a model for how other brothers, parents, and children should behave with their families. And in the New Testament, the faithful are considered each others' brothers like in the passage in Corinthians, so it sounds like this implies that believers should act this way too.

I am looking for a set of principles on the topic. In the Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers, there is a duty of confidentiality to clients, but their is also a duty to report violations of the rules.

In your examples of families keeping their faults secret, which really happens, there is a downside because families could have someone involved in taking advantage of people but keep it secret thereby allowing it to happen more and hurt more people. Plus I dont know if this principle of secrecy should really be applied to the members of religious societies toward each other. There are TaNaKh verses where prophets say to declare sins, like to declare Israel's sins.

Yes, the downside can be that things like child molestation are swept under the rug and hidden. This was a common misapplication of keeping family secrets secret. And to seek psychiatric help on even small things, thus preventing their becoming larger problems was (and still is in many cases) dealt with more harshly in families than a child molesting relative.

There is a difference in confessing sins and airing dirty laundry. And there is a difference in confessing a sin that effects everyone to everyone and seeking private counsel with a brother, or a church or synagogue officer for advice on dealing with it biblically, and to a mental health professional or to a relative concerning family matters. Each in their own place.

Biblical principles are laid out in and further illustrated throughout the bible. God chose not to just make us a list, but to show us in His Word; both in the written word and then the illustration of the Living Word.

2 Timothy 3:15-16 (NASB) and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

When this was written, the only scriptures they had were basically the TNK. Those letters that would make up the NT were still being written and had yet to be compiled. So even in those early years after Yeshua the TNK was sufficient for salvation. This would imply that none of the TNK had been cancelled or done away with:

Matthew 5:17 (NASB) “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.

So we have the OT to prepare us, to train us, and the NT as our example of what is meant in the Old. The New must be understood in relation to the Old, not in opposition to it. But there, in the 66 books of the Bible are where those principles are found and how they are to be understood. We, as you look to other books for understanding and to fill in some gaps historically. But scripture comes first, and anywhere these extrabiblical works contradict scripture in any way, then scripture takes precedence. Be careful what you get from those works.

Also older writings take precedence over newer ones. If there is a conflict in scripture, it is a problem with our understanding, not with the scripture. We must understand it within the context of the time and culture as well as with the fact it is all written from a Jewish perspective. Even today Jews think a bit different than us Gentiles. That’s another thing we do as Messianics is to try and look at scripture from a Jewish perspective. And at times that ain’t easy, but it is necessary if you really want to understand those biblical principles.

Dan C

[rakovsky]

Ok, you did a good job working out the issue, especially when you said:
"There is a difference in confessing sins and airing dirty laundry. And there is a difference in confessing a sin that effects everyone to everyone and seeking private counsel with a brother, or a church or synagogue officer for advice on dealing with it biblically".