What is the book of Gad the seer?

Gad possessed a large district from a little above the north corner of the Dead Sea to near the south corner of the Sea of Galilee, then a very fertile plain suitable for their flocks and herds, including the highlands of Gilead. The tribes on the east of the Jordan were the first carried away by the king of Assyria, about B.C. 740; and the Ammonites took possession of the territory of Gad. 1 Chr. 5:25-26; Jer. 49:1. Twelve thousand of this tribe will in a future day be sealed for blessing. Rev. 7:5. Their allotment will be in the extreme south in the restoration of Israel. Ezek. 48:27.

He was with David when he fled from Saul, and gave him counsel. 1 Sam. 22:5. Whether he continued with David during his rejection is not recorded. He was with him at the close of his reign, and to him was given the painful duty of announcing God's judgements upon David for numbering the people. He is called David's 'seer,' which would seem to imply that he had been with him all along. 2 Sam. 24:11-19; 1 Chr. 21:9-19; 2 Chr. 29:25. The acts of David were written in "THE BOOK OF GAD the seer," of which there is no further record, and which has not been handed down. 1 Chr. 29:29.

Having said all this, nothing has been said so far as to the author of the books. None of the books mentions any author. According to Jewish tradition in the Talmud Samuel was author of chapters 1-24 of the first book (which are the records of his time). Gad and Nathan the prophets are considered to be the authors of chapters 25-31 and the whole of the second book of Samuel. First Chronicles 29:29 gives us a hint thereto: "Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer." The mentioning of the fact that Ziklag belongs to the kings of Judah "to this day" (1 Samuel 27:6) is considered by some as an indication that the book has been written after the division of the kingdom under Rehoboam.

The books bear the name of Samuel. This, however, does not mean that Samuel is the author of these books. That would be impossible, inasmuch as the greater part of them contains events which transpired after the death of Samuel. The only hint in Scripture about the authorship of these two books is found in 1 Chronicles 29:29: "Now the acts of David the King, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the Seer, and in the book of Nathan the Prophet, and in the book of Gad the Seer." Ancient tradition among the Jews assigns to Samuel the authorship of the first twenty-four chapters of the first book of Samuel. These chapters contain what may be termed the life of Samuel up to the time of his death. The twenty-fifth chapter begins with the record of his death. It is reasonable that Samuel wrote these opening chapters of the first book which bears his name. That Samuel did write is fully established by chapter 10:25: "Then Samuel told the people the manner of the Kingdom, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the LORD." The same Jewish tradition credits Nathan the Prophet and Gad the Seer with having written the remainder of the two books. The passage in the first book of Chronicles seems to support this view. Evidently Samuel began to write these books, which, for this reason, were called by his name. Modern criticism rejects this view and claims that the books of Samuel could not be the work of men who lived during the reign of Saul and David. We do not give their speculative theories and conflicting opinions, which are of no value whatever in the spiritual study of the text. The best scholars believe that these books belong to a very early period, and that the critical view of a compilation of certain documents and fragments, immediately before the exile, cannot be sustained. "The minute sketches and vivid touches with which these books abound prove that their author speaks what he knows and testifies what he has seen" (John Eadie). Some of the more important objections higher criticism has raised against the early date of the books of Samuel and the alleged discrepancies we shall point out and answer in our annotations.

Another marked distinction between these two interesting books is the sources from which their writers obtained their material. In Kings it is always derived from state records, evidently, as "the book of the acts of Solomon" (1 Kings 11:41); "the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Judah" (1 Kings 14:29); "the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel" (1 Kings 14:19), etc. Chronicles embodies more the writings of (or selections from) individuals, as "Samuel the seer," "Nathan the prophet," "Gad the seer," "the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite," "the visions of Iddo the seer," "the book of Shemaiah the prophet," "the story of the prophet Iddo," "the book of Jehu the son of Hanani," "Isaiah the prophet," etc. (1 Chron. 29:29; 2 Chron. 9:29; 12:15; 13:22; 20:34; 26:22).

Various books are mentioned in scripture which are not now extant.

Let us see if Westcott's remarks are borne out by an investigation of the history of the Old Testament Canon. We have first to ascertain the history of the different series of Books that make up the collection, and mainly from the inspired records. The archives of the Israelites are referred to in Ex. 17:14, 34:27; Num. 33:2; Deut. 31:26 (cf. Deut. 17:18); Joshua 24:26; 1 Sam. 10:25; 2 Kings 22:8; 2 Chron. 20:34; 26:22, &c.; Esther 9:32. The following passages may be referred to for original records no longer in existence: Num. 21:14; Joshua 10:13; 1 Chron. 29:29; 2 Chron. 9:29, 12:15, 33:18-19. They had their use for a time: there can have been nothing in them of enduring importance, but what is enshrined in the historical Books of the Hebrew Canon. For the New Testament cf. John 20:30-31, from which we learn the designedly fragmentary character of the Gospel histories.

"Some inspired communications have perished," i.e., are not in existence; e.g., the word of the Lord by Jonah the prophet of Gath-hepher concerning the restoring of the coasts of Israel, from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain (2 Kings 14:25); the prophecy of Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, against Jerusalem and the land of Judah (Jer. 26:20); the prophecies of Micaiah the son of Imlah, against Ahab, which led to the king's statement — "He never prophesied good unto me, but always evil." (2 Chron. 18:7.) It is a mistake to suppose that every inspired communication of the Spirit of God to man is contained in the Bible. All that was needful for us to know and have, we possess; but not all that others, at different times, had communicated to them by the prophets. Where are the visions of Iddo the seer, against Jeroboam the son of Nebat, among which some of the acts of Solomon, not mentioned in Chronicles ("the rest of the acts"), were recorded? C. E. Stuart.

Of the earlier prophets, no prophetic writings, as that term is commonly understood, have come down to us. We say, as that term is commonly understood; for certainly some of the historical books which are classed in the Hebrew canon amongst the prophets were written by men of that school. (1 Chron. 29:29.) Yet some of them did commit revelations to writing; witness Elijah, whose message to Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, is incorporated into the sacred history (2 Chron. 21:12-15); and the prophecy of Ahijah, and the visions of Iddo the seer. (2 Chron. 9:29.) These last, however, did not form part of the canon of Scripture, nor were intended for our instruction; for all that a prophet uttered was not always committed to writing for preservation to a future day. Of this Jonah is an example; for we learn elsewhere (2 Kings 14:25) that we have not in the work that bears his name all that he predicted, though doubtless we do possess all that the Lord saw fit to preserve to later ages.

Book of Jehu. 2 Chr. 20:34. These various references show that when the historical parts of the O.T. were written, further information respecting the kingdom was obtainable from the books referred to, if such had been needed; but which was not required for the inspired volume of God.

We are now to take up the Bible as a whole, beloved brethren, to study the form in which it has come into our hands, and its parts, and the relation of these to each other and the whole. Is it a complete organic unity? Is there nothing defective, nothing redundant? There are other books mentioned in Scripture itself, as the book of Jasher, the book of the wars of the Lord, and others: are these books which perhaps have fallen out and are lost out of the canon? If so, can we recognize this? is there any gap apparent where their place should be? Is there any way of settling such questions?