From Testicles to Testament

The word testament is based on the symbolic meaning of the term testicles!

In ancient Judea, Egypt and Greece, and even the Romans (before Christ), the testicles represented man’s virility, and were also the symbol of strength, respect and honor, and the last name of the family!
When a man fathered a boy his friends would greet him with the gesture of touching his genitals, to show him respect as a fully-fledged man.

In the Roman Empire, only males were allowed to testify in a court of law. When a man gave his testimony, the truth of his statement was based on the highest symbol of his honor, his testicles! The penalty for perjury was castration.

The hand shake started with the Romans, which began with the gesture of grabbing each other’s forearm, in order to show that they were not holding a weapon, and eventually developed into what has now become the handshake.

The word Testament was therefore chosen as the name for the bible, as a powerful statement of the veracity of its message.