Literary text: T-S AS 157.386

Description

Excerpts from the Gospels, or possibly Toldot Yeshu (though the depiction of Jesus seems too positive and faithful to the New Testament accounts for this to be the case). In Judaeo-Arabic. Dating: ca. 12th century (paleographic dating). Includes a paraphrase of the temptation in the wilderness, very close to the Matthew version (4:1–11). The other sections include Jesus telling someone "Get up and pray with me" (cf. Luke 22:46); a version of "the Son of Man did not come to be served [but to serve]" (cf. Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45), though the scribe appears to have mistakenly written מן אלבשר instead of בן אלבשר, which suggests that this was copied from an Arabic-script original by a scribe unfamiliar with Christian terminology; Jesus serving his disciples; quotations from the Psalms and from Jeremiah; a description of Jesus at the Last Supper predicting his betrayal by Judas who was the first to put his hand in the bowl; and a condensed summary of the soldiers beating Jesus, dragging him through the city, and offering him vinegar and gall; these last sections are prefaced with "do you not know that Jesus and his disciples were drinking in the house of...?" Note that Jesus's name is spelled יסוס rather than ישוע. ASE