What is this book of Gad the seer? Gad is mentioned many times in the Old Testament but these refer to two different people. One was Gad, one of the twelve tribes of Isreal. The other was Gad the seer who was a prophet who interacted with David. But I see no "book of Gad" mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. I'm stumped.
In 2 Chronicles 9:29 it says:
Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of
Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions
of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?
Nathan has a book in the Old Testament.
But what is "the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite" and the "visions of Iddo"?
About 30 books, of which no trace is now recognised, are mentioned in the OT. That they are mentioned, does not necessarily mean that they were ever regarded as sacred or as part of scripture.
There is nothing unusual in this: Greek and Latin authors often refer to works that are not now extant. In the 3rd century, in his very long “Wise Men at Dinner”, Athenaeus of Naukratis (in Egypt) refers to over 200 authors, & many of the works quoted are known only from his book - part of which itself survives only in fragments.
Cuneiform texts have survived from Assyria (mostly) because they were written on clay, that was then baked in the sun, and hardened. In Israel, clay was not available - though writing on it is occasionally referred to in the OT - so more perishable materials, like papyrus, had to do instead, or rolls of specially prepared animal skin.
In Jeremiah 36, the king of Judah is reported to have cut up the roll containing some prophecies of Jeremiah with a knife. So it cannot have been very resistant to damage.
We should not overlook the use of memory as a means for transmitting texts, in the religion of Israel, or, much later, in Christianity. And one of means of recording the early text of the Koran is reported to have been “the breasts of men” - that is, it is said to have committed to memory by “remembrancers”.
In a time in which there was no such thing as printing, and in which books copied out by hand, there were many chances which could lead to the destruction of written works. Modern life has come up with even more means of destruction; the two world wars destroyed a great deal of art and architecture and literature which had survived the centuries. So the loss of ancient written works is anything but surprising. The activities of ISIS in more recent years have been catastrophic for the archaeology of ancient Mesopotamia. Bear in mind that this kind of destruction has been going on in many parts of the world for many centuries, and it ceases to be surprising that such a great deal of the past has been utterly lost.
