The Book of Gad the Seer () is a presumed lost text, supposed to have been written by the biblical prophet Gad, which is mentioned at

1 Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( , "words of the days") is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third section of the Jewish Tan ...

(). The passage reads: "Now the acts of

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the

book of Samuel the seer The Book of Samuel () is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings) that constitute a theological ...

, and in the

book of Nathan the prophet The Book of Nathan the Prophet and the History of Nathan the Prophet () are among the lost books quoted in the Bible, attributed to the biblical prophet Nathan. They may be the same text, but they are sometimes distinguished from one another. No ...

, and in the book of Gad the seer." Some traditional Rabbinic commentaries understood this to be a reference to the books of I and II Samuel which were started by

Samuel Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...

himself and completed by Nathan the Prophet and Gad the Seer.

Pseudepigraphic book of the same name

There is a

pseudepigraphic A pseudepigraph (also :wikt:anglicized, anglicized as "pseudepigraphon") is a false attribution, falsely attributed work, a text whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past. Th ...

book by the same title, extant in the form of a manuscript from the Black Jews of Cochin, India. The manuscript now in the Cambridge Library is a relatively recent (19th century) copy. According to

Solomon Schechter Solomon Schechter (‎; 7 December 1847 – 19 November 1915) was a Moldavian-born British-American rabbi, academic scholar and educator, most famous for his roles as founder and President of the United Synagogue of America, President of the ...

, this manuscript was copied from a document purporting to be from Rome, and the late linguistic forms and features of the Hebrew manuscript, as well as its substantial similarity with some medieval

Kabbalistic Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal (). Jewi ...

literature and some aspects of Christianity, indicate a relatively late date. He therefore regarded it as not dating back to

antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

. However, according to Professor Meir Bar Ilan, although some linguistic aspects of the Hebrew manuscript are of late date, there is evidence that the book originated in approximately the 1st or 2nd century A.D. A scholarly edition of the book was published in August 2015, edited by Professor Meir Bar Ilan of

Bar Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

. The book also includes an English translation of the original text. The work is included in the contemporary ''The 120-Book Holy Bible and Apocrypha Collection: Literal Standard Version (LSV)''.

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External links

Israel Abrahams Israel Abrahams, MA ''(honoris causa)'' (b. London, 26 November 1858; d. Cambridge, 6 October 1925) was one of the most distinguished Jewish scholars of his generation. He wrote a number of classics on Judaism, most notably, ''Jewish Life in the ...

The Words of Gad the Seer
appeared in {{Authority control 1st-century books 2nd-century books Books of Chronicles Cochin Jews Jewish apocrypha Lost Jewish texts Old Testament pseudepigrapha Lost books

Pseudepigraphic book of the same name

See also

References

External links