Testaments of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

In the early Christian era, many Testaments of the Patriarchs circulated in Jewish and Christian communities, the foremost being the Testaments of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The other major testaments were grouped together as the Testaments of the Twelve, which included the Testaments of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph, and Benjamin. These testaments were widely accepted by the early Christian churches, and continue to form part of the Armenian Bible. The books were popular in Western Europe during the Middle Ages when they were generally considered authentic ancient Jewish texts. Critical analysis in the 16th century changed the view of Protestants and Catholics, as scholars at the time came to the belief that the texts were written in the early Christian era, likely in Greek. Subsequently, the texts fell out of favor in most parts of Europe. However, Hebrew fragments of the Testaments of the Patriarchs were discovered in the 20th century among the Dead Sea Scrolls, proving the texts were originally written in Aramaic and Hebrew. The current academic view is that there was a simpler Hebrew Jewish version that was then updated in the early Christian era by Greek speakers that added the Christian prophesies.

Both versions of the Testament of Abraham show strong influences of Jewish thought dating to the Second Temple era, including the Merkabah literature of flying chariots, and the early-Christian cloud-of-light literature. Both of these literary devices were used by angels to fly around, as well as to carry humans, or lead them. Examples of these flying vehicles can be found in the Gospel of Matthew, Protevangelion (Gospel of James), Paraphrase of Shem, Acts of Peter, Acts of Peter and Andrew, 1st Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, Revelations of Metatron, Ethiopian Apocalypse of Peter, and the Apocalypse of John. In the Protevangelion, the cloud-of-light led the Magi to Jesus when he was born. In the Acts of Peter and the Acts of Peter and Andrew, the apostles flew around on clouds, while in the Revelation of Metatron angels flew around in chariots (Merkabah).

A major difference between the two versions was the various names of god used in the later version, most of which appear to have been adopted directly from the Septuagint, such as Lord Sabaoth, who was later redacted to God Almighty in Christian texts, including the Septuagint after the 3rd-century. This would also indicate that the 1st version was almost certainly Christianized before the redaction of the Septuagint in the 3rd-century.