Library/Old Testament pseudepigrapha
Testament / Assumption of Moses
A compressed apocalypse of Israel’s future, a Taxo who would rather die than transgress, and a lost ending in which Michael and the devil dispute over Moses’ body — the scene Jude 9 still knows.
- Status
- Pseudepigrapha
- Date
- early 1st century CE
- Languages
- Latin (incomplete, from Greek)
- Setting
- Moses’ farewell to Joshua; a history down to Herod
What it contains
- Farewell
- Survey of history
- Taxo
- Lost ending with Michael
Why it sits outside most canons
Fragmentary, sectarian, never in a canon.
Themes
- Moses
- Michael
- Martyrdom
- Last days
Passages
Jude 9 (witness to the lost ending)
The archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses; he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’