One Less on the List of Lost Books of the Bible

[Gale]

In 2002 I started searching for the so called Lost Books of the Bible, using the old adage things don't get lost just misplaced.
On the top of the list is the Book of Jasher, the Book of Enoch, the Visions of Iddo the Seer, the Book of Gad the Seer, Prophecy of Abijah, just to list a few. (http://www.bibleufo.com/anomlostbooks1.htm)

In a discussion with Norval, he had mentioned there is a translation of the Book of Jasher. So I did a search and found Wayne Simpson's web page. His translation is a very good read, it adds more information and background to the Document.
Book of Jasher (http://www.jasher.com/index.htm)

An online discussion with Norval about the Book of Jasher and the Book of Gad the Seer. (http://www.kingdomofyhwh.com/discus/messages/4/39.html?1029077906)

In continuing my search for more of the Lost Books, I came across Meir Bar-Ilan's web site. He had obtained a copy of the Book of Gad the Seer, had been studying it for years, translating it to English, writing papers on it etc.
Meir Bar-Ilan (http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~barilm/)

Following up on this, I obtained a photostatic copy of the Book of Gad the Seer in 2003 from the University of Cambridge in the UK. It is written in Biblical Hebrew with a German translation on each page.

Meir Bar-Ilan has translated it into English, has put it in book form with his editorial and has sent it to his publisher; this information is from my last communication with Meir by email, Wed, 17 Oct 2007. Wouldn't a book that has been sent to a publisher in 2007 be printed already? If anyone comes across any more information on Meir's book please let us know; he does have some contact or connection with/in New York. I wonder if he had/has published in New York. I really don't relish the idea of translating 40 pages from such a very poor quality photocopy and on two of the pages there is a word scratched out. I have tried a few different OCR programs without any success.

On Meir Bar-Ilan's web site there is a lot of information about the Book of Gad in the form of his published reports. To quote his paper "The Date of the Words of Gad the Seer" he outlines each of the chapters as follows:
THE DATE OF THE WORDS OF GAD THE SEER (http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~barilm/gadate.html)


Now, let us consider each of the chapters, one by one.
1. (verses 1-63) God's revelation to Gad the Seer. The Seer sees animals, the sun and the moon, and all that happens is interpreted by the voice of God. The lamb is sacrificed on the heavenly altar but not before he praises the Lord. Gad is told to tell David his revelation, and David blesses the Lord and congratulates Gad for the secret that God has told him.

2. (verses 64-92) A second revelation to Gad concerning the Last Days. There is a prophecy of devastation on Edom that 'dwells in the land of Kittim' while quoting their anti-Jewish opinions. There will be a battle between Michael, the High Prince, and Samael, Prince of the World.

3. (verses 93-104) On Passover a Moabite shepherd asks King David to convert him. David does not know what to do, and he asks the Lord. Nathan the prophet answers in the name of God: 'Moabite male, not Moabite female'. The Moabite stays among David's shepherds and his daughter Sefira becomes a concubine to Solomon.

4. (verses 105-120) A story that praises the nature of King David, the wise judge.

5. (verses 121-130) Before a battle between the Philistines and Israel, the Lord speaks to Gad to tell David not to be frightened. That night a fiery vehicle descends from heaven and smites the Philistines.

6. (verses 131-141) God sends Gad to tell David not to boast of his strength. David admits that all of his strength comes from God. God is satisfied with David's answer and for that reason He decides that He will help the House of David forever.

7. (verses 142-177) David counts the children of Israel. This is a recension which combines 2 Sam 24:1-25 with 1 Chr 21:1-30. Both Biblical known texts, together with some 'additions', appear to be integral chapter in the book.

8. (verses 178-198) God reveals himself to David, telling him he should speak to his people. David gathers the people and preaches to them concerning the Lord's names and titles. David urges his people not only to listen to the Torah but to fulfill it as well.

9. (verses 199-226) Hiram, King of Tyre, asks David to send him messengers to teach him Torah. David answers that Hiram ought to fear the Lord and to fulfill the commandments of the children of Noah. A list of God's attributes is given, and the children of Israel are described as sealed with Shaddai. Hiram and his servants believe in Israel's election and praise Israel. God hears Hiram and sends Gad to tell David that Hiram and his people will prepare His house.

10. (verses 227-249) A praise to the Lord. This is Psa 145 with a different superscription than in the Masoretic text and it includes the missing Nun verse (different from any known version).

11. (verses 250-265) A praise to the Lord. This is Psa 144 with a different superscription than in the Masoretic text (and other minor differences).

12. (verses 266-285) Before David dies he urges his people to adhere to God that it will be good for them forever.

13. (verses 286-353) Except for the first four verses that belong to the former chapter (King David is dead and Solomon becomes King), it is a long story where Tamar, King David's daughter, plays the role of a heroine. This is a kind of addition to 2 Sam 13. After Tamar was raped, she ran to Geshur and later on one of the King's servants tried to rape her. Tamar kills her attacker and she comes back to Jerusalem, praised and blessed by King Solomon.

14. (verses 354-375) A revelation. Gad sees the Lord on His throne judging His people on the first day of the year. An angel brings forward three books in which everyone's deeds are written. The Satan wants to prosecute Israel, but he is silenced by one of the angels. The revelation contains all kinds of details and the Seer does not understand all of them. The revelation and the book end with a blessing by the Seer while an angel answers: 'Amen, Amen'.

It should be noted that this book was in the possession of the Jews in Cochin India (originally from Yemen), along with several other of the Lost Books.

[Norval]

The Book of Jasher, The Upright Record, by Dr. Eugene Scott is on my shelf.

That's a good read.

[Gale]

When I got my copy of Wayne Simpson's book, we had compared a few pages word for word from your Dr. Eugene Scott against Simpson's book and determined they were identical or seemed to be identical. That was back in ... what? ... 2002

[Gale]

More snippets on the Book of Gad the Seer:


In The Words of Gad the Seer, verses 108-109, Tamar, the daughter of David, turns to her father (who is not present), appealing to him to mediate between her and God, saying: ‘My father David My father David My father David, see your shame and the shame of your daughter: go before the Seat of the Glory of the Almighty and ask for mercy for me before the Lord of Hosts to help me with His help’
Prayers of Jews to Angels and Other Intermediaries during the First Centuries of the Common Era, Meir Bar-Ilan (http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~testsm/Angels_Intermed.html)


Chapter 1
In the thirty-first year of King David in Jerusalem, which is the thirty-eighth year of the reign of David, the word of the Lord was upon Gad the Seer in the month of Ziv, near the stream of Qidron, saying: 2 ‘Thus saith the Lord: Go thou, gird up thy loins like a man, and stand in the middle of the stream, and cry in a great voice: Tarry and hasten, tarry and hasten, tarry and hasten, for there is yet a vision for the son of Jesse. 3 And during the cry your face should turn to the east, east of the city, and spread forth your hands toward heaven’. 4 And I did according to that I had been commanded. 5 And it came to pass when I finished calling that cry, I opened mine eyes and saw a yoke of oxen led by a donkey and a camel, coming up from the stream of Qidron, the donkey on the right side of the yoke and the camel on the left. 6 And a great voice is going before them like the roll of thunder, crying in a bitter voice, saying: 7 ‘Seer, Seer, Seer, these are four mixtures that confuse the people of the Lord. 8 For the impure and the pure have been mixed, and the purity was put under the hand of the impurity; a mixture from Seir to rule them, 9 to increase power over a righteous doer and thus to betray, 10 to destroy holiness, to crown wickedness, to set up matters of impurity in the guise of purity’. 11 And after the voice came a great shock that shook over the impurity and blew away the donkey and the camel into the Moon with the bitter wind. 12 And the Moon was opened and looked like a bow, a semi-circle, and both her heads reached the ground. 13 And, lo, the Sun came out of Heaven in the shape of a man, with a crown on his head, carrying over his right shoulder, a lamb, rejected and despised. 14 And on the crown on his head three shepherds are seen, shackled with twelve shackles 15 and these shackles were of gold coated with silver. And the voice of the lamb was heard, great and dreadful like the voice of a lion roaring over his prey: ‘Woe is me! Woe is me! Woe is me! My image has been diminished, my refuge has been lost, my lot and destiny has turned me over to my spoilers, and I was defiled by the touch of impurity until evening’. 16 And it came to pass when the voice of the lamb was over, and, lo, a man dressed in linen came with three branches of vine and twelve palms in his hand. 17 And he took the lamb from the hand of the Sun and put the crown on its head, and the vine-branches and palms on his heart. 18 And the man, dressed in linen, cried like a ram’s horn, saying: ‘What hast thou here, impurity, and who hast thou here, impurity, that thou hast hewed thee a place in purity, and in my covenant 19 that I have set with the vine-branches and palms’. 20 And I have heard the lamb’s shepherd saying: ‘There is a place for the pure, not for the impure, with me, for I am a holy God, and I do not want the impure, only the pure. 21 Though both are creations of my hands, and my eyes are equally open on both. 22 But there is an advantage to the abundance of purity over the abundance of impurity just like the advantage of a man over a shadow. 23 For the shadow does not come except by man, and only by the existence of the man is the shadow given to the tired and exhausted, to pure and impure, this matter is even so. 24 For all gates of intelligence are turned around since the death of the eight branches of the vine. 25 As is found in words of righteousness, in the true book but because of the wanderings of the sheep and their rest – intelligence is stopped up 26 until I do greatly in keeping grace’. 27 I saw that impurity was driven from the Moon and was given to the hand of consuming wrath, ground finely to dust and scattered by the daily wind. 28 And the day burneth as a furnace to transfer impurity and to erase the transgressions. 29 And the lamb was put on the Sun for ever and ever. 30 And the lamb took the peace-offerings sacrifice of the pure that was mixed with the impure and brought it to the altar before El Shaddai Jealous Lord of hosts. 31 And I heard the sound of the song of the lamb, saying: 32 ‘I shall give thanks unto Thee, O Lord, for though Thou wast angry with me, You relented. 33 For the Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my redeemer. 34 I will sing unto the Lord, for He is highly exalted; The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the Sea of Reeds. 35 Rise up, Intelligence; Rise up, Power; Rise up, Kingship; Rise up, Majesty and Glory! 36 Rise up to help the Lord! 37 For God has saved one who had strayed and obliterated the impurity from the Earth. 38 He quarreled my quarrel and brought into the light my righteousness by His help. 39 My help cometh from Shaddai who made heaven and earth. 40 Verily, who is like unto Thee, O Lord? Verily, who is like unto Thee, glorious in holiness? – but not in impurity! 41 For You are great over all, raised over all, You spoke and acted. 42 For You declared the end from the beginning, and You sealed everything with Your words and turned my heart and tormented me. 43 For Your seal is on me, my Lord, and these are three branches of vine and twelve palms that are on my heart. 44 You gave me grandeur, You erased vanity to fear man, and You gave me a pure heart for ever. 45 For that I will praise Thee at all times, and thank You among the nations, for You have redeemed me greatly for my King and did favor to David the anointed and his seed for ever and ever’. 46 And I heard a voice crying from heaven, saying: 47 ‘You are My son, you are My firstborn, you are My first-fruit. 48 Have I not brought you from over Shihor to be my daily delight? 49 But you have thrown my presents away and dressed up the impure with pure, and that is why all these things happened to you. 50 And who is like unto Thee, among all creatures on earth? For in your shadow lived all these and by thy wounds they were healed! 51 For that consider well that which is before thee. 52 And because you have fulfilled the words of the shepherd all the days you have been in the Sun and you did not leave them, therefore all this honor shall occur to you’. 53 And I, Gad son of Ahimelech of the Jabez family of the tribe of Judah son of Israel, was amazed by the scene and could not control my spirit. 54 And the one dressed in linen came down to me and touched me, saying: ‘Write these words and seal with the seal of truth for “I am that I am” is My name, and with My name thou shalt bless all the house of Israel for they are a true seed. 55 And thou shalt go, for yet a little while, before thou art gathered quietly to thy fathers, and at the end of days thou shalt see with thy own eyes all these, not as a vision but in fact. 56 For in those days they shall not be called Jacob but Israel for in their remnant no iniquity is found for they belong entirely to the Lord. 57 And these words will be unto thee a restorer of life and spirit. And this shall be the token unto thee: when thou enterest the town, ye shall find my servant David while he is reading these words from the Book of Covenant: 58 “And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God”. 59 And thou shalt tell him about the scene you have just seen and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart’. 60 And it came to pass, when I came to the house of David, the man of God, I found him as the dressed in linen had said, and I told him of all my visions. 61 Then David spoke unto the Lord the words of this song, saying: ‘I love Thee, O Lord, my strength’. 62 And to me he said: ‘Blessed art thou to the Lord that disclosed His secret to your ears’. 63 And I lifted up my voice, saying: ‘Blessed art thou to the Lord that did not remove His covenant from you, for He is truth, and His word is truth, and His seal is truth’.

[Gale]

Chapter 2
64 After these true things I had a divine vision, saying: 65 ‘Set thy face eastward, northward, southward, and westward. 66 And whistle with your mouth as a bird whistles to its chicks and say: Four corners of the earth, listen to the word of the Lord. 67 Thus saith the Lord, who sits and dwells over the cherubs: Give, give, give, take out, take out, take out my seed that I have sown in you, for the time for the seed has come. 68 For yet a little while I shall collect my seed on my threshing-floor. 69 And the threshing-floor will be holy; an impure seed will not be found in it. 70 For before those days my seed was mixed with lentils, and barley, and spelt, beans, and gourd. 71 And in the end of days the sower shall be truth and the seed shall be truth and from the seed all the land will be blessed. 72 Be joyful and glad, remnant of Judea and rejected of Israel, for salvation is with the Lord. 73 As ye shall be a curse and blasphemy to all the families of the earth, so shall you be a blessing and grace for ever. 74 At that time no cursed or unholy people will be found among you 75 for everybody will join you in the covenant in the law, testimonies, statutes, and ordinances. 76 And you and they shall have one God one covenant one law one language, for all shall speak in the Jews’ language, the holy language. 77 Happy art thou, O Israel, who is like unto thee? A people saved by the Lord, for He shall go before you to fight your wars with your enemies. 78 Woe to you, O Edom, that sits in the land of Kittim in the north of the sea. 79 For your destroyers will emerge from a terrible nation not leaving you a remnant. 80 For you said: On high is my seat, and I have knowledge of the god of gods, for the Lord chose me instead of His holy people, for He loathed them. 81 And His former people, despised and rejected, did not know the Lord or His image. 82 Verily, we are wise and clever; we know the Lord and His law, we know His image and presence. 83 Therefore thus saith the Lord: because you rose so high to talk about god of gods you shall know that you shall perish in your cleverness. 84 For why would you put your confidence in man, in whose nostrils is his breath, which came up in a night, like a day-shadow that passes by, sitting him to sit beside God. 85 For it is not you whom I knew formerly, and where is the bill of divorce of My people, of which you have spoken – shame on them! – read it to me! 86 Your corpses will fall among My people. 87 O Jealous Lord, come out, come out of your place and thrash Edom, consume them! 88 Come to Zerephath, come to Sepharad, come to Ashkenaz, come to Germany; They came and fell in the nethermost pit, in destruction and in the shadow of death, for your mouth failed you, and no one helps you. 89 At the end of days Michael the great prince shall stand up in war like a whirlwind against Samel the prince of the world to put him under his feet, in the wind of the Lord and it shall be eaten up; for the Lord hath spoken it. 90 At the end of days the robbed will overcome the robber, and the weak the strong, truly and in righteousness. 91 Your God is your saviour, O Israel, with Him you will be saved, for He is a merciful God, He will not abandon you. 92 For thou shalt keep on doing all that I commanded you in the law of Moses My servant.

The last two quotes were emailed to me Sat, 24 Feb 2007 from Meir Bar-Ilan. He told me in a following email that "Corretion: the first chapter was translated by I. Abrahams (in: Poznanski festschrift).

I am considering uploading the photocopies in jpg format to the EB server so others can access this document that is available at the University of Cambridge in the UK. (U.L.MS.00.1.20 FF.1V-20V) Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, the manuscript is on page 499 of S.C. Reif, Hebrew Manuscripts at Cambridge University Library (Cambridge, 1997): classmark Oo.1.20 (folios 1v-20v only). The microfilm has the classmark Or.288.

Any suggestions or comments?

[sfth13]

WOW thanks Gale. for some one that never liked to read that's all i've been doing. lol. :bananen_smilies046:

[Norval]

One has to wonder, why, after all these years, there has never been an english translation of the Book of Gad, , , hmmmmmm

, , , , and why it is still listed as "Missing" on almost all research web sites, , , , hmmmmm