References to Ancient Books And Writings Missing From Scripture

Compiled By Glen W. Chapman June 1996

"One of the most interesting accounts relating to Jewish scriptures and apocrypha is that found in 2 Esdras 14. According to the narrative, the holy writings had been destroyed by fire and Ezra prayed for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so that he could restore the texts of the scriptures. Through five scribes he wrote some ninety-four books, twenty-four for public instruction and seventy to be reserved for edification within the community of believers. The bulk of the latter group likely consisted of revelatory, or apocalyptic, books which would have been understood by those initiated into the believing community. By ancient standards, they would have been the Apocrypha for the ancient believers. In 2 Esdras the work of Ezra and the five scribes, which took forty days to complete, was the restoration of scripture, and it is within that designation that one includes the seventy apocryphal and apocalyptic books that were hidden from the world and kept within the community of believers (2 Esdras 14:37-48)."

C Wilford Griggs Origin and Formation of The Corpus of Apocryphal Literature

2 Esdras 14:1-48

1. AND it came to pass upon the third day, I sat under an oak, and, behold, there came a voice out of a bush over against me and said, Esdras Esdras

2. And I said, Here am I, Lord And I stood up upon my feet.

3. Then said he unto me, In the bush I did manifestly reveal myself unto Moses, and talked with him, when my people served in Egypt:

4. And I sent him, and led my people out of Egypt, and brought him up to the mount of Sinai where I held him by me a long season,

5. And told him many wondrous things, and shewed him the secrets of the times, and the end; and commanded him, saying,

6. These words shalt thou declare, and these shalt thou hide

7. And now I say unto tbee

8 That thou lay up in thy heart the signs that I have shewed and the dreams that thou hast seen, and the interpretations which thou hast heard:

20. Behold, Lord, I will go, as thou hast commanded me, and reprove tbe people which are present: but they that shall be born afterward, who shall admonish them ? thus the world Is set in darkness, and the that dwell therein without light.

21. For thy law is burnt, therefore no man knoweth the things that are done of thee or the works that shall begin.

22. But if I have found grace before thee, send the Holy Ghost into me, and I shall write all that hath been done In the world since the beginning, which were written in thy law, that men may find thy path, and that they which will live in the latter days may live.

26 And when thou hast done, some things shalt thou publish, and some things shalt thou

shew secretly to the wise: tomorrow this hour shalt thou begin to write.

42. The Highest gave understanding unto the five men and they wrote the wonderful visions of the night that were told, which they knew not: and they sat forty days, and they wrote in the day, and at night they ate bread.

43. As for me, I spake in the day, and I held not my tongue by night.

44. In forty days they wrote two hundred and four books

45. And It came to pass. when the forty days were fulfilled, that the Hlghest spake, saying, The first that thou hast written publish openly, that the worthy and unworthy may read it:

46. But keep the seventy last, that thou mayest deliver them only to such as be wise among the people:

47. For in them (the last books) is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge.

48. And I did so.

"The early Christians were fond of the Book of Adam, according Epiphanius"

Epiphanius, Adversus Haereses 7:VIII PG 21:520

"prepare, ye righteous, and present records of your doings as a remembrance, give them as a testimony before the angels" (Gk. Enoch 91:3.)

Such is the office of Enoch: "Bring out the books from my store house," says God to his angels , "and a reed of quick-writing [shorthand], and give it to Enoch, and deliver to him the choice books out of my hand." (2 Enoch 22:12.)

"The Lord said to the angel take a book from the deposit and give a pen to Enoch and explain to him and dictate the books to him ,so the Angel taught Enoch all the works of Heaven and the earth and the sea and all elements and all time periods and commandments and instructions .So he wrote the 360 books of creation " 2 Enoch 10

"Take thou the books which thou hast written thyself . . . and go down to earth and tell thy sons all that I have told thee.... And give them the books of thy handwriting, and they will read them and will know me the creator of all ., . and let them distribute the books of thy handwriting children to children, generation to generation, nation to nations.... Thy handwriting and the handwriting of thy fathers Adam and Seth shall not be destroyed till the end of time, as I have commanded my angels . . . that it be preserved, and that the handwriting of thy fathers. . . perish not." (2 Enoch 12.)

"Observe, Enoch, these heavenly tablets," says the angel, "and read what is written thereon.... And I observed the heavenly tablets, and read everything . . . and understood everything, and read the book of all the deeds of mankind . . . to the remotest generations." (1 Enoch 81:1, 2)

"I Enoch will declare unto you, my sons, according to that which appeared to me in the heavenly vision, and which I have known through the word of the holy angels, and have learnt from the heavenly tablets. And Enoch began to recount from the books." (1 Enoch 93:2-3.)

"After . . . Enoch gave me the teachings of all the secrets in the book and in the Parables which had been given to him, he . . . put them together for me in the words of the Book of Parables."

(1 Enoch 68:1)

1 Enoch 82:1-"preserve, my son Methuselah, the books from thy father's hand."

2 Enoch 47:2; 48:8-"Take these books of your father's [Enoch's] handwriting"

2 Enoch-"I know the wickedness of men, but I shall leave over one just man with all his house . . .; and that race shall reveal the books of thy handwriting, and of thy fathers, . . . among the children of men; the guardians of the earth shall show them that race. "

1 Enoch 93:2." I Enoch, will declare . . . according to that which appeared to me in the heavenly vision . . . and have learnt from the heavenly tablets. 3. And Enoch began to recount from the books."

Jub. 4:17. "And [Enoch] was the first among men that are born upon the earth who learnt writing and knowledge and wisdom and who wrote down the signs of heaven. [The Greek adds: "and arithmetic and geometry, and all the Sophian".]

"And he [Enoch] was the first among men that are born on earth who learnt writing and knowledge and wisdom and who wrote down the signs of heaven according to the order of their months in a book, that men might know the seasons of the years according to the order of their separate months. And he was the first to write a testimony . . . of what he saw in a vision as it will happen to the children of men throughout their generations until the day of judgment; he saw and understood everything, and wrote his testimony, and placed the testimony on earth, for all children of men and for their generations"

Jubilees 4:19

"When Noah grew up and saw how mankind was sinning before the Lord, he withdrew himself from their association and sought to serve his master in order that he would not be led astray. He was especially diligent in the study of the book of Adam and the Book of Enoch" Zohar 1: 58

" And you shall act lawlessly in Israel, with the result that Jerusalem Cannot bear the presence otfyour wickedness, but the curtain of the Temple will be torn, so that it will no longer conceal your shameful behavior. You shall he scattered as captives among the

nations, where you will be a disgrace and a curse. For the house which the Lord shall choose shall be called Jerusalem, as the book of Enoch the Righteous maintains...

"And now, my children, I know from the writings of Enoch that in the endtimes you will act impiously against the Lord, setting your hands to every evil deed; because of you, your brothers will be humiliated nd among all the nations you shall become the occasion for scorn. For your father, Israel, is pure with respect to all the impieties of the chief priests, as heaven is pure above the earth; and you should be the lights of Israel as the sun and the moon. " Testament of Levi

"For I have seen in a copy of the Book of Enoch that your sons will be ruined by promiscuity"

Testament of Reuben

"From the words of Enoch the Righteous, I tell you that you will be sexually promiscuous like the promiscuity of the Sodomites and will perish, with few exceptions. You shall resume your actions with loose women.." Testament of Benjamin

"I say these things, my children, because I have read in the writing of holy

Enoch that you also will stray from the Lord, living in accord with every wickedness of the gentiles and committing every lawlessness of Sodom. The Lord will impose captivity upon you; you shall serve your enemies there and you will be engulfed in hardship and difficulty until the Lord will wear you all out. And after you have been decimated and reduced in number, you will return and acknowledge the Lord" Testament of Naphtali

" I read in the Book of Enoch, the Righteous that your prince is Satan and that all the spirits of sexual promiscuity and of arrogance devote attention to the sons of Levi in the attempt to observe them closely and cause them to commit sin before the Lord." Testament of Dan

"Enoch also had a book, which came from the same place as the book of the generations of Adam." When Enoch found the Book of Adam and read it, "he knew that the human race would not be able to receive it. So he hid it again, and it remained until Noah"

Bin Gorion, Sagen 2:270

"The Lord has showed me and informed me, and I have read . . . in the heavenly tablets, and I saw written on them that generation upon generation shall transgress" (Enoch 106:19, 107:1)

"an angel descended from heaven with seven tablets in his hands . . . he read them and knew all that. . . would befall him and his sons . . . and he showed them all that was written on the tablets" Jubilees 32:21.

Next, Moses yielded up to an angel "the Tablets of the Divisions of the years . . . from the day of the creation to the time when the heavens and the earth shall be renewed." Jubilees 1:29

As he was praying, an "angel . . . appeared to Adam, . . . saying, . . . 'Thy prayers have been heard and I am come to bring thee words of purity and much wisdom. I will make thee wise through the words of this holy book, frum which you will learn whatever shall befall.... Whoever, even to the last generation makes use of this book, must be pure and faithfully observe what is written in it,"'

Bin Gorion Sagen 1:261-62

"My grandfather Enoch," says Noah, "gave me the teaching of all the secrets in the book . . . which had been given to him" (1 Enoch 68:1)

The Lord himself says to Isaiah, "'No mortal has ever seen what you have!' Saying this, he placed a book in my hands and said to me: 'Take this and know . . . that there is nothing hidden of all the works in that world, good or bad.' And I took the book from his

and read it, and behold everything was written down about every man from the beginning to the end of the world." Ascen. of Isaiah 9:21-22

"'Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the mighty God and receive what I commit to thee, and guard them until the last times, so that, when thou art ordered, thou may restore them, so that strangers may not get possession of them . . .' So the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up."

2 Baruch 6:8-10

"Take thou the books which thou hast written thyself . . . and go down to earth and tell thy sons all that I have told thee. . . . And give them the books of thy handwriting, and they will read them and will know me the creator of all . . and let them distribute the books of thy handwriting-children to children, generation to generation, nation to nations.... thy handwriting and the handwriting of thy fathers Adam and Seth shall not be destroyed till the end of time, as I have commanded my angels . . . that it be preserved, and that the handwriting of thy fathers. . perish not" ( 2 Enoch 12:)

Joseph in Egypt "remembered the words which Jacob his father used to read from amongst the words of Abraham . . ." Jubilees 39:6

"Israel . . . gave all his books and the books of his father Levi to his son that he might preserve them and renew them for his children unto this day. " Jubilees 45:16

." And the Angel of the Presence spake to Moses according to the word of the Lord, saying: wnte the complete history of the Creation." Jubilees 2:1