t12papocrypha
Testament of Judah 17
Judah charges his descendants against the twin snares of avarice and lust, naming his own union with Bathshua the Canaanite as the proof-text of their destructive power. He anchors the Davidic kingship in the lineage of blessing — Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Judah — and names obedience to his father as the ground on which that covenant inheritance was secured. The chapter carries a covenant-lineage weight: the kingdom of Judah is a granted inheritance, conditional on fidelity, and Judah's own life demonstrates that breaching covenant through money and women diminishes what God bestows.
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I charge you, therefore, my children, not to love money, nor to gaze upon the beauty of women; because for the sake of money and beauty I was led astray to Bathshua the Canaanite. For I know that because of these two things shall ye who are my race fall into wickedness; for even wise men among my sons shall they mar, and shall cause the kingdom of Judah to be diminished, which the Lord gave me because of my obedience to my father. For I never disobeyed a word of Jacob my father, for all things whatsoever he commanded I did. And Abraham, the father of my father, blessed me that I should be king in Israel, and Isaac further blessed me in like manner. And I know that from me shall the kingdom be established.
