Friday, August 25, 2017

The Commandments of Judas Iscariot?

NEW TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA WATCH? Bizarre 18th century Jewish items seized from archaeology smuggler in Egypt. Collection of artifacts taken from a Saudi citizen; also found, and undated, was a 29-page book written in esoteric ‘Hebrew,’ described as ‘the commandments of Judas Iscariot’ — and illustrated with scorpions (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).
An additional find in the seized collection was a 29-page Hebrew book described by the Egyptians as “the commandments of Judas Iscariot,” one of the 12 disciples of Jesus. This item was not dated to the 18th century.

Two images of pages from the book released by the Ministry of Antiquities include esoteric “Hebrew” text, which appears to be a poor translation from some other language. The pages are black and white and decorated with what could be either scorpions or lobsters. In the center of each page is a poster-like block of text written in disjointed Hebrew.
I have never heard of "The Commandments of Judas Iscariot" and I'm pretty sure that there' no such apocryphon. To which our enterprising, if incompetent, forger might reply, "There is now!"

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