The Book of Lost Books Read Online Free PDF Page B

Bible, for example, refers to the authors from different eras and backgrounds who nonetheless “perfectly agree on doctrine”), the Bible is riddled with snags and stray threads. In particular, we can investigate the books
in
the Bible, rather than the books
of
it. King Solomon, for example, “spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.” There are 1,175 verses in the Book of Proverbs, and only one “Song of Songs.” Even in cataloguing the accomplishments of the ruler, the Bible also reveals the extent to which his achievements are lost.
    Likewise, we have no idea what became of the “book in seven parts” commissioned by Joshua, which described the cities that would be divided among the Israelites. Nor do we have the Book of Jasher, cited twice, and which, presumably, contained material on King David’s archery lessons and the stilling of the sun in the valley of Ajalon. The “Book of the Battles of Yahweh,” mentioned in the Book of Numbers, chapter 21, is likewise lost. Throughout the First and Second Book of Kings and the First and Second Book of Chronicles, the writer refers the reader to the “Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel” and the “Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah,” neither of which invaluable resource has survived.
    In the Apocrypha, we learn that the Book of the Maccabees is a summary of the more complete, five-volume work by Jason of Cyrene. The Apocrypha also contains an account of the creation of the scriptures. “For thy law is burnt, therefore no man knoweth the things that are done of thee, or the works that shall begin,” complains Esdras, and in response God commands him to recite the 204 books containing the Law, which are transcribed by five scholars over a period of forty days. The final 70, the “Books of Mystery,” are held back from the people: still, it leaves 95 whole volumes unaccounted for.
    The Bible appears again in its own history. In the Second Book of Kings, King Josiah intends to reconsecrate and refurbish the Temple in 621 B.C.E., after its desecration by the Baal-worshiping sons of Athaliah. Hilkiah, the high priest, is told to reckon up the amount of silver they have; and, in doing so, stumbles on the long-lost Book of the Law. With Shaphan the scribe, they show it to the young king, who rends his garments on hearing of what will happen to those who do not follow in the paths of righteousness. Saint Jerome and Saint John Chrysostom in the fourth century C.E. both identified this Book of the Law with the Book of Deuteronomy. Josiah instructs them to seek out Huldah the prophetess, to explain the work in detail. She confirms that if the king rectifies the behavior of the people, God’s anger will be deflected. Though Josiah is told that God will “gather him into his grave in peace,” the Second Book of Chronicles claims he is murdered by his people, suffering from great diseases, after a Syrian incursion. The whole story of Hilkiah, Shaphan, and Huldah is omitted from Chronicles. It is not the only, or most bizarre, contradiction between the pseudo-historical accounts; compare, for example, 2 Samuel 24:1 (“And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah”) with 1 Chronicles 21:1 (“And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel”).
    Though the epithet “People of the Book” was conferred on all the followers of the first Abrahamic religions, it appears that in the histories and prophecies we are more likely to encounter lost books, burned manuscripts, and secret scrolls. Then, in the nineteenth century, a shocking new perspective on the question “Who wrote the Bible?” was found.
    The so-called documentary hypothesis is an exercise in pure stylistics. We may not be able to know the names of the biblical authors,