Yesterday, I finished my daily quiet time on the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. The Testaments have a history that may extend from the second century B.C.E. to the second century C.E. Scholars debate whether it is a Jewish document with Christian interpolations, or a Christian composition that uses Jewish traditions. How they can tell the difference between the two, I have no idea.
I did not feel that I did justice to the Messianic expectations in the Testaments, and so I'm writing this post to compensate for that. There are obviously Christian elements, such as their statements that God will become a man and be rejected by Israel. There are also elements that may be either Jewish or Christian, such as the idea that Israel can repent in her exile and bring about her restoration under the Messiah. The Testaments' notion that God will reach out to the Gentiles may also be Jewish or Christian, for parts of the Hebrew Bible had such an expectation, and Christianity tended to emphasize it (to say the least).
If the Testaments are Christian, then they are not Christian in a supersessionist sense, for (as far as I can see) they do not maintain that the church will replace Israel. Rather, in the Testaments, God is faithful to Israel, and he will raise up her tribes in the last days. The messianic expectations of the Testaments correspond with Romans 11, which affirms that God will one day restore "Israel after the flesh."
What's puzzling are the Testaments' statements that Levi and Judah will bring about the salvation of Israel, indicating that (for them) the Messiah will come from both tribes. In the Anchor Bible Dictionary, Marinus de Jonge says this obviously refers to Jesus, but Jesus did not come from the tribe of Levi. Hebrews 7 emphasizes that fact!
Could this reflect another form of Messianic expectation within Judaism? Qumran expected a priestly Messiah and a royal Messiah--two separate individuals. But maybe there were Jews who thought the Messiah would be descended from both Judah and Levi.
Or perhaps Testament of Levi 3:23-27 contains the answer to my confusion. It says that the seed of Levi will be divided three ways, and the third part will technically be from the tribe of Judah. Maybe the Testaments think Jesus is a Levite the same way that Paul views Gentile Christians as Abraham's seed (Romans 4; Galatians 3), even though, physically-speaking, they are not. Christianity has a concept of spiritual descent.
At the same time, I can imagine Testament of Levi 3:23-27 as a Christian interpolation to a Jewish document. In this scenario, the Testaments say that the Messiah will descend from Levi and Judah, and the Christian interpolators take great pains to apply that to Jesus. I'm not sure if any scholar sees it that way, though.