Lost Books of the Bible (142 page)

29 During his reign he brought forth an army, and he went and fought against the inhabitants of Britannia and Kernania, the children of Elisha son of Javan, and he succeeded over them and made them subjects.

30 He then heard that Edom had revolted from under the hand of Chittim, and Latinus went to them and struck them and subdued them, and placed them under the hand of the children of Chittim; Edom became one kingdom with the children of Chittim all the days.

31 And for many years there was no king in Edom, and their government was with the children of Chittim and their king.

32 It was in the twenty-sixth year after the children of Israel had passed the Jordan, that is the sixty-sixth year after the children of Israel had departed from Egypt, that Joshua was old, advanced in years, being one hundred and eight years old in those days.

33  Joshua called to all Israel, to their elders, their judges and officers, after the Lord had given to all the Israelites rest from all their enemies round about; Joshua said to the elders of Israel and to their judges, Behold I am old, advanced in years, and you have seen what the Lord has done to all the nations whom he has driven away from before you, for it is the Lord who has fought for you.

34 Now therefore strengthen yourselves to keep and to do all the words of the law of Moses, not to deviate from it to the right or to the left, and not to come among those nations who are left in the land; neither shall you make mention of the name of their gods, but you shall cleave to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.

35 Joshua greatly encouraged the children of Israel to serve the Lord all their days.

36 And all the Israelites said, We will serve the Lord our God all our days, we and our children, and our children's children, and our offspring forever.

37 Joshua made a covenant with the people on that day and he sent away the children of Israel, and they went each man to his inheritance and to his city.

38 And it was in those days, when the children of Israel were dwelling securely in their cities, that they buried the coffins of the tribes of their ancestors which they had brought up from Egypt, each man in the inheritance of his children; the twelve sons of Jacob did the children of Israel bury, each man in the possession of his children.

39 And these are the names of the cities where they buried the twelve sons of Jacob, whom the children of Israel had brought up from Egypt:

40 They buried Reuben and Gad on this side of Jordan, in Romia, which Moses had given to their children.

41 And Simeon and Levi they buried in the city Mauda, which he had given to the children of Simeon, and the suburb of the city was for the children of Levi.

42 And Judah they buried in the city of Benjamin opposite Bethlehem.

43 And the bones of Issachar and Zebulun they buried in Zidon, in the portion which fell to their children.

44 Dan was buried in the city of his children in Eshtael, and Naphtali and Asher they buried in Kadesh-naphtali, each man in his place which he had given to his children.

45 And the bones of Joseph they buried in Shechem in the part of the field which Jacob had purchased from Hamor, and which became to Joseph for an inheritance.

46 And they buried Benjamin in Jerusalem opposite the Jebusite, which was given to the children of Benjamin; the children of Israel buried their fathers each man in the city of his children.

47 And at the end of two years, Joshua the son of Nun died, one hundred and ten years old, and the time which Joshua judged Israel was twenty-eight years; Israel served the Lord all the days of his life.

48 And the other affairs of Joshua and his battles and his reproofs with which he reproved Israel, and all which he had commanded them, and the names of the cities which the children of Israel possessed in his days, they are written in the book of the words of Joshua to the children of Israel and in the book of the wars of the Lord, which Moses and Joshua and the children of Israel had written.

49 And the children of Israel buried Joshua in the border of his inheritance, in Timnath-serach which was given to him in Mount Ephraim.

50 And Elazer the son of Aaron died in those days; they buried him in a hill belonging to Phineas his son, which was given him in Mount Ephraim.

CHAPTER 91

1 At that time, after the death of Joshua, the children of the Canaanites were still in the land, and the Israelites resolved to drive them out.

2 And the children of Israel asked of the Lord, saying, Who shall first go up for us to the Canaanites to fight against them? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up.

3 And the children of Judah said to Simeon, Go up with us into our lot, and we will fight against the Canaanites and we likewise will go up with you in your lot; so the children of Simeon went with the children of Judah.

4 The children of Judah went up and fought against the Canaanites, so the Lord delivered the Canaanites into the hands of the children of Judah; they struck in Bezek ten thousand men.

5 They fought with Adonibezek in Bezek, he fled from before them, and they pursued him and caught him; they took hold of him and cut off his thumbs and great toes.

6 And Adonibezek said, Three score and ten kings having their thumbs and great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table, as I have done, so God has rewarded me; they brought him to Jerusalem and he died there.

7 And the children of Simeon went with the children of Judah, and they struck the Canaanites with the edge of the sword.

8 The Lord was with the children of Judah, and they possessed the mountain, and the children of Joseph went up to Bethel, the same is Luz, and the Lord was with them.

9 And the children of Joseph spied out Bethel, and the watchmen saw a man going forth from the city, and they caught him and said to him, Show us now the entrance of the city and we will show kindness to you.

10 And that man showed them the entrance of the city, and the children of Joseph came and struck the city with the edge of the sword.

11 The man with his family they sent away, and he went to the Hittites and he built a city; he called the name there Luz, so all the Israelites lived in their cities, and the children at Israel lived in their cities; the children of Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders, who had lengthened their days after Joshua, and saw the great work of the Lord which he had performed for Israel.

12 And the elders judged Israel after the death of Joshua for seventeen years.

13 All the elders also fought the battles of Israel against the Canaanites and the Lord drove the Canaanites from before the children of Israel  in order to place the Israelites in their land.

14 And he accomplished all the words which he had spoken to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the oath which he had sworn, to give to them and to their children the land of the Canaanites.

15 The Lord gave to the children of Israel the whole land of Canaan as he had sworn to their ancestors, and the Lord gave them rest from those around them, and the children of Israel lived securely in their cities.

16 Blessed be the Lord forever, amen, and amen.

17 Strengthen yourselves, and let the hearts of all you that trust in the Lord. Be of good courage.

History and Introduction

The Story of Ahikar
is one of the oldest sources of wisdom literature. Its influence can be traced through the Koran, as well as the Old and New Testaments. The oldest version, which we can only assume to be the original Papyrus, appears to have been produced circa 500 B. C. It is written in Aramaic and was discovered among the ruins of Elephantine.

The earliest mention of Ahikar is in the Book of Tobit in the form of the name "Achiacharus". According to the book of Tobit, Ahikar was a relative and friend to Tobit. He was the chief counselor of the Assyrian ruler, Sennacherib. The book of Tobit mentions Nadab, Ahiker’s nephew, whom Ahikar adopted, and who sought to repay the kindness by attempting to kill his uncle. Tobit concludes, "but God made good his dishonor in His sight and Ahikar returned to the light, but Nadab went into darkness everlasting" (Tobit, xiv. 10, 11, according to the Codex Sinaiticus).

In the Old Testament we see Ahikar was the chancellor of the Assyrian king Sennacherib, son of Esar-haddon (II Kings, xix. 37).

The basic story of Ahikar contains
four divisions: (1) The Narrative; (2) The Teaching; (3) The Journey to Egypt; (4) The Similitudes or Parables. Parts of the story are found
in various forms in Greek, Rumanian, Slavonic, and Syriac, to name a few versions. The versions differ widely in number of parables and content.

The story may be fiction, although it may be based on a real individual. It is written in a narrative, which has action and intrigue, and holds the attention to the end.

The story opens with the statement that Ahikar had sixty wives. The number should not be taken literally. It symbolizes a vague but large amount of something. The impetus of the story is that although Ahiker had many, many wives, he had no son. Lacking an heir, her decides to adopt his nephew, Nadan, who grows into a treacherous and despicable person. Ahikar attempts to educate the boy in wisdom and knowledge, but this is twisted into Machiavellian intrigue. We, however, get the benefit of the deeper teaching in the form of sayings and parables. Even though Ahikar has trained his nephew and has gone as far as to ask the king to accept Nadan as his replacement, the nephew still turns on Ahikar and attempts of put an end to his uncle. With the help of God and a friend, Ahikar escapes. In time the nephew fails and his true nature shows through, to the dismay of the king.

The storyline proves that no good deed goes unpunished, but in the end, if you are a good and wise person you will be remembered and missed. Truth, being like cream, will rise to the surface and be revealed. If God is on your side and you are still alive, you will be reinstated and exonerated.

Commentary for this section is placed in parentheses within the body of the text, to aid in clarification or to bring out alternate meanings in translation.

CHAPTER 1

1. The story of Ahikar the
Wise, Vizier of Sennacherib the King, and of Nadan, sister's son to Ahikar the Sage.

2 There was a Vizier (counselor) in the days of King Sennacherib, son of Sarhadum, King of Assyria and Nineveh, a wise man named Ahikar, and he was counselor of the king Sennacherib.

3 He had a vast fortune and many possessions, and he was a skilful and wise philosopher, in knowledge, opinion and in government. He had married sixty women, and had built a castle for each of them.

4 But with it all of this, he had no child by any of these women, who might be his heir. (He had no son.)

5 Because of this he was very sad. One day he assembled the astrologers and the learned men and( the magicians and explained to them his condition about how he was barren (of a son).

6And they said to him, 'Go, sacrifice to the gods and beg them that perchance they may provide you with a boy.'

7And he did as they told him and offered sacrifices to the idols, and earnestly and desperately entreated them.

8And they answered him not one word. And he went away sorrowful and dejected, and he left them with a pain in his heart.