From: m23364@mwunix (James Meritt)
Subject: Re: Lost Book of the Bible?
Organization: MITRE Corporation, McLean VA
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 15:56:56 GMT

In article <Bv9Dzz.8A9@agora.rain.com> hopkins@agora.rain.com (Scott Hopkins) writes:
}Where can I get a copy of this?  I have heard it referred to as the "Lost
}Books of the Bible", yet I can't locate it in any store.

Why do you think it is lost?  It ISN'T in any bookstore!


Point of fact, the bible itself referrs to many things as "scripture"
and "words of the prophets" and "words of God" that just didn't make
it to the bible.  For instance:

Much of what below is below is gotten from editor's notes for the Jerusalem, 
Anchor, Oxford, and New American Bibles.

>Exodus 24:7

Note: This refers to the Words of God.

  This refers to the "book of the covenant" which Moses reads aloud
  to the people after coming down from Mount Sinai.  From context,
  this book seems to consist of the words that Yahweh told him
  while on the Mount, which he writes down in verse 4.  But the
  previous 4 chapters tell us what these words are; hence, this
  isn't an extrascriptural reference.  It is, however, treated
  as the word of Yahweh. 

>Numbers 21:14
NUM 21:14  Wherefore it is said in the book of the  wars  of  the
LORD, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon,

Note: This refers to the wars of God and his actions.

   This verse precedes a fragment of a song from the "Book of the
   Wars of Yahweh", evidently a collection of old Israelite war
   songs.  The collection is now lost.  The Numbers writer was
   obviously familiar with it, and quotes it as part of the
   account of the Israelite journey, but nothing in the context
   suggests that the writer considers it anything more than
   a memorable and historic song.

>Joshua 10:13
JOS 10:13  And the sun stood still, and the  moon  stayed,  until
the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this
written in the book of Jasher? So the  sun  stood  still  in  the
midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

note: More stories much like those of the Judges.

  Joshua 10:11-13 and the last half of 2 Samuel 1 are both taken
  from "the Book of the Just" ("the Book of Jasher" in some 
  translations).  This is another lost collection of epics about
  early Israelite heroes like Joshua (here) and David (in the
  Samuel excerpt).  The Joshua quotation includes the "sun stood
  still" lines.  The writers seem to regard the Book of the Just
  as faithfully recording the stories of these leaders.
  
> 1 Kings 11:41
KI1 11:41  And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all  that  he
did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts
of Solomon?

Note: There are other chapters which DO include Solomon

  This verse appears at the end of 9 chapters recounting the
  story of Solomon, and refers the reader to the "Book of the Acts
  of Solomon" for more details about his life.  Again, this
  work is now lost, but some scholars think it was one of
  the sources for the account in 1 Kings.

> 1 [Chronicles] 29:29
CH1 29:29  Now the acts of David the king, first  and  last,  be-
hold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the
book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer,

Note: The works of prophets and seers.

  This verse at the end of 1 Chronicles reports that all David's deeds
  can be found in the histories of the prophets Samuel, Nathan, and
  Gad.  All of these prophets figure in the two modern books
  of Samuel.  Because we don't know how the "books of Samuel"
  were originally compiled, it's not clear whether this verse
  refers to material which is now part of those books, or
  material which didn't make it into our present compilation.

> [2 Chronicles] 12:15
CH2 12:15  Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not
written in the book of Shemaiah the prophet, and of Iddo the seer
concerning genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam  and
Jeroboam continually.

Note: words of prophets and seers.

  Reports that the acts of Rehoboam "as is well known" are recorded
  in the annals of the prophets Shemaiah amd Iddo.

> [2 Chronicles] 13:22
CH2 13:22  And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways,  and
his sayings, are written in the story of the prophet Iddo.

Note: words of prophets.

  Reports that Abijah's acts are recorded in the midrash of the
  prophet Iddo.  This verse and 2 Chron. 24:27 (talking about
  the midrash of the book of kings) are the only two verses in
  the OT referring to midrashes (studied commentaries on earlier
  work).
   
> [2 Chronicles] 33:18-19
CH2 33:18  Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and  his  prayer
unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the
name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written  in  the
book of the kings of Israel.
CH2 33:19  His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and
all  his  sins, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built
high places, and set up groves and graven images, before  he  was
humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.

note: words and sayings of seers from those spake of the Lord.

  Two of several references through Kings and Chronicles to
  the "chronicles of the kings of Israel", "the chronicles of
  the kings of Judah", or just "the history of the seers".
  Some of this must refer to histories not in the current
  OT compilation, since we're told about certain details
  of the stories mentioned in these chronicles
  which aren't mentioned anywhere in Kings or Chronicles.


CH2 34:30  And the king went up into the house of the  LORD,  and
all  the  men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the
priests, and the Levites, and all the people,  great  and  small:
and  he  read  in  their  ears  all  the words of the book of the
covenant that was found in the house of the LORD.
 
Note: words of the covenant from the house of the Lord.

EZR 7:11  Now this is the copy of the letter that  the  king  Ar-
taxerxes  gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe, even a scribe of
the words of the commandments of the LORD, and of his statutes to
Israel.

Note: commandments of the Lord.

> Matthew 2:23
MAT 2:23  And he came and dwelt in a city called  Nazareth:  that
it  might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall
be called a Nazarene.

Note: spoken by prophets.

  In this verse, Matthew says that Jesus fulfilled what was
  said through the prophets: "He shall be called a Nazorean".
  But that quote cannot be clearly identified with any Old
  Testament passage.  Some scholars have tried to guess what
  Matthew's referring to; proposed verses have included the
  reference to Samson as "nazirite" in Judges 13:5, a similar
  sounding word for "branch" in the "branch from the root of
  Jesse" verse in Isaiah 11:1, or even a "nsr" consonant
  combination somewhere in Jeremiah.  Others consider "Nazorean"
  to metaphorically refer to Jesus' mission to both Jews
  and Gentiles, alluded to in Isaiah 66 and elsewhere.
  (Nazareth is supposed to have had a mixed Jew and Gentile population.)
  Considering the uncertainty of all these proposals,
  it's quite possible that Matthew was referring to something
  else entirely, which we no longer have.

> Col 4:16
COL 4:16  And when this epistle is read among you, cause that  it
be  read  also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye like-
wise read the epistle from Laodicea.

note: similar to other letters from Paul to various churchs.

  Here, Paul instructs the Colossians to trade letters with
  the Laodiceans after they're done reading the one they have.  Paul doesn't
  say which letter the Laodiceans have, but since his letters
  circulated from city to city, it could be any previous letter
  he'd written.  If it was one of the letters we have now, it
  was probably Ephesians, in the opinion of most of the editors
  I consulted.

> Jude 1:14
JUD 1:14  And Enoch also, the seventh from  Adam,  prophesied  of
these,  saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his
saints,

note: more words from a prophet.

  This verse is particularly interesting, since it refers to a document
  which we _do_ have, both in Greek translation and in various
  Aramaic fragments found at Qumran.  Jude here quotes what he calls
  a prophecy from "Enoch, who was of the seventh generation descended
  from Adam."  The Book of Enoch, from which he quotes, is a work
  of apocalyptic literature which most scholars think was written
  in the second or first century BC.  It isn't in the canons of
  either Judaism or Christianity, but Jude seems to treat it as
  inspired.

In short, the Bible does refer to nonbiblical sources from time to time,
even presenting some of them as prophetic.  The Bible may contain
inspired information "sufficient for salvation", as some Christians
assert, but it evidently doesn't contain _all_ inspired information.

statements from the bible
notes: by Jim Meritt
Explainations by: spok@gs6.sp.cs.cmu.edu (John Ockerbloom)