Our analysis has suggested that
the core of the Rec. A judgment scene may be found in older Jewish texts: the
two angels; the book; the results of judgment -- which also extends to the
dead. The judge is presumed in these texts and explicitly mentioned in T Judah
20. The identification of the judge with Abel can be adequately explained from
a Jewish background. While the trial by fire is not explicit in T Judah 20, it
cannot be adequately explained from Egyptian sources. The trial by balance is
not to be found in the Jewish texts; however, it is explicit in the Egyptian
texts. These texts, on the other hand, do not explain the presence of the two
scribes nor of the book.
We offer the following
explanation of these data. What was originally a traditional Jewish judgment
scene has been expanded and fleshed out with details from a comparable Egyptian
piece. The judge is given a glorious throne. The description of the scribes
includes mention of their writing instruments àlà the Egyptian texts and the
vignettes in copies of the Book of the Dead. The book is placed on a table
before the throne.
The trial by balance assumes the
crucial and central significance that it has in the Egyptian texts. (George W.
E. Nickelsburg, Jr., “Eschatology in the Testament of Abraham: A Study of the
Judgment Scenes in the Two Recensions,” in Studies on the Testament of
Abraham, ed. George W. F. Nickelsburg, Jr. [Septuagint and Cognate Studies
6; Missoula, Mo.: Scholars Press, 1972, 1976], 39-40)
