The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 51
Judah 16
Four evil spirits dwell in wine according to this text: lust, wrath, riot, and filthy lucre.
1bserve therefore, my children, moderation in wine; for there are in it four evil spirits—of (1) lust, of (2) wrath, of (3) riot, of (4) filthy lucre.
2 If ye drink wine in gladness, with shamefacedness, with the fear of God, ye shall live.
3 For if ye drink not with shamefacedness, and the fear of God departeth from you, then cometh drunkenness, and shamelessness stealeth in.
4 But even if ye drink not at all, take heed lest ye sin in words of outrage, and fighting, and slander, and transgression of the commandments of God; so shall ye perish before your time.
5 Moreover, wine revealeth the mysteries of God and men to aliens, even as I also revealed the commandments of God and the mysteries of Jacob my father to the Canaanitish Bathshua, to whom God forbade to declare them.
6 And wine also is a cause of war and confusion.
Did You Know?
Four evil spirits dwell in wine according to this text: lust, wrath, riot, and filthy lucre.
Drinking wine in gladness with shamefacedness and the fear of God allows the drinker to live.
When shamefacedness is absent in drinking, the fear of God departs and shamelessness steals in with drunkenness.
Even total abstinence from wine still requires care against outrage, fighting, slander, and commandment breaking lest one perish early.
Wine reveals mysteries of God and men to aliens, as when Jacob secrets were told to Canaanitish Bathshua against prohibition.
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