Lost Books of the Bible (148 page)

9 My boy, you have been to me like a man who saw his comrade naked in the chilly time of winter; and he took cold water and poured it upon him.

10 My boy, you have been to me like a man who took a stone, and threw it up to heaven to stone his Lord with it. And the stone did not hit, and did not reach high enough, but it became the cause of guilt and sin.

11 My boy, if you had honored me and respected me and had listened to my words you would have been my heir, and would have reigned over my dominions.

12 My son, know you that if the tail of the dog or the pig were ten cubits long it would not approach to the worth of the horse's even if it were like silk.

13 My boy, I thought that you would have been my heir at my death; and you through your envy and your insolence desired to kill me. But the Lord delivered me from your cunning.

14 My son, you have been to me like a trap which was set up on the dunghill, and there came a sparrow and found the trap set up. And the sparrow said to the trap, "What are you doing here?" Said the trap, "I am praying here to God."

15 And the lark asked it also, "What is the piece of wood that you hold?" Said the trap, "That is a young oak-tree on which I lean at the time of prayer.

16 The lark said: "And what is that thing in your mouth?" Said the trap: "That is bread and food which I carry for all the hungry and the poor who come near me."

17 The lark said: "Now then may I come forward and eat, for I am hungry?" And the trap said to him, "Come forward." And the lark approached that it might eat.

18 But the trap sprang up and seized the lark by its neck

19 And the lark said to the trap, "If that is your bread for the hungry, God does not accept your alms or your kind deeds.

20 And if that is your fasting and your prayers, God does not accept your fast nor your prayer, and God will not bring to fruition what is good concerning you."

21 My boy, you have been to me as a lion who made friends with an ass, and the ass kept walking in front of the lion for a time; and one day the lion sprang upon the ass and ate it up.

22 My boy, you have been to me like a weevil in the wheat. It is good for nothing but to spoil the wheat and chew at it.

23 My boy, you have been like a man who sowed ten measures of wheat, and when it was harvest time, he arose and reaped it, and gathered it, and threshed it, and toiled over it to the very end, and it turned out to be ten measures, and its master said to it: " you lazy thing! You have not grown and you have not shrunk."

24 My boy, you have been to me like the quail that had been hurled into the net. She could not save herself, but she called out to the quails, so that she might throw (lure) them into the net with her.

25 My son, you have been to me like the dog that was cold and it went into the potter's house to get warm.

26 And when it had gotten warm, it began to bark at them, and they chased it out and beat it, so that it would not bite them.

27 My son, you have been to me like the pig who went into the hot bath with people of quality, and when it came out of the hot bath, it saw a filthy hole and it went down and, wallowed in it.

28 My son, you have been to me like the goat, which joined its comrades on their way to the sacrifice, and it was unable to save itself.

29 My boy, the dog which is not fed from its hunting becomes food for flies.

30 My son, the hand which does not labor and plough but is greedy and deceitful shall be cut off from its shoulder.

31 My son, the eye in which light is not seen, the ravens shall pick at it and pluck it out.

32 My boy, you have been to me like a tree, and men were cutting its branches, and the tree said to them, "If something of me were not in your hands, you would not be able to cut me."

33 My boy, you are like the cat to which they said: ("cease thieving until we make a chain of gold for you and feed you with sugar and almonds."

34 And she said, "I cannot forget the craft of my father and my mother."

35 My son, you have been like the serpent riding on a thorn-bush when he was in the middle of a river, and a wolf saw them and said, "bad behavior upon bad behavior, let him who is more of a troublemaker than they lead both of us."

36 And the serpent said to the wolf, "The lambs and the goats and the sheep which you have eaten all your life, will you return them to their fathers and to their parents or not?"

37 Said the wolf, "No." And the serpent said to him, "I think that after myself (between the two of us) you are the worst of us."

38 My boy, I fed you with good food and you did not feed me with dry bread.

39 My boy, I gave you sugared water to drink and good syrup,
and you did not give me water from the well to drink.

40 My boy, I taught you, and brought you up, and you dug a (pit for a) hiding-place for me and did conceal me.

41 My boy, I brought you up with the best upbringing and trained you like a tall cedar; and you have twisted and bent me.

42 My boy, it was my hope for you that you would build me a fortified castle, that I might be concealed from my enemies in it, and you became to me like one burying (me) in the depth of the earth;  but the Lord took pity on me and delivered me from your deceit.

43 My boy, I wished you well, but you rewarded me with evil and hatefulness, and now I would desire tears from your eyes, and make you food for dogs, and cut out your tongue, and take off your head with the edge of the sword, and reward you for your abominable deeds.'

44 And when Nadan heard this speech from his uncle Ahikar, he said: ' my uncle! Deal with me according to your knowledge, and forgive me my sins, for who is there who has sinned like me, or who is there who forgives like you?

45 Accept me, my uncle! Now I will serve in your house, and groom your horses and sweep up the dung of your cattle, and feed your sheep, for I am the wicked and you are the righteous: I am the guilty and you the (one) forgiving.'

46 And Ahikar said to him, 'My boy, you are like the tree which was fruitless beside the water, and its master was desirous to cut it down, and it said to him, "Remove me to another place, and if I do not bear fruit, cut me down."

47
And its master said to it, "You have been beside the water and have not borne fruit. How shall you bear fruit when you are in another place?"

48 My boy, the old age of the eagle is better than the youth of the crow.

49 My boy, they said to the wolf, "Keep away from the sheep or their dust will harm you."  And the wolf said, "The dregs of the sheep's milk are good for my eyes."

50 My boy, they made the wolf go to school that he might learn to read, and they said to him, "Say A, B." He said, "Lamb and goat in my belly."

51 My boy, they set the ass down at the table and he fell, and began to roll himself in the dust, and one said, "Let him roll himself, for it is his nature, he will not change."

52 My boy, the saying has been confirmed which goes like this: "If you beget a boy, call him your son, and if you raise a boy, call him your slave."

53 My boy, he who does good shall meet with good; and he who does evil shall meet with evil, for the Lord rewards a man according to the measure of his work.

54 My boy, what shall I say more to you than these sayings, for the Lord knows what is hidden, and is acquainted with the mysteries and the secrets.

55 And He will avenge you and will judge between you and me, and will reward you according to your (evil) desires.

56 And when Nadan heard that speech from his uncle Ahikar, he swelled up immediately and became like a blown-out bladder.

57 And his limbs swelled and his legs and his feet and his side, and he was ripped apart and his belly burst apart and his guts were scattered, and he perished, and died.

58 And his end was destruction, and he went to hell. For he who digs a pit for his brother shall fall into it; and he who sets up traps shall be caught in them.

59 This is what happened and what we discovered about the tale of Ahikar, and praise be to God for ever.

Amen, and peace.

60 This chronicle is finished with the help of God, may He be exalted:

Amen, Amen, Amen.

Introduction

               Is mankind headed for destruction? How will it all end? When will it happen? What is man’s destiny? Will we die by our own hand or by the hand of God?

               For thousands of years the questions have been the same. Millions of souls have searched for the answers to no avail; nevertheless, some believed they knew. We call them prophets. They saw the end of our world and they believed their visions were true. Are we to believe their God-given insights into the End Of Days?

               Perhaps God did pull back the curtain that blinds man to his future. Maybe these writers did see the end and how it would come upon us.

               The prophets of doom revealed a scenario of global cataclysm. They tell the story of rulers bankrupting nations to fund tremendous wars. They tell of weather gone awry; of ice and snow, rain and floods, hurricanes and earthquakes where seldom they occurred. They tell us of what is happening all around us today.

               Most scholars agree that many of the apocalyptic texts written between 70 and 200 A.D. were produced out of a national dismay and confusion following the destruction of the temple of the Jews in Israel in 70 A.D.  The texts are attempts of a people, who believed themselves to be God’s chosen, to explain why pagans were allowed by the God of the Jews to overthrow the way of worship, and of life of His chosen ones. Other apocalyptic books were written to explain and expand various biblical ideas linked to judgment and the end of days.  The date, background, and purpose of each text will be discussed in more detail later.