 |
The cover of the Hebrew edition of
Meir Bar-Ilan's The Words of Gad the Seer |
An old Jewish manuscript said to contain writings of Gad the Seer, one of the "lost books" mentioned in the Bible was found among Jews in India and after much drama has recently been published in English. It's an intriguing story that I think should be given more attention, especially among Latter-day Saints.
Gad
was a prophet living at the time of David who seemed to have special
status based on 2 Samuel 24:11, which speaks of "Gad, David's seer." But
like many prophets, Gad was not afraid to speak unpleasant things to
his King (e.g., see 2 Samuel 12:1-13). One of the very few mentions of
Gad occurs in 1 Chronicles 29:29 when it mentions that the acts of David
the king were written "in the book of Gad the seer." I have
occasionally cited that verse in discussing the scriptures with others
who accept the Bible to illustrate that the Bible we have might not
contain all the scripture that has been written in the past. A common
rejoinder is, "There may have been such a book, but if God didn't
preserve it for us in the Bible, it's not scripture." I guess there can
be no such thing as lost scripture with that definition. And if it can't
be lost, I guess it can't be found. In reply, I have asked others what
they would do if a book that ancient Jews or Christians regarded and
preserved as Biblical scripture became lost, and then was found again?
Surprisingly, my theoretical question became a little less
theoretical with the fairly recent discovery, translation, and
publication of a long-lost manuscript that may have connections to the
ancient lost book of Gad the Seer, just published in 2016. The document
has been through many human hands and may have some of the corruption common
to non-canonical works such as the Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, but
the scholar who has explored this text in the most detail and provided
the translation believes it has ancient roots and is worthy of our
attention. The story of this unusual text may be relevant to our own and much
more miraculous story of the finding, translation, and publication of
the ancient books of scripture from ancient Hebrews and Christians that
we have in the Book of Mormon.
The Story Behind the Words of Gad the Seer
The story of coming forth of The Words of Gad the Seer is a story
that involves the the scattering of Israel and a Jewish colony in India,
and may raise interesting issues about ancient Jews not only in India
but also in Yemen with possible relevance to Lehi's Trail. This story
also touches upon themes of lost and restored ancient scripture,
apocalyptic literature like the Book of Enoch and our own Book of Moses,
writing on metal plates, and other Latter-day Saint themes such as free
agency, three main categories of outcomes in final judgment, and even
Alma's discourse on the word as a seed in Alma 32.
There may be much food for thought as we contemplate the story
behind the text and the words themselves now published in a very short
book, The Words of Gad the Seer
translated by Professor Meir Bar-Ilan (Scotts Valley, CA: CreateSpace
Publishing, 2016), available in paperback and Kindle editions. His much
more extensive scholarly edition is available only in Hebrew at the
moment. Professor Bar-Ilan has been a professor for decades at a
prestigious university in Israel, Bar-Ilan University, named for another
Meir Bar-Ilan
(perhaps his grandfather?), a prominent figure in Israeli history.
Bar-Ilan University is often abbreviated as BIU, not to be confused with
BYU. At BUI, Bar-Ilan teaches in both the Talmud and Jewish History
departments and has an interesting list of publications, a number of which are related to the Words of Gad the Seer.
Before you rush to buy Meir Bar-Ilan's English translation of the
Words of Gad the Seer, you should know that what is currently available
is a bare-bones paperback just 23 pages in length giving the 5000+ words
of the pseudepigraphal text without any explanation, background,
footnotes, etc. With the Kindle edition, you can't even figure out who
published it. The Barnes and Noble page for the book
indicates that the publisher is CreateSpace Publishing, something I
could not find at Amazon, and a search then revealed Scotts Valley, CA
as the likely location for the publisher. Wikipedia's entry for "The Book of Gad the Seer" indicates that one there is a scholarly edition in Hebrew
that I presume will be more complete. But you can access a variety of
articles in English that Professor Meir Bar-Ilan has written about the
book that I'll discuss below. Meanwhile, I hope you will still buy the
book, perhaps the Kindle edition, and begin exploring this unusual
text.
Slightly more information and a slightly different translation is
available in Christian Israel's independently published 2020 version, The Words of Gad the Seer: Bible Cross-Reference Edition, available in paperback only (no Kindle edition so far).
The largest English volume available as far as I know, with both Kindle and paperback editions, is Ken Johnson's Ancient Book of Gad the Seer: Referenced in 1 Chronicles 29:29 and alluded to in 1 Corinthians 12:12 and Galatians 4:26
(Ken Johnson, 2016). This has extensive and questionable commentary
from Ken Johnson, who appears to be an evangelical seeking to strongly
guide the reader toward his preferred readings, stressing Messianic
themes [some of which may be valid] and other favorite topics. For
example, he sees the condemnation of Edom as a condemnation of Rome,
even inserting "[Rome]" after Edom and stating bracketed text that the
fall of a"terrible nation" refers to the destruction of Byzantine. The
insertion of altered text in brackets that push his pet themes is
annoying. Fortunately, Johnson has provided his translation without all
the commentary and with fewer bracketed insertions in a free PDF that you can read online or download.
The translation I trust the most is that of the Jewish scholar, Professor Bar-Ilan in The Words of Gad the Seer. Any quotes from the book of Gad the Seer will be from his translation, unless otherwise indicated.
What follows is an overview of the book taken from Barnes and Noble (also provided at Amazon)
which I believe is just a translation from the Hebrew describing
Bar-Ilan's 2015 scholarly edition, which I hope will soon be available
in English. I say that because this overview describes a book with an
index, a vast bibliography, a description of its origins, comparisons
to others texts, and scholarly analysis of literary genre, scribalism
and scribal techniques, none of which is in the English translation, but
much of which should be fascinating for Latter-day Saint scholars.
Gad is a prophet most associated with King David in the Holy
Bible. This book is the outcome of a prolonged study of a manuscript
that was found serendipitously 34 years ago. Actually, this was a
re-discovery of a text that for some reason had escaped the eyes of
many. It is a story of the survival of Jews remote in place and time,
and of their books, visions, angels and divine voices, combined with
their belief in God and his covenant with King David and Israel. There
is no other book that resembles this one.
A book by the name
Words of Gad the Seer is mentioned at the end of I Chronicles,
presumably one of the sources of the history of King David. Ever since
the book was considered lost and it is mentioned nowhere. In the 18th
century Jews from Cochin said that their ancestors have had several
apocryphal books, including Words of Gad the Seer, and this statement
was published first by Johann Gottfried Eichhorn (1789) and translated
by Naphtali H. Wesseley who publicized these fantastic claims (1790).
Since none saw the book, it was probably considered to be an oriental
legend. So when Solomon Schechter, in 1894 (just before he became
occupied with the Genizah), checked manuscripts at the Cambridge
library, bought at Cochin around 1806, [he] not only ... described the
specific manuscript improperly but he also failed to make the right
connection to earlier knowledge of that book and thus he under-evaluated
the text. In 1927 Israel Abrahams published a paper on this manuscript,
but his analysis, once again, had several improper descriptions, and
hence the text of Words of Gad the Seer went into oblivion.
This book presents the text of Words of Gad the Seer for the first time.
First comes an introduction where the history of the manuscript is
discussed. Later the characters of the text described and analyzed one
feature after the other. The text is found to be having many
similarities with the Book of Revelation and several pseudo-apocryphal
and apocalyptic books such as 2 Baruch, 4 Ezra and others.
Then
comes a diplomatic edition of the manuscript where each and every
letter (by special fonts) is presented similarly to the manuscript.
Later the book is divided to 14 chapters, each is a literary unit by
itself, and each has its own introduction and a commentary. Each and
every verse is explained in a "multi-focal" commentary in a manner
similar to publishing a Biblical book: literary criticism, lexicography,
philology and alike. A special treatment is given to the scribal
practices that are reflected in the text: the only non-canonical book
with a Massorah, Qeri and Ketib, total number of verses and more.
The book is 5227 words in length written in a pseudo-Biblical Hebrew
intended to be a book written by the Seer of King David in the 10th
century B.C.E. The text is an anthology and varies in style and
character: 3 chapters are apocalyptic in nature, 2 chapters are a "mere"
copy of Ps 145 and 144 (with different superscriptions and all sorts of
different readings, some of them highly important); one chapter is a
harmonization of 1 Sam 24 with 1 Chr 21 (that resembles ancient
harmonizations of texts as found in the Samaritan Pentateuch and Qumran
alike). One chapter is a kind of addendum to 2 Sam 13 (a "feminine
story"), one chapter is a sermon, one chapter is a folk story, and there
are more blessings, liturgies and other issues. Literary genre,
scribalism and scribes' technique are described and analyzed. The book
comes with an index and a vast bibliography. The appearance of the text
will add a great deal to our understanding of Jewish History and
religion.
Date: The text assumed to be written either in the Land of Israel at the end of the first century or in the Middle Ages
More information on the background is provided by Ken Johnson on pp. 8-9 of his book:
The History of the Book
German Protestant
theologian Johann Gottfried Eichhorn was born in Ingelfingen, Germany,
on October 16, 1752. He was the professor of Oriental languages at Jena
University from 1775 to 1788. While there, he authored several books
including, Introduction to the Study of the Old Testament, and Introduction to the Study of the Old Testament - Scholar's Choice Edition. While studying the Aramaic New Testament, he came across a legend called the Chronicle of the Jews in Cochin.
A chronicle is the earliest history of how a people got to a remote
region. Chronicles frequently begin with the world-wide flood and traces
one of Noah’s sons down to the founder of that particular country.
According to the Cochin chronicle, Shalmaneser, King of Assyria
conquered Samaria in the ninth year of Hoshea. This event is also
recorded in the Bible:
“In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of
Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel nine years. And he did that which
was evil in the sight of the LORD, but not as the kings of Israel that
were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and
Hoshea became his servant, and gave him presents.” 2 Kings 17:1-3
The Codex Judaica states in the Hebrew Year 3195 AM,
Shalmaneser exiled the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. The chronicle
describes how during Shalmaneser’s attack and resettlement of the
nation, four hundred sixty of these Jews escaped and went to Yemen under the leadership of Rabbi Simon. They
took with them their holy books (the Old Testament) and, in addition,
they preserved the books of the prophets Gad, Nathan, Shemaiah, and
Ahijah. Several hundred years later they were again exiled. They
knew of Jewish settlements living in relative peace in Poona and
Gujarat, India, so they left Yemen and migrated to India. About seven
hundred years later, forced conversions began. A group of less than
three hundred Jews moved to the Malabar region in India, where they were
welcomed and protected. Most stayed in the port city of Cochin (also
called Kochi). A Jew named Leopold Immanuel Jacob Van Dort translated
the Hebrew text from the Patriarch of the Jews in Cochin into Dutch in
1757. It was later translated into German and sent to Eichhorn. He
published that copy in 1786. Naphtali Herz Wessely republished the
Hebrew version. In the nineteenth century, another copy reportedly
emerged from Rome and is now housed in the Cambridge Library in England.
The University of Bar-Ilan in Tel Aviv, Israel, has published the
Hebrew text, and in 2015, Professor Meir Bar Ilan of Bar Ilan University
published a Hebrew version of the text with commentary (it also
includes an English translation).
There is a Gnostic version
by the same name; but any real book that the Lord has seen fit to
preserve would, of course, have a Satanic counterfeit with the same
name. Anything Gnostic or Kabbalistic had to be a false work or, at
least be heavily edited by the cults of that time.
The
translation of Gad the Seer in this book is a modern English translation
with commentary based on Scripture from a conservative Christian
perspective. [emphasis mine]
A similar account with more detail is provided by Prof. Meir Bar-Ilan in "The Discovery of The Words of Gad The Seer," Journal for the Study of Pseudepigrapha 11 (1993): 95-107 (footnotes omitted):
Some two centuries ago, a very puzzling testimony was
published in Germany; no one could tell what in it was true and what
was false. One of the founders of modern Biblical scholarship, J. G.
Eichhorn, published an unusual document he had received indirectly from
the Jews of the remote community in Cochin, India. This publication
struck the imagination of many people, and it was soon translated into
Hebrew by one of the eminent scholars of the time, Naphtali Herz
Wessely. Wessely not only translated the material, but wrote a
commentary on it, trying to evaluate some of the unusual statements in
that document. In his article in one of the first academic Hebrew
journals, HaMeasef, he began by discussing the geographical discoveries
that led to a new concept of the world, facts that might help to find
the lost Ten Tribes. His discussion was some kind of 'foreword' to the
main evidence he took from Eichhorn in order to discuss the history of
the Jews in Cochin.
According to Wessely, the source of the
testimony was a man by the name of Marcellus Bless, a clerk in the Dutch
East India Company. This man got his information from a converted Jew,
Leopold Immanuel Jacob Van Dort. In 1757 Van Dort copied extracts from a
Hebrew book that belonged to the Patriarch of the Jews in Cochin. Van
Dort found this so interesting that he translated it into Dutch and gave
it to the above-mentioned clerk in Ceylon. Some thirty years elapsed
before the evidence was brought to the attention of a man by the name of
Ruetz who translated the extracts in Dutch to German and sent them to
be published in Eichhorn's Bibliothek. Strange as it sounds, these
people did exist and quite a bit is known about some of them.
Thus, this chain of languages - Hebrew, Dutch, German, Hebrew (and now,
English) - is unusual, and is part of the unusual evidence the testimony
bears. At any event, the Jews in Cochin relate their history and
wanderings in a unique story, of which only a few lines interest us.
According to that 'Chronicle of the Jews in Cochin', their special
history began in the exile caused by Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, who
conquered Samaria in the ninth year of Hoshea the son of Elah (2 Kgs
17:1 ff.). Shalmaneser exiled 460 Jews to Yemen, and the chronicle says:
These exiled people brought with them (to Yemen) a book of Moses'
Torah, book of Joshua, book of Ruth, book of Judges, first and second
books of Samuel, books of: 1 Kings, Song of Songs of Solomon, Songs of
Hallel - David, Assaf, Heiman and the sons of Korah, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes of Solomon, as well as his Riddles, prophecies of Gad,
Nathan, Shemaiah and Ahijah, age-old Job, Jonah, and a book of Isaiah,
etc.
These books were preserved under the authority of the
patriarch of the Jews, 'Shimon Rabban from the tribe of Ephrime, who was
the first (patriarch) in the period of Yemen captivity who attempted to
preserve the books'. The Chronicle of the Jews of Cochin continues with
a description of the history of those books which, according to it,
were confiscated by the king, and only after a fast and prayers were the
books returned to the Jews - 10 years later. For our purposes it should
be added that some 500 years later the Jews in Yemen were exiled by
King Prozom.
Since the exiled people had known of the Jews in
Poona and Gujarat in India, they preferred to go there, and they and
their descendants lived there for some 600 or 700 years. Almost all of
those Jews were forced to convert, and less than 72 families moved from
Poona and Gujerat to Malabar. Those who moved were welcomed by the
governor, Cherman Perumal, who gave them privileges to encourage them to
stay there, as is written on copper plates, and there in Cochin, the
copper plates have remained until this day, in the days of the patriarch
of the Jews Joseph Hallegua. Bless mentioned that this Joseph was a
brother-in-law of Ezekiel Rahabi (who will be mentioned later). We can
determine that this 'Chronicle of the Jews of Cochin' is from the first
half of the 18th century.
Bar-Ilan notes that the Jews of Cochin had other documents as well
such as the writings of Nathan, Shemaiah and Ahijah, texts that are
mentioned in the Bible, as well as the Riddles of Solomon which is not
mentioned in the Bible. There may be much more to mine from the
treasures related to the Jews of Cochin.
Connections to Explore
There is much more to the story as Bar-Ilan explores the various
efforts to publish information about the Words of Gad the Seer. In spite
of all that he describes, it's amazing how poorly known this text is.
Bar-Ilan in "The Discovery of the Words of Gad The Seer" offers a reason why this has occurred:
This intriguing story of the lost books at Cochin is near its end. It
is hardly credible that books that were mentioned in three languages,
and especially in so many Hebrew editions were later overlooked. The
only possible reason for that, I assume, is that the fascinating stories
emerging from Cochin were considered to be legendary in character, such
as any modern scholar should ignore. When one of [these] 'legends'
became true [discovery of the manuscript for The Words of Gad the Seer],
its source was already forgotten and the whole issue was misunderstood
and misjudged. However, in future studies I hope to demonstrate the
significance of The Words of Gad the Seer, its date, its geographical
source, and much more.
As we see in the accounts of the background story, the Words of Gad
the Seer may have roots in scriptures brought by ancient Jews who fled
to Yemen. Perhaps this happened near the time when the Ten Tribes were
scattered, with some from the Ten Tribes seeking new homelands. Ancient
Jewish colonies in Yemen are an important aspect of the diaspora (see "Jews of Yemen – History – When did Jews Settle in Yemen?" at Wysinfo.com, and "Yemenite Jews" at Wikipedia). As I discuss in my Interpreter article, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Map: Part 1 of 2,"
Warren Aston has suggested that a Jewish colony in the area of
Nahom/Nehem in Yemen may have assisted in providing a proper Hebrew
burial for Ishmael. Jewish burials in Yemen are attested no later than
300 BC, and since we know of later Jewish presence in the Nihm area, it
is possible that Jews could have been there earlier and could have been
able to assist in proper burials. See Warren Aston, Lehi and Sariah in Arabia,
Kindle edition, Part 3, sections “Ishmael’s Death,” “Nahom Today,” and
“Where the Jews Once Part of the Tribe.” See also Part 1, section
“Religion in Arabia,” where Aston notes Yemeni Jewish traditions of
seven ancient Jewish migrations into Yemen. Further, there is evidence
that Jewish traders and merchants were interacting with Yemen before
Lehi’s era. It would be fascinating to know what versions of a book from
Gad the Seer might have been brought to Yemen anciently, perhaps both
by Jews who established colonies in Yemen and by Lehi on his brass
plates.
One aspect of the story of ancient texts among the Jews at Cochin,
India is the issue of writing on metal plates. The Jews at Cochin were
said to have kept their ancient history on copper or brass plates,
consistent with traditions of using copper plates in India
for important legal documents going back at least to the 3rd century
BC. A hint about scriptures written on metal comes from one source who
visited the Cochin colony several times early in the 1700s, Captain Alexander Hamilton
(a British sailor, not the US statesman). He stated that they had kept
their history recorded on copper plates stored in a synagogue. This
statement is found in A New Account of the East Indies, vol. 1 (London: 1744), 323–24, available at Archive.org (https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.278509/page/n375/mode/2up) and Google Books (https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_New_Account_of_the_East_Indies/-jNagGDT-PsC??hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA323&printsec=frontcover).
He reports:
They [the Jews in Cochin, India] have a Synagogue
at Cochin, not far from the King’s Palace, about two Miles from the
City, in which are carefully kept their Records, engraven in
Copper-plates in Hebrew characters; and when any of the Characters
decay, they are new cut, so that they can shew their own History, from
the Reign of Nebuchadnezzar to the present Time....
They declare themselves to be of the Tribe of Manasseh...
I have previously discussed Hamilton's statement on my blog at https://mormanity.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-jewish-copper-plates-of-cochin.html.
Many decades after Hamilton's various visits to Cochin, Claudius
Buchanan visited the Hews there and reported on them in his 1811 volume,
Christian Researches in Asia,
but he makes no mention of their records on plates stored in a
synagogue. He does mention a plate of brass from a local king used to
grant rights to the Cochin Jews is on p. 172. The royal charter granted to the Jews of Cochin by a king of Kerala, India engraved on copper plates is now well known. See "Jewish copper plates of Cochin"
at Wikipedia. The set of three plates associated with the charter have a
traditional date of 379 A.D. but are more likely to date to around 1000
A.D.
But Claudius Buchanan did far more than merely mention the brass
plate of the Cochin Jews. He had a replica made and transported to
Cambridge, but there is controversy about whether he actually kept the
original and gave the replica back to the Jews at Cochin. In fact, the
original owners of the royal charter may have been left with nothing.
It's a messy story in need of scientific testing of the plates, as
discussed by Thoufeek Zakriya of India in his blog post, "The Copper Plate and the Big Sahib," Jews of Malabar,
Aug. 19, 2013,
http://jewsofmalabar.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-copper-plate-and-big-sahib.html.
It's a powerful reminder of how important it is to keep precious
writing on metal plates out of sight and out of the hands of others.
Hurray for burying plates in stone boxes!
Did the Jews at Cochin really have more ancient records of their
history on copper or brass plates, or did the story of their one small
document become inflated when it was told to Hamilton? He gives enough
detail that it doesn't seem possible he got confused a story about one
or two plates, but was he given correct information? Did the Jews at
Cochin have much more than they did not risk discussing with Buchanan?
Are there records on plates still in hiding somewhere? I have no idea,
but would be thrilled if such a thing did exist and could be brought to
light. For now, we just have Hamilton's report and the tradition of
writing on copper plates in India that might add to the plausibility of
the story. The document from the Cochin Jews bearing the Words of Gad
the Seer was not written on metal plates.
Update, 4/4/2022: A reader with the moniker "RM Zosimus" posted a comment here pointing to what may be the earliest published mention of the copper plates of the Cochin Jews:
As far as I can tell, the first western account of metal plates among
the Jewish and Christian communities of Cochin comes from Damião de Góis
in his "Three Letters of Mar Jacob". Mar Jacob, the Bishop of the
Thomas Christians between 1543 and 1545 mentioned two copper plates with
inscriptions in Pahlavi, Cushic (sic) and Hebrew script. These plates
are unrelated to the chronicles of the Cochin Jews that were said to
have been destroyed when the Portuguese burned down the synagogue in
1662 AD. This history was inexplicably called the sefer ha yashar or the Book of the Upright One or the Book of Jasher.
The "Three Letters of Mar Jacob" are not easily found online, but were discussed by Georg Schurhammer in The Malabar Church and Rome during the early Portuguese period and before (Trichinopoly [the British India name for Tiruchirappalli city in Tamil Nadu], India: F.M. Ponnuswamy 1934), pp. 14 and 22-23 (esp. footnote 69) available at https://archive.org/details/malabarchurchrom00schu_0/page/22/mode/2up. The "Three Letters of Mar Jacob" are reproduced in Portuguese early in
the volume with an English translation at the side, and the mention of a
copper plate in the second Portuguese letter has "do que temos hua [dua?] lamyna [lamina] de cobre asselada de sseu sselo," with the given translation "of which we have a Copperplate sealed with his seal" (p. 14). On pages 22-23 is mention of several plates, some now lost. Fascinating!
A few more connections to explore will arise when we examine some passages from the text below.
Assessing the Words of Gad the Seer
So what of this strange document from Cochin, India, the Words of Gad
the Seer? Is it just pious fiction made up by some Jews in India? A
1927 article argued that it was likely written in the 13th century AD.
See I. Abrahams, "The Words of Gad the Seer" in Livre d'hommage a la mémoire du Dr Samuel Poznański (1864-1921) (Vienna: Adolphe Holzhauzen, 1927), pp, 8-12. On the other hand, Professor Bar-Ilan in "The Date of The Words of Gad the Seer," Journal of Biblical Literature
109, no. 3 (1990): 477-493, has examined the text in detail and
argues that it has more ancient roots. He estimates its origins to be in
the first centuries of the Christian era.
Could it be earlier? Bar-Ilan says no, for the book is written as an
apocalypse, and biblical scholars generally maintain that such
literature, including First Enoch, the book of Daniel, and the book of
Revelation, is a literary genre generally limited to roughly 200 B.C. to
200 AD., characterized by similarity to the book of Revelation, with
secret divine revelation about the end of the world and the nature of
heaven. See John J. Collins, “Introduction: Towards the Morphology of a Genre,” ed. John Joseph Collins, Semeia
14 (1979): 1, though Collins notes a later example of Jewish
apocalyptic literature, the Sefer Hekalot (3 Enoch), which some have
dated to the 5th century AD. Being apocalyptic, the argument is that
Words of Gad the Seer cannot represent biblical literature from the time
of David or otherwise much before 200 BC. (Some of us Latter-day
Saints, however, may be open to more ancient origins for some
apocalyptic literature like the material on Enoch in our own Book of
Moses.)
Bar-Ilan in the above-cited Journal of Biblical Literature article (also available at Academia.edu)
considers the arguments made for a medieval origin and refutes them in
detail, and then argues the case for late antiquity. His first argument
will be of interest to Book of Mormon students:
The Words of Gad the Seer incorporate three chapters
from the Bible as if they were part of the whole work. Chapter 10 here
is Psalm 145, chapter 11 is no other than Psalm 144, and chapter 7 is a
kind of compilation of 2 Sam 24:1-21 with 1 Chr 21:1-30, a chapter that
deals with the deeds of Gad the Seer. As will be demonstrated later, the
Biblical text in Gad's book is slightly different from the masoretic
text, with some 'minor' changes that might be regarded as scribal
errata, though others are extremely important. In any case, this phenomenon of inserting whole chapters from the Bible into one's treatise is known only from the Bible itself.
For example, David's song in 2 Sam 22:2-51 appears as well in Psalm
18:2-50, not to speak, of course, of other parallels in Biblical
literature.26
It does not matter where the 'original' position of this chapter was.
Only one who lived in the 'days of the Bible', or thought so of himself,
could have made such a plagiarism including a Biblical text in his own
work. [emphasis mine]
Now that's fascinating. This is not some unschooled Latter-day
Saint apologist desperately trying to argue that heavy biblical
plagiarism is not a reason to reject the antiquity of an allegedly
ancient document like the Book of Mormon. It is a prominent scholar of
Hebrew literature writing in a respected peer-reviewed journal on
biblical literature stating that the extensive "plagiarism" of biblical
material in a work is a characteristic of ancient literature that helps
rule out a relatively modern origin for the text. The things Nephi and
other Book of Mormon writers do with other biblical texts, widely
condemned as blatant plagiarism by our critics, might actually be
indicators of antiquity, not modernity.
His second argument is also of interest, pointing out that the way
Bible content is merged and reworked in the document is also
uncharacteristic of modern writings but is an indicator of antiquity.
That is also a characteristic of Nephi's writings in the Book of Mormon
as he combined various passages and reworks them in elegant ways,
something Matthew Bowen and others have discussed, See, for example,
Matthew Bowen, "Onomastic Wordplay on Joseph and Benjamin and Gezera Shawa in the Book of Mormon," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 18 (2016): 255-273.
His third argument involves differences in the way the Psalms are
quoted, particularly the changes in superscriptions that seem authentic.
But another interesting and possibly authentic twist is the addition of
the missing "nun" verse in Psalm 145, a Psalm where each verse begins
with a letter from the Hebrew alphabet forming an acrostic, with an
apparent defect due to the absence of the letter "nun" that should be
between verses 13 and 14 (see the missing verse discussion in "Psalm 145,"
Wikipedia). The added verse reads "All your enemies fell down, O Lord,
and all of their might was swallowed up." Bar-Ilan feels that "the style
and content of the verse give good reason to believe that it is
authentic." But even if it were made up by a creative editor, he says
"it still would be interesting, since the sages of the Talmud did not
know it, and the invention of fictitious Biblical verses is not known in
the Middle Ages either." The added verse combines the falling of
enemies and swallowing up, a combination also seen in the Book of Mormon
in 2 Nephi 26:5, where Nephi speaks of the coming destruction of those
that kill the prophets, warning that the depths of the earth "shall
swallow them up" and "buildings shall fall upon them." Likely a random
parallel, but possibly interesting, coming from one of the Book of
Mormon writers most attuned to the Psalms (see my "Too Little or Too Much Like the Bible? A Novel Critique of the Book of Mormon Involving David and the Psalms" in Interpreter).
His fourth argument also sounds somewhat like a common defense of the
Book of Mormon as he summarizes the diverse literary styles and tools
in the text, and highly creative visions and stories that seem unlikely
to have been fabricated.
There are nine arguments in total for antiquity, followed by
reviewing two recent cases where a text was deemed by experts to be
relatively recent, only to have later discoveries such as a related
document from Qumran proving that the document was ancient after all.
Perhaps there will be something to learn as we explore relationships
between The Words of Gad the Seer with other overlooked or denigrated
texts from the Restoration, namely, the Book of Mormon, the Book of
Moses, and the Book of Abraham. For now, let's consider an overview of
the text and look at just a few interesting passages.
Overview of the Content, and a Few Passages of Interest
We turn again to Professor Bar-Ilan for an excellent summary of the chapters of The Words of Gad the Seer, quoting from his "The Date of The Words of Gad the Seer," Journal of Biblical Literature 109, no. 3 (1990): 477-493:
The Words of Gad the Seer contains 14 chapters
dealing with King David and his prophet Gad. The nature of each of the
chapters is different than the others, so one who has already read the
first chapter, for example, cannot predict any other chapter in the
book. The style is Biblical, in accordance with its heroes (some of whom
are not mentioned in the Bible or elsewhere). Even when the author
writes his own ideas, almost every word or phrase reflects biblical
verse. 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'.
There's remarkable diversity in the contents of this brief
document. It is a document rich in visions and the ministry of angels,
similar to themes in the Book of Mormon. Angels or messengers of God are
often said to be dressed in linen, the material of sacred priestly
robes.
Here are a few passages that struck me as interesting from a
Latter-day Saint perspective, just for your consideration. The titles
are mine, suggesting themes that occur to me. The passages are given
with their verse numbers.
On Purity
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.
Israel, the Firstborn People
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.
The Seal of Truth
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 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.
David Standing on a Pulpit to Speak to His Assembled People
182 Then David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem, and he made to
himself a pulpit of wood and he stood upon it before all the people. And
he opened his mouth and said: 183 ‘Hear, O Israel, your God and my God
is one, the only One and unique, there is no one like His individuality,
hidden from all, He was and is and will be, He fills His place but His
place doesn’t fill Him, He sees but is not seen, He tells and knows
futures, for He is God without end and there is no end to His end,
Omnipotence, God of truth, whole worlds are full of His glory.
David Teaches the Concept of Free Agency
184 And He gave each one free choice: if one wants to do good – he
will be helped, and if one wants to do evil – a path will be opened for
him. 185 For that we will worship our God our king our Lord our saviour
with love and awe, for your wisdom is the fear of the Lord and your
cleverness is to depart from evil. 186 Remember and obey the law of
Moses, man of God, that it may be well with thee all the days.
Comparing the Law to a Seed and Faith to a Tree
187 Ask thy fathers and they will declare unto thee; thine elders,
and they will tell thee. 188 Be strong and valiant to obey the law and
not to hear it only. 189 For a deed is like a root, hearing it is like a
seed, a belief is like a tree and the fruit is like righteousness. 190
And what shall we do to a smelly and stinky seed if a root will not come
out of it? 191 For that, hurry up! be quick and act, hear and act, for
you are true seed, for you have belief and righteousness then the Lord
will bless you all in peace.
On Love for Others
192 Talk peacefully each with one another, and love the deed and
those created in the image of the Lord like your own souls. 193 For if
you love [man] the created, it is a sign that you love the Creator. 194
And also, thou shouldest take hold of the one; yea , also from the other
withdraw not thy hand; love the Lord and also man that it shall be well
with thee all the days’.
Three Outcomes on the Day of Judgement
360 And, lo, a man dressed in linen brought before the glory of the
Lord three books that were written about every man. 361 And he read in
the first one and it was found to have the just deeds of His people, and
the Lord said: 'These will live forever'. 362 And Satan said: 'Who are
these guilty people?' And the man dressed in linen cried to Satan like a
ram's horn, saying: 'Keep silent, for this day is holy to our master'.
363 And he read in th second book, and it was found to have inadvertent
sins of His people, and the Lord said: 'Put aside this book but save
it, until one third of the month elapses, to see what they will do'. 364
And he read in the third book, and it was found to have malicious deeds
of His people. 365 And the Lord said to Satan: 'These are your share,
take them to do with them as seemeth good to thee'. 366 And Satan took
those which acted maliciously and he went with them to a waste land to
destroy them there. 367 And the man dressed in linen cried like a ram's
horn, saying: 368 'Happy is the people that know the joyful shout; that
walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance'.
Conclusions for Now
The Words of Gad the Seer may merit more attention in the Latter-day
Saint community, in my opinion. The text has a fascinating story and
there may be more to learn from elements that might give us new insights
into ancient Jewish thought. There may even have implications for the
Book of Mormon. The peripheral issues of writing on metal, of ancient
records in Yemen, and the ways in which sacred writings can be corrupted
or neglected are fascinating in their own right, but there may be some
gems of insight to extract from the text. More treasures from Cochin may
yet remain to be discovered.
Related Resources:
Barbara C.. Johnson, "NewResearch, Discoveries and Paradigms: A Report on the Current Study of KeralaJews," in N. Katz et al. (eds.), Indo-Judaic Studies in the Twenty-First Century
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007),
https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230603622_8 and
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230603622_8.
If you subscribe to the Biblical Archaeological Society, there are a number of articles on the issue of lost books:
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