428 GREGORY T.K. WONG be found that points to the possibility of a very early (no later than early 3rd Century CE) understanding of v. 49 along the lines of Deem’s proposal. And it is to this evidence that the remainder of this article will now turn. In her article, Deem cites a tradition from the pseudepigraphal account of Judah’s exploits in the Testament of Judah within the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. In T Jud 3,1, Judah is said to have single-handedly killed the armoured king of Hazor by striking him on the greaves, thus bringing him down and allowing him to be killed. This suggests to Deem that the practice of aiming at the greaves may have been a legitimate and known practice in certain ancient combat situations 14. But perhaps there is more to the connection between 1 Sam 17 and the Testament of Judah than Deem realised. Instead of T Jud 3,1 merely bearing witness to an ancient combat strategy, perhaps what the Testament is really bearing witness to is an early interpretation of 1 Sam 17 along the lines of Deem’s proposal. After all, it is widely recognised that the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs contain midrashic stories that drew heavily from Hebrew Scripture, possibly through the LXX 15. Where the Testament of Judah is concerned, scholars have generally recognised that the portrayal of Judah’s courage in T Jud 2,4, where Judah boasts of plucking a kid from a lion’s mouth and taking a bear by its paws and killing it, may have been drawn from 1 Sam 17,34-37. Thus, Kugler writes, “The description of Judah’s energetic pursuit of various kinds of animals ... recalls David’s daring defence of his flock (cf. T. Jud. 2.4a and 1 Sam 17,34-36 ...)” 16. Likewise, commenting on T Jud 2:4, Hollander and de Jonge asserts, “We find clear references to David’s activity as a shepherd in 1 Sam. 17,34-36” 17. Summarising the contents of the Testament of Judah as a whole, Rabbi Kohler also writes in the Jewish Encyclopedia, “Judah narrates to his children (ch. i.-vii., ix.) the feats of strength which he, who was, like David, destined to be a king, had displayed in his youth” 18. But while a certain degree of dependence of T Jud 2 on 1 Sam 17 seems to be well recognised, few have spoken explicitly about how this dependence may have been extended to the T Jud 3, where the reference DEEM, “A Short Note”, 350. 14 R.A. KUGLER, The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (Sheffield 2001) 23. 15 KUGLER, Testaments, 57. 16 H.W. HOLLANDER – M. DE JONGE, The Testament of the Twelve 17 Patriarchs. A Commentary (Leiden 1985) 188. K. KOHLER, “Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs”, The Jewish 18 Encyclopedia (eds. I. SINGER et al.) (New York, NY 1905) XII, 115.